The first LCD screens I set up for friends turned out fuzzy and double lined - there was some interaction between the video card and the screen. Certainly, the VGA connection reduced the image quality but there was something not quite right about the final result. Still, they are in use even though we hint about bigger and better things.

Sharpness is now not a discriminant. All current LCD monitors should be sharp at native resolution and free from superimposed or double lined display artifacts. Regardless of whether they are connected via VGA or higher class DVI cables to the PC. Note that VGA cables are often free or cheap, for some reason, the DVI cable is twice the price and may not always be included in the box even though the monitor supports DVI.

Size, Shape and Resolution of the screens are obvious discriminants. 19" displays dominate the office desks. The 4:3 aspect ratio suits classic office programs like accounting software and so on. It's not hard to get a pivoting 19" that shows a fairly nice rendition of an A4 page in Microsoft Word. 19" and 20" widescreen displays came and went. The 22" widescreen (16:10 aspect ratio) is at an optimum value for home use in entertainment as well as SOHO work. It's not too big. The competition between brands is stiff though, and the presence of HDTV 1080 has encouraged the move to 24". 24" wide screens are in a less price sensitive market segment. With this, manufacturers can introduce some premum features - better quality 6 bit TN panels, 8 bit MVA or SIPS panels for the higher cost range (wider colour gamut, wider viewing angles). This is the start of good enough screens for avid amateur photographers and digital graphic artists to work on. 24" though is quite a size for desktop, sit-up-straight use - at usual desk and chair distance, you do have to swivel your head from time to time.

Nerds and keen gamers talk about Response Time for games and movies, Overdrive, even illumination or banding top to bottom, side to side colour change, static and dynamic contrast ratios, light bleeds when using the monitor as a TV. But that's them.

My choice for an affordable LCD with some attempt at nice colours and tones? The Benq V2400W.

Chat more? Come Here