LCD Monitor Recommendation

[soyaspade]

Can anyone recommend a good (less expensive than apple) LCD monitor?
Thanks!
-Z

[edesignuk]

What size are you looking for?

15", 17" 18" 19", 20"? Regular or wide? etc...

[soyaspade]

I love the apple 20" wide, but I'm flexible (and hesitant to spen 1200 on a monitor)

[edesignuk]

And where are you from? When you say "1200", is that $, £, other?

[soyaspade]

the apple 20" cinema display is $1,169.00 with the edu discount

[neonart]

www.formac.com - I have a 2010 and it's amazing! Can't say enough good things about it.

[machem]

How do people feel about Formac? Haven't they had some problems lately with support and/or contact issues?

[jrv3034]

Originally posted by machem
How do people feel about Formac? Haven't they had some problems lately with support and/or contact issues?

I've heard the same thing. I don't have a Formac monitor, and have never dealt with their customer support, so this is only hearsay. Apparently their monitors are excellent quality, but if you try to get in touch with them, they either don't answer the phone, or give you the runaround.

Again, this is not from personal experience, but from reading posts here.

On topic, I've also heard Dell LCDs are great, and NEC also (although their 17" is analog).

What is your price range?

EDIT: Just found this on the Dell website:

http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/P...tegory_id=4009

[Crikey]

Dell has revamped their 20" LCD offering. It's not a work of art like Apple's LCDs, but it's on sale right now for $750 plus shipping:
http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/P...=04&iCompatid=

Well, that URL as embedded on this page isn't working for me. Go to Dell (heh), click Small Business, Peripherals, and find the 20" 2001FP.

That might be the cheapest 1600x1200 LCD I've seen.

Cheers,

Crikey

[machem]

Is there some consensus that Dell LCDs are alright? A Formac 17" is exactly the same price as the 17" Apple Studio (EDU pricing), but a Dell ultrasharp 17" is $450, and even with the adapter, that's $100 less, which can go into memory. Or an 18" Dell LCD.

If Apple put out updated LCDs, I go for that instantly, but right now, they have me thinking about pinching pennies....

[Freakk123]

Check out the Dell Small Business store. I got my 19" FP1901 for around $520. It works like a charm. I'd highly recommend it!

[jrv3034]

Originally posted by Crikey
Dell has revamped their 20" LCD offering. It's not a work of art like Apple's LCDs, but it's on sale right now for $750 plus shipping...

That might be the cheapest 1600x1200 LCD I've seen.

WOW!!! That is really an unbelievable price! If I didn't have my 22" DiamondPro CRT, I'd definitely pick up one of these. Heck, for less than 1 23" cinema display you can get two of these puppies!

[MrSugar]

I run dual View Sonic 17" VP171b monitors. They are really nice, about $520 each with shipping. It has a 16ms response time, 1280 res, thin bezzel, just really high quality.

That's my rec.

[neonart]

Originally posted by machem
A Formac 17" is exactly the same price as the 17" Apple Studio (EDU pricing), but a Dell ultrasharp 17" is $450, and even with the adapter, that's $100 less, which can go into memory. Or an 18" Dell LCD.

If Apple put out updated LCDs, I go for that instantly, but right now, they have me thinking about pinching pennies....

Remember... you get what you pay for. Formac has some of the best LCD's outside of SGI and other high brands. Their stuff is better than Apple's for less money. Once you bring Dell and other's into the picture you will sacrifice something.
Compare the specs and see what dead pixel warranties you get, what is the pixel response (important for games and video), viewing angle, etc.
I'm not saying these other brands are bad- but be careful with the "which is cheapest" mentality. If you look for cheap, you may just get that.

[zagato27]

Originally posted by Freakk123
Check out the Dell Small Business store. I got my 19" FP1901 for around $520. It works like a charm. I'd highly recommend it!

Same here! Got mine for the same price shipped to my door. This monitor ROCKS!!! 5 USB 2.0 ports and it has DVI and Analog. It is also a handsome piece. Slim black bezel with four small buttons on the lower right corner. Course it does have "DELL" on the front but for the price/performance I can live with it very easily. Oh, did I mention that it has no, zero, dead pixels. Very nice.

[machem]

Remember... you get what you pay for. Formac has some of the best LCD's outside of SGI and other high brands. Their stuff is better than Apple's for less money. Once you bring Dell and other's into the picture you will sacrifice something.
Compare the specs and see what dead pixel warranties you get, what is the pixel response (important for games and video), viewing angle, etc.
I'm not saying these other brands are bad- but be careful with the "which is cheapest" mentality. If you look for cheap, you may just get that.

That is the other side of the coin --- I'm comfortable with Apple's quality, less so with Dell (though I've heard good things). The Formac looks great, but I'm a bit hesitant because of the problems people had a month or so ago with them. It does seem like they are a bit nicer for the same price.

[neonart]

Originally posted by machem
That is the other side of the coin --- I'm comfortable with Apple's quality, less so with Dell (though I've heard good things). The Formac looks great, but I'm a bit hesitant because of the problems people had a month or so ago with them. It does seem like they are a bit nicer for the same price.

I had no idea people had issues with Formac. What were they?

[machem]

Maybe I'm smoking crack. I just tried to find something anything on any of the well-known forums, and couldn't. So maybe it is something else. *shrug*

[Diatribe]

The one I am waiting for and which is coming out in 1-2 weeks, is the Samsung 172x. Now don't confuse this with the old 172x, they had one out before with this name. The new one actually has a response time of 12! ms. This should be enough to play even Quake, etc. without any problems.
Plus: It's one hell of a beautiful display. Especially it being so flat.
As soon as this one comes out and lives up to the tests and expectations I am going to get myself 2 of these.

http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleID=1033

http://www.extremeoverclocking.com/r...ng_172x_1.html

<edit: another link>

[spiffie]

I've been very happy with my Sharp LLT19D1.

Sharp's site

[Fender2112]

Originally posted by Diatribe
The one I am waiting for and which is coming out in 1-2 weeks, is the Samsung 172x. Now don't confuse this with the old 172x, they had one out before with this name. The new one actually has a response time of 12! ms. This should be enough to play even Quake, etc. without any problems.
Plus: It's one hell of a beautiful display. Especially it being so flat.
As soon as this one comes out and lives up to the tests and expectations I am going to get myself 2 of these.

http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleID=1033

http://www.extremeoverclocking.com/r...ng_172x_1.html

<edit: another link>

When I at look the picture of the package contents, it becomes clear why Apple has better designs. The Apple displays have only ONE cord that carrys the the signal and the power. That's one less power supply to hook up.

Another nice feature of the Apple display is that the power button controls the PowerMac. It's handy if you want to put the computer in a cabinet.

[bousozoku]

Is 1280x1024 really enough in a 17 or 19 inch monitor?

I keep looking at LCD monitors and think that it's seems a waste that they've got such low resolution.

[Diatribe]

When I at look the picture of the package contents, it becomes clear why Apple has better designs. The Apple displays have only ONE cord that carrys the the signal and the power. That's one less power supply to hook up.
Another nice feature of the Apple display is that the power button controls the PowerMac. It's handy if you want to put the computer in a cabinet.

I thought we aren't talking about Apple displays? Didn't the thread starter want sth. besides Apple?
Now I'm not saying that Apple does not have better Design than Samsung, or anyone else for that matter, but first of all are Apple's displays, how do I put it, not priced very competitively and second do they use old display technology.
So what's all the design for if they have slow response times etc.?

[QCassidy352]

Originally posted by Crikey
Dell has revamped their 20" LCD offering. It's not a work of art like Apple's LCDs, but it's on sale right now for $750 plus shipping:
http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/P...=04&iCompatid=

Well, that URL as embedded on this page isn't working for me. Go to Dell (heh), click Small Business, Peripherals, and find the 20" 2001FP.

That might be the cheapest 1600x1200 LCD I've seen.

Cheers,

Crikey

that deal is unfortunately over as of yesterday... so that monitor is now $900 again. Which still isn't a bad price.

I must admit, the Dells are really nice, but I really like widescreen. Is there anyone but apple and formac who do widescreen?

[QCassidy352]

Originally posted by bousozoku
Is 1280x1024 really enough in a 17 or 19 inch monitor?

I keep looking at LCD monitors and think that it's seems a waste that they've got such low resolution.

I agree... the formac 1900 looks really nice, but 1280x1024 on a 19" monitor? why?

their 17" has the same res! what's up with that?