Best monitor for PC with built in GeForce 9200 for under about £150?

[Diamond Dave]

I'm looking to buy a monitor for my Mum for Christmas for her 2009 Windows 7 Packard Bell PC which she was gifted earlier this year.

The monitor that came with the PC is much older than the PC & is very small, so I think an upgrade would be appreciated by her.

According to Windows, the built in graphics card is a "NVIDIA GeForce 9200". I can't find any references online to a "9200" as opposed to the "9200M GS" which is described on these pages:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GeForce_9_series

http://www.geforce.com/hardware/notebook-gpus/geforce-9200m-gs

http://www.nvidia.co.uk/object/geforce_9200m_gs_uk.html

so I'm guessing the card is actually a "9200M GS".

None of the above pages seem to mention the maximum resolution the card supports, but given my Mum is in her 70s and has far from perfect eyesight, I might want to set the monitor to run at below maximum resolution anyway, so that everything appears larger on screen than most people would prefer.

Also, the monitor will sit on her desk which sits in a corner underneath a sloping ceiling, meaning the total height including the stand can't be more than about 46cm / 18 inches.

Colour accuracy, built in speakers, built in USB, etc, aren't important or of any real interest. Mum only really uses the PC for email (Windows Live Mail) and web browsing (Google Chrome).

Can anyone suggest a monitor for no more than about £150 which has as large a screen as possible (but not exceeding about 46cm / 18 inches in height including the stand) and which is of decent quality?

The PC only has an HDMI port on the back for connecting a monitor (apart from a VGA port), so the monitor should have an HDMI port.

Also, I appreciate that this thread should really be on a PC forum rather than on MacRumors, but I'm a Mac person myself, I've been using MacRumors for years, am very familiar with it, and don't have much of an idea about any equivalent PC forums, so apologies to anyone who is miffed that I've posted a question relating to a PC on MacRumors.

Many thanks.

 

[JamesMike]

I'm looking to buy a monitor for my Mum for Christmas for her 2009 Windows 7 Packard Bell PC which she was gifted earlier this year.

The monitor that came with the PC is much older than the PC & is very small, so I think an upgrade would be appreciated by her.

According to Windows, the built in graphics card is a "NVIDIA GeForce 9200". I can't find any references online to a "9200" as opposed to the "9200M GS" which is described on these pages:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GeForce_9_series

http://www.geforce.com/hardware/notebook-gpus/geforce-9200m-gs

http://www.nvidia.co.uk/object/geforce_9200m_gs_uk.html

so I'm guessing the card is actually a "9200M GS".

None of the above pages seem to mention the maximum resolution the card supports, but given my Mum is in her 70s and has far from perfect eyesight, I might want to set the monitor to run at below maximum resolution anyway, so that everything appears larger on screen than most people would prefer.

Also, the monitor will sit on her desk which sits in a corner underneath a sloping ceiling, meaning the total height including the stand can't be more than about 46cm / 18 inches.

Colour accuracy, built in speakers, built in USB, etc, aren't important or of any real interest. Mum only really uses the PC for email (Windows Live Mail) and web browsing (Google Chrome).

Can anyone suggest a monitor for no more than about £150 which has as large a screen as possible (but not exceeding about 46cm / 18 inches in height including the stand) and which is of decent quality?

The PC only has an HDMI port on the back for connecting a monitor (apart from a VGA port), so the monitor should have an HDMI port.

Also, I appreciate that this thread should really be on a PC forum rather than on MacRumors, but I'm a Mac person myself, I've been using MacRumors for years, am very familiar with it, and don't have much of an idea about any equivalent PC forums, so apologies to anyone who is miffed that I've posted a question relating to a PC on MacRumors.

Many thanks.

Instead of changing the screen resolution, you can teach your Mum how to use the zoom feature in Chrome.

 

[Diamond Dave]

Sorry, but you're either completely missing the point, or you must be some sort of troll. Huge facepalm in my head...

The existing monitor is prehistoric, is only about 15 inches, is analogue (connects via VGA) sits on a stand that's broken. It needs replaced.

Zooming in Chrome would do nothing to alter how things look in Windows Live Mail, Windows Explorer, or anything else in any case.

I'm asking for advice on what monitor to buy, not how to achieve some half-assed work around that means sticking with the existing screen.

"Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and to remove all doubt."
(probably wrongly attributed to) Abraham Lincoln

 

[shiekh]

He was only trying to help.

One can get 1920 x 1080 monitors with HDMI input for around $100; I got the Dell ST2421L recently for $110 with shipping, which has a VGA, DVI and HDMI connector (and is less than 17" high).

Keep in mind that HDMI to DVI converters exist, although I see no issue using VGA

The Acer S220HQL is $100 with shipping on Amazon, which would be about half of your budget.

http://www.gpuzoo.com/GPU-NVIDIA/GeForce_9200M_GS.html suggests that
Maximum digital resolution: 2560 x 1600
Maximum VGA resolution: 2048 x 1536

 

[Diamond Dave]

Many thanks to those that viewed & replied.

I felt I had to make a decision today, so based on the information here:

http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/test-centre/pc-peripheral/3217746/6-best-budget-lcd-display-2014-2015-uk

and then here:

http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/reviews/pc-peripheral/3509789/aoc-i2369vm-review

I bought the monitor mentioned in the second link above, from here:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00BDBWE0Y

for £129.40 with free delivery (about $203 US).

(Bear in mind that we generally have to pay way more for our electronics here in the UK than in the USA).

Hopefully the warning that the item is "under review" (at the time of writing - it appeared at some point today) isn't anything to worry about.

Looking at the questions & answers, it appears that the monitor comes with a 1.7 metre HDMI cable (I do want to connect it via HDMI - sorry if I was unclear on this) and that the height, including the stand, is around 16 inches, so I don't predict any major problems, and I'm sure it will be a massive improvement on the sorry old thing that's currently in use.