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OT: Help me choose a 19" monitor please!


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Choosing a monitor has been maddening for me! I know it's best to demo them personally because everyone has different opinions but the only place to do that around here is Sam's Club and they only carry CTX and KDS.

I think I want a flatscreen. They seem to give a truer proportioned image but I'm hearing a lot about them having geometry problems (i.e. curved lines/borders that cave in towards the center of the screen).

Is a shadow mask or aperture grille CRT better? I've heard that shadow mask is better for text heavy use and aperture grille is better for graphics heavy use. But supposedly aperture grille is better overall??

I think I've narrowed it down to the Samsung 900NF and the Sony G400. They are the only two that I can find that are aperture grille, flatscreen, and do 1600x1200 @ 85 Hz as the recommended resolution. I also considered an Iiyama VisionMaster Pro 450/451 as they seem to be excellent and highly recommended but I'm having trouble finding them.

At first I was going to get either a Viewsonic PF790 or a Sony E400/G400 but I started to hear more bad things about the Viewsonic and more good things about Samsung. I never really thought of Samsung as making great monitors but they've won a LOT of praise from review sites and user feedback. I also looked at

Hitachi

Mitsubishi

NEC

LG

Dell

Cornerstone

Cornerstone monitors have an awesome 5 year warranty but they all seem to use a shadow mask CRT, which I'm trying to stay away from. The Samsung 950p and 900IFT received a lot of praise but again have a shadow mask CRT.

The Samsung 900NF uses the DiamondTron tube and the Sony G400 uses the Trinitron tube, both of which are supposed to be excellent.

I know Sony and Viewsonic and Iiyama are supposed to be reliable, long lasting monitors. Can anyone comment on Samsung's long-term reliability? Any opinions of shadow mask vs aperture grille? DiamondTron vs Trinitron? (I know I will have to deal with the dark tension wires)

Also, can you guys suggest which of these monitors would be the best? Opinions from owners of each brand are welcome, but please be honest, don't just say your Sony is the best just because you happen to own one and think everything else is crap...

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There is one you didnt talk about. I actually find this one totally amazing! Better than any ViewSonic, Sony or what ever monitors.

The company is European and is called LaCie.

Look at their website http://www.lacie.com

They make what they call the ElectronBlue 19" and does the 1600X1200 at 85 Hz.

Screen being totally flat plus being blue with a hood on it make it one of the most original, beautiful and technologic screen on the market.

Just a thing though, good luck to find one of those!

If you are not able to get one, then I really dunno what to tell you. I would buy the PF790, cuz I own a ViewSonic EF70, plus the fact that I sell Samsungs, Sony and Viewsonic at my store. From what I saw, I always prefered ViewSonic for their prices, quality and service.

I dont say the others are bad, but I would simply dont go with Sony simply cuz I know we are always paying lot of money for the 4 letters SONY written on the screen. Plus the fact that the controls on it are extremely confusing!

Since Samsung got a contract with Apple to make their 17" studio display not long ago, the samsungs tubes are really great quality and for that, I have to admit samsung make really great high end monitors. I actually never heard really great come backs about those though, simply that they are good value and I didnt receive any bad things either.

Just to say, forget about LG (no service from this company), DELL (their monitors are always extremely standard), NEC and Mitsubichi are the same and even if they were always great monitors, I'm afraid they are not really in the personnal use market.

It seems like Hitachi actually got some good points... But I cant say, they arent sold in Canada.

Cornerstone... I actually know that company by name but that's it. Never saw any of those monitors, so I cannot really tell you what I think of them.

And for all the techniques (Aperture grid and shadow mask) I really dont know. And it's too late for me to do research about that.

So my choice would be Lacie, ViewSonic, Panasonic (I saw the PF90 from them, and for the price, it's AMAZING! but oh well, maybe not professional enough), ans last of all Sony cuz of all the bad points I know of them (overpricing, you can always get better for the same price in an other company and also for their crappy controls).

That's about what I think

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When buying monitors, it's easiest to compare which one is better if you have them side by side with the same image displayed on the screen. I myself have a 900NF. When i bought it, i compared it to the PF790,E400, and the G400. The 900NF and the G400 look really similar. But the colours on the G400 are a bit more vibrant. The colours on the PF790 looked kind of washed out to me. And the text looked sharper on the 900NF than on the E400. The G400 has better image quality than the 900NF however i don't think the added cost is justified in the difference in quality. I would recommend you go with the 900NF.

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Wow guys...thanks a lot for the input...that's the kind of stuff I am looking for.

Like I said, it's going to be nearly impossible for me to compare monitors in person around here so I'm going to have to go by user reviews.

From what it sounds like, I can't go wrong with Sony if I have the extra dough to spend. Almost everywhere I look, people are saying the SAME thing...Sony is great stuff, but they are overpriced and you can get almost as good quality for much less money. Whether the extra money is worth having a Sony is something I'll have to decide myself...I know Sony may be overpriced but then again I have not heard from one single person who was disappointed with their E400 or G400...they seem to be awesome monitors.

Viewsonic sounds like another strong performer. I've heard great things about their reliability and price/performance ratio. It's just that I'm having trouble finding something I like from them. The one I was considering, the PF790, only does 77 Hz @ 1600x1200 which is more of a strain on the eyes than the others' 85 Hz. It is one to consider, though.

I guess it's basically down to the Samsung 900NF and the Sony G400. The Samsung seems like a better bargain, as its specs are very good and it has a $30 rebate which will bring it well below the cost of the Sony. Also, the Samsung has BNC connectors which I'm told are good, but I'm not sure what they improve or how to use them. However, like I said, I'm not knowledgable of Samsung's long-term reliability.

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Sony G400 all the way! i have one myself and did alot of research on those moniters you mentioned above. I looked at the View Sonic and the screen looked funny to me. Also you can't go wrong man on sony! I have a Sony G400 actually up for sale right now. Email me if you intrested... candykid@mail.com

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That's right for the ViewSonic, you actually see thin black lines on the boarder... But hey, shouldnt we look at the center of the screen, and not at the far ends?

FEATURES: 18-inch viewable area, .24mm-.25mm varying stripe pitch,3 up to 110-Hz refresh rate,1 Plug and Play ready,2 TCO'99 compliant, three-year warranty, 24-hour toll-free support.

SUMMARY: The CPD-E400 produced crisp text and rich, realistic colors, especially in photos. But you can find similar quality at a lower price.

That's taken from http://www.pcworld.com, I actually trust a lot this website, and so the E-400 prove not being that great. Plus, I have one in demo in my store and if you ask me, I find nothing spectacular in this one. But it's true I heard very good things about the G400. Just that I never saw it and that it's as we said before, OVERPRICED!

And just a question like that, do you really see a big difference between 77 and 85 Hz?

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Mitsubishi Diamond Pro 200 22" (20") DIAMONDTRON NF Truly Distortion-Free, Flat-Screen, Color 1800@72Hz, 0.24mm Uni-Pitch Technology Aperture Grille, OSD PnP TCO95

Diamondtron tube maybe better than trinitron tubes.

$995 at pricewatch at Aberdeen.

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Just to let you know i have the Iiyama VisionMaster Pro 450 and it is truly a kick *** monitor. I know this is only my opinion but i just thought i would let you know anyway smile.gif Drop us an e-mail if you want to know anything about this monitor ill be glad to help. The tension wires are only visible on very light backgrounds (Read "White") if you look for them, once you have used the monitor for a while then you will rarely if ever notice them.

Oh yeah where are you from, ill try and track down some dealers from your area for ya.

------------------

*************************

Birds may fly, but rats don't get sucked into jet engines!!!

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Features a .24mm dot pitch and maximum resolutions up to 1920 x 1440!

While Supplies Last! IBM P260 21" .24AG 1920x1440 @ 80Hz White

Manufacturer: IBM PC Company

Manufacturer Part #: 655223N

MicroWarehouse #: MT3333

Platform: PC

$649 Trinitron tube

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Well, it has been ordered. I ordered a Sony G400 Thursday night from www.mwave.com ...

It came down to a tough decision between Sony and Iiyama, but since I had actually seen a Sony E400 at Circuit City and was impressed, I had not seen the Iiyama so I went with Sony but will definitely consider Iiyama in the future. Also considered models by Samsung and Hitachi but the owner reviews seemed to be in Sony's favor. Owners of the G400 kept telling me to get it, and how great it was, and on and on...even if it is a bit pricey due to the Sony name.

I wanted to order the 21" Sony G520 because it freaking rules but the wife didn't want me blowing $1200 on a monitor. Oh well, maybe later. I should be happy I suppose! I'm getting 2" less and my wallet is not nearly as empty as it would have been (especially since I'm planning a system upgrade to an AMD 1.333 GHz or 1.4 GHz + new mobo very soon)! biggrin.gif

The Iiyama VisionMaster Pro 450/451, and even the Samsung 900NF look like definite contenders, though. I advise anyone looking for a monitor to check these companies out.

Thanks all for the help and suggestions!!

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Oops! I guess I'm a little late here but I would of mentioned the Sony GDM-F400, this is the absolute best Sony 19 inch monitor and since it is no longer produced, if you can find one you can get it for ~$550 (originally $1000) The reviews for this monitor are like what you read about the promedias, minus the bang for buck comments.

-Gxcad

c>
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rol1,

Thanks for the suggestion man...but yes I did check out the Diamondtron tubes. They look like a great (and sometimes cheaper) alternative to the Trinitron that Sony and some other monitor manufacturers use. I may have paid a little more for the Sony name, but I know I will be happy. S'all good. smile.gif

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