Did anyone else pick up a 24" monitor on the cheap the day after Thanksgiving?

[spaceballl]

Wow. I did. I grabbed the Soyo 24" monitor from OfficeMax for $250 (no rebates!). I just got it hooked up and WOW. This thing is amazing. Now I know this probably isn't the best 24" LCD in the world - hell, it's probably one of the worst haha. But I'm not a PC gamer or anything like that so all I see is a huge freakin' display in front of me (and a small macbook display for my slingplayer to the right of it ).

Anyhow, just seeing if anyone else had a similar experience!

 

[InkMaster]

Wow. I did. I grabbed the Soyo 24" monitor from OfficeMax for $250 (no rebates!). I just got it hooked up and WOW. This thing is amazing. Now I know this probably isn't the best 24" LCD in the world - hell, it's probably one of the worst haha. But I'm not a PC gamer or anything like that so all I see is a huge freakin' display in front of me (and a small macbook display for my slingplayer to the right of it ).

Anyhow, just seeing if anyone else had a similar experience!

congrats; what resolution is the screen?

 

[spaceballl]

1920x1200!

 

[InkMaster]

1920x1200!

lucky you


and here I am staring at the 1680x1050 display of my MBP

 

[OneCosmicGuy]

YEP but I'm about to return it :-(

I bought a new Samsung SyncMaster 245BW 24" Widescreen LCD from Costco the day after Thanksgiving for $400. From all the reviews I've read, including some from Mac users, it should be a great display for everyone except photo editing/desktop publishing gurus.

However, when I plug it in to my Mac (Dual 533 mhz G4 with OS 10.3.9), the fonts look like crap (blurry, distorted and hard to read) and I occasionally have staticy vertical lines, not on the whole screen, but on certain elements like the edge of a menu, a vertical scroll bar, or the vertical parts of letters such as the letter "h". I also have staticy horizontal lines evenly spaced down the screen. The native resolution for this monitor is 1920x1200 @ 60hz. I have it running at 1920x1200 but at 76 hz as 60 is not listed as a choice on my computer. I have been all over the web looking for others that might be having the same issue and how to fix it but I'm coming up empty.

So far:
I did read one website that mentioned something about setting the refresh too high might be causing the staticy issues but how do I tell my mac to only use 60 hz?

I have read many reviews from mac users running this same monitor at 1920x1200 and rave about the crisp clear clean their text looks. So why is mine distorted, fuzzy and hard to read? Sometimes it almost looks like the text is squished or scaled in some way.

Additionally, I do have a PC that I hooked it up too. On that machine, I can't get the monitor to go into 1920x1200. I can get my graphics card to create a 1920x1200 desktop but then I have to pan left and right to see either side. It's almost like the monitor is on a lower resolution then my graphic card. The graphics card is an ATI Radeon x700 with the latest drivers (as of the day I got the monitor - LOL)

On the PC, the monitor works great under a 1440x900 resolution (same ratio as 1920x1200). No Static and text looks normal. However, 1440x900 is not a choice on my Mac. I have searched Apple's discussions as well as the web thinking surely I am not the first to need to do this but came up empty (or with results that didn't help). I'm frustrated enough to contemplate returning it and just sticking with my trusty View Sonic 19" CRT that I've had for almost 10 years (and still works like it did the day I took it out of the box). Does anyone know if View Sonic LCDs are as good as their CRTs? LOL

So, do I have a defective Samsung monitor or am I just a LCD idiot? LOL Generally speaking I'm pretty proficient on both systems although I'm not as proficient on OSX as I was on OS8, but I know the basic plus some.

*Adam*

 

[Aperture]

I just picked up a Gateway 24'' display with all the trimmings for $399. (& a free speaker bar!) This holiday season's display lineup is great - the prices are drastically coming down. Even Dell just introduced their 24'' display for $399.

 

[Decrepit]

I bought a new Samsung SyncMaster 245BW 24" Widescreen LCD from Costco the day after Thanksgiving for $400. From all the reviews I've read, including some from Mac users, it should be a great display for everyone except photo editing/desktop publishing gurus.

However, when I plug it in to my Mac (Dual 533 mhz G4 with OS 10.3.9), the fonts look like crap (blurry, distorted and hard to read) and I occasionally have staticy vertical lines, not on the whole screen, but on certain elements like the edge of a menu, a vertical scroll bar, or the vertical parts of letters such as the letter "h". I also have staticy horizontal lines evenly spaced down the screen. The native resolution for this monitor is 1920x1200 @ 60hz. I have it running at 1920x1200 but at 76 hz as 60 is not listed as a choice on my computer. I have been all over the web looking for others that might be having the same issue and how to fix it but I'm coming up empty.

So far:
I did read one website that mentioned something about setting the refresh too high might be causing the staticy issues but how do I tell my mac to only use 60 hz?

I have read many reviews from mac users running this same monitor at 1920x1200 and rave about the crisp clear clean their text looks. So why is mine distorted, fuzzy and hard to read? Sometimes it almost looks like the text is squished or scaled in some way.

Additionally, I do have a PC that I hooked it up too. On that machine, I can't get the monitor to go into 1920x1200. I can get my graphics card to create a 1920x1200 desktop but then I have to pan left and right to see either side. It's almost like the monitor is on a lower resolution then my graphic card. The graphics card is an ATI Radeon x700 with the latest drivers (as of the day I got the monitor - LOL)

On the PC, the monitor works great under a 1440x900 resolution (same ratio as 1920x1200). No Static and text looks normal. However, 1440x900 is not a choice on my Mac. I have searched Apple's discussions as well as the web thinking surely I am not the first to need to do this but came up empty (or with results that didn't help). I'm frustrated enough to contemplate returning it and just sticking with my trusty View Sonic 19" CRT that I've had for almost 10 years (and still works like it did the day I took it out of the box). Does anyone know if View Sonic LCDs are as good as their CRTs? LOL

So, do I have a defective Samsung monitor or am I just a LCD idiot? LOL Generally speaking I'm pretty proficient on both systems although I'm not as proficient on OSX as I was on OS8, but I know the basic plus some.

*Adam*

I have the same monitor. It worked day one out of the box with my G4 Mini.

1920x1200 through a KVM to three different computers.

Not sure what to tell you on the Mac, it should be able to do 60 Hz.

On the PC, make sure you're not changing the resolution of a virtual desktop. When I hear about scrolling around to larger space, it's usually a weird virtual desktop thing with ATI drivers.

How does the monitor look on your Mac at 1600x1200@60?

Are you running with VGA or DVI connections?

 

[Tallest Skil]

I did. Two Soyos for my future Mac Pro; $500+ tax for BOTH. Love them. More screen than I'll probably ever need, and built-in speakers; a one-up on the current Cinema Displays. Now, does anyone know where to find some good 3840x1200 wallpapers?

 

[OneCosmicGuy]

I have the same monitor. It worked day one out of the box with my G4 Mini.

1920x1200 through a KVM to three different computers.

Not sure what to tell you on the Mac, it should be able to do 60 Hz.

On the PC, make sure you're not changing the resolution of a virtual desktop. When I hear about scrolling around to larger space, it's usually a weird virtual desktop thing with ATI drivers.

How does the monitor look on your Mac at 1600x1200@60?

Are you running with VGA or DVI connections?

Honestly, the 1600x1200 doesn't look bad at all for the most part. The screen is a little stretched (1.3 ratio stretched to 1.6) but you don't really notice it. The text as I'm typing this is readable but the vertical elements are blurry and not very crisp. It's kind of a visual irritant to be honest.

I know exactly what you mean about the ATI virtual desktop. I've played with it before. I'm not sure if that's the case here or not - it seems like it is but I can't figure out how to differentiate the virtual desktop resolution from the that of the monitor (if in fact that is the case). I've gone through every menu, option, sub-menu, FAQ and website that I can find and it would appear I am unique in the universe, which leads me to believe it's not the monitor but probably me some how but like I mentioned, I'm not exactly a novice with monitors although this is my first LCD so who knows....

If I knew for sure it was a bad monitor, I'd take it back but it would suck to go through the hassle of packing it up, taking it back to exchange it only to find out it wasn't the monitor. I don't think it's a bad monitor - I just don't understand how I can have a 1920x1200 @ 76 option and not one at 60? I looked on Apples website to see if there is a way of adding a resolution but I was not able to find anything.

This *was* all VGA - I have to admit - I've never been exposed to the DVI cables before. I took a cursory glance through the plastic bag and at my other video ports (that I now know are DVI - LOL) and thought "no way those fit". However, since you asked about VGA vs DVI, it got me thinking that I better take another look at those and sure enough I do have DVI ports. I plugged it into the PC (since I'm on the Mac at the moment) and at first it was horrible - at the 1440x900 I had a major bad double image. However, when I change the resolution over to 1920x1200 - it was AWESOME! THIS is what is supposed to be like! It was beautiful! So DVI it is!. Since I don't know anything about DVI, I'm playing it safe and going to shut the Mac down and try it too. If it works, I may have to invest in a "KVM" switch. I assume that's like of like a 'Y' split basically... purchase additional cables and have a switch to select with computer's image to display? I actually have something like that already for VGA but it never worked right so I don't use it. I would get weird coloring of the screen unless I physically held the knob all the way over to one side. It was cheap and I know why now. LOL So, anything I should know about KVM switches and what to buy or not to buy?

Thanks for the response. I probably wouldn't have given that "other" cable a 2nd look. I'm going to try the Mac w/ DVI and see if life is grand again.

*Adam*

 

[Decrepit]

Honestly, the 1600x1200 doesn't look bad at all for the most part. The screen is a little stretched (1.3 ratio stretched to 1.6) but you don't really notice it. The text as I'm typing this is readable but the vertical elements are blurry and not very crisp. It's kind of a visual irritant to be honest.

I know exactly what you mean about the ATI virtual desktop. I've played with it before. I'm not sure if that's the case here or not - it seems like it is but I can't figure out how to differentiate the virtual desktop resolution from the that of the monitor (if in fact that is the case). I've gone through every menu, option, sub-menu, FAQ and website that I can find and it would appear I am unique in the universe, which leads me to believe it's not the monitor but probably me some how but like I mentioned, I'm not exactly a novice with monitors although this is my first LCD so who knows....

If I knew for sure it was a bad monitor, I'd take it back but it would suck to go through the hassle of packing it up, taking it back to exchange it only to find out it wasn't the monitor. I don't think it's a bad monitor - I just don't understand how I can have a 1920x1200 @ 76 option and not one at 60? I looked on Apples website to see if there is a way of adding a resolution but I was not able to find anything.

This *was* all VGA - I have to admit - I've never been exposed to the DVI cables before. I took a cursory glance through the plastic bag and at my other video ports (that I now know are DVI - LOL) and thought "no way those fit". However, since you asked about VGA vs DVI, it got me thinking that I better take another look at those and sure enough I do have DVI ports. I plugged it into the PC (since I'm on the Mac at the moment) and at first it was horrible - at the 1440x900 I had a major bad double image. However, when I change the resolution over to 1920x1200 - it was AWESOME! THIS is what is supposed to be like! It was beautiful! So DVI it is!. Since I don't know anything about DVI, I'm playing it safe and going to shut the Mac down and try it too. If it works, I may have to invest in a "KVM" switch. I assume that's like of like a 'Y' split basically... purchase additional cables and have a switch to select with computer's image to display? I actually have something like that already for VGA but it never worked right so I don't use it. I would get weird coloring of the screen unless I physically held the knob all the way over to one side. It was cheap and I know why now. LOL So, anything I should know about KVM switches and what to buy or not to buy?

Thanks for the response. I probably wouldn't have given that "other" cable a 2nd look. I'm going to try the Mac w/ DVI and see if life is grand again.

*Adam*

DVI is the only way to go. Digital Video Interface. It lets the monitor tell the PC what it's willing to do, no negotiation or need for you to move anything around.

With VGA you will have more options on the On Screen Display menu on your monitor because VGA doesn't let the monitor tell the video adapter where everything goes. With DVI, those functions like shifting the screen left and right are generally not available because the DVI tells the system what the bounds are and that's that.

Glad it's working better. I've been a DVI user for ages, and all for that reason. VGA needs to die.



Now, on KVMs, it gets expensive again.

I have an IOGear 4 port DVI KVM. It wasn't cheap. BUT it lets me use 1920x1200 on my HP Workstation, my Mac Mini, my notebook and when I get it, my new Mac Pro.

It does not support dual-link DVI, therefore I can't use a 30" LCD. So depressing. But 24" is awesome.

 

[flieschut]

didn't see that deal on the soyo for 250! wow.
I got the dell for $399, and I'm pretty happy with it.
Like a previous poster said, these cheap screens are great, but
they sure are big.

 

[OneCosmicGuy]

DVI is the only way to go. Digital Video Interface. It lets the monitor tell the PC what it's willing to do, no negotiation or need for you to move anything around.

With VGA you will have more options on the On Screen Display menu on your monitor because VGA doesn't let the monitor tell the video adapter where everything goes. With DVI, those functions like shifting the screen left and right are generally not available because the DVI tells the system what the bounds are and that's that.

Glad it's working better. I've been a DVI user for ages, and all for that reason. VGA needs to die.



Now, on KVMs, it gets expensive again.

I have an IOGear 4 port DVI KVM. It wasn't cheap. BUT it lets me use 1920x1200 on my HP Workstation, my Mac Mini, my notebook and when I get it, my new Mac Pro.

It does not support dual-link DVI, therefore I can't use a 30" LCD. So depressing. But 24" is awesome.

I kind of figured since it was "new" (newer then VGA) it must be the better way. I'm a little confused now because the other video port on my mac is apparantly not a DVI port although it looks very similar. The pin pattern looks identical to the DVI port on the PC but the metal casing is different. It's longer then the DVI plug on the cable and the shape is a bit off. Both ends are completely round where at the plug is more squarish with two corners rounded and 2 corners more square. I think the port on the back is specific to the ACDs. I wonder if someone has an adapter? In the meantime, I guess I get a VGA Mac and a DVI PC. I wonder what would happen if I had both computer hooked up at the same time? It actually appears I can switch back and forth at the switch of a button on the front... awesome. Now if only the Mac could do the 1920x1200 @ 60 instead of the 76, I'd actually be set. No KVM needed. LOL

Thanks for the explanation on the differences of DVI

Have a fabulous rest of the week!

 

[Decrepit]

I did. Two Soyos for my future Mac Pro; $500+ tax for BOTH. Love them. More screen than I'll probably ever need, and built-in speakers; a one-up on the current Cinema Displays. Now, does anyone know where to find some good 3840x1200 wallpapers?

http://www.digitalblasphemy.com

I've been a subscriber for ages because of dual and triple head wall papers. I had 2x 20" LCDs. Now I'm on a beautiful 24" since I can use it with all of my systems through the KVM. Before with the 2x 20" displays I had to have one black screen when I used my Mini or my notebook, which got old.

 

[mag2001]

I almost got a gateway for 499 from circuit city looked nice but decided not to get it.

 

[spaceballl]

After spending over a week on my new 24" baby, wow this has totally changed the way I compute. I sit further away, I see more information... so nice!

 

[RazorsEdge]

Problems with 24" Gateway display?

I just picked up a Gateway 24'' display with all the trimmings for $399. (& a free speaker bar!) This holiday season's display lineup is great - the prices are drastically coming down. Even Dell just introduced their 24'' display for $399.

Hi Aperture,

I've just gotten this same 24" Gateway display (with speaker bar), and have put it on my MacBook Pro (OS X 10.5). I am having two problems -- I'm wondering if you are having similar problems and/or have a solution.

1. When things power up, I cannot access the on-screen menu system, i.e. when I "press" any of the little blue leds, nothing happens. Even at the beginning of startup, where you're supposed to select the default language, pressing the English button does nothing.

2. Sometimes the USB hub just goes dead. Last night I unplugged the monitor before I went to bed to see if things would "reset" over night, and that appeared to work, but I don't understand why the hub went to sleep in the first place.

Are you having any similar problems, and how have you resolved them??

Thanks,
RazorsEdge

 

[98707]

I almost dropped cash on a display. I should have.