Which monitors to get?

Currently I am using one Syncmaster 205BW, which is a bit too small for me at the moment. (Both width and height)

I need two new monitors mainly for 3d modelling,writing, watching movies and some gaming. (Basicly all) My budget would be around 100-200$ per monitor when looking at Amazon and similar. Since everything local is overpriced. Though I'm not sure how much would 2ms and 5ms mean to me, all I want is crystal picture with no blur or ghosting when doing the stuff I do, so whatever interesting you have on mind, please suggest it. Every day I find some monitor before losing interest in it.

Currently the ones that interest me are: Samsung BX2231, Philips 226CL2SB, Samsung S22A350H. Haven't found anything bigger interesting yet!

What's more important to you? Image quality or no blur/lag?

Image quality route:Wait for the Dell U221H to go on sale for around $200-$220 and buy two. The picture is going to be more "clear" than any of the monitors you are looking at and has great 10~ ms input lag and 8ms GTG response time. You will not notice a difference between 8, 5, and 2 ms. 2ms probably looks worse because they use overdrive aggressively and cause a trailing artifact on objects moving across the screen. Note the 60Hz picture for the Samsung monitor and the purple shadow that follows the object. That's the trailing artifcat.

No blur route: Buy a 120Hz monitor. They generally have 0~ ms input lag and unnoticeable response time. Example:

Asus ML239H.

Can be had for a few dollars over $200 and its IPS. Considering you are getting 2 of them, good viewing angles should be important. Multi monitor TN setups are.... not very desireable.

Sadly we don't have Asus ML239H in country so there is no chance of getting it. Same for Dell U221H, though you mention 'When it goes on sale' so they might acquire it when it does. Samsung 2233RZ is definitely interesting. Would HD movie play any differently on those two? The game should run smoothly if FPS is high, I guess the ms doesn't apply too much to it? I am not entirely sure to go with Image Quality or No Blur, I don't do anything too super fast to require such screen but it is quite intriguing.Though I don't see any reviews of Dell yet, not sure how will the impressions be. Those two are definitely one of better monitors to find. I'm not into FPS, so not that big need of 0 response lag.

What's more important to you? Image quality or no blur/lag?

Image quality route:Wait for the Dell U221H to go on sale for around $200-$220 and buy two. The picture is going to be more "clear" than any of the monitors you are looking at and has great 10~ ms input lag and 8ms GTG response time. You will not notice a difference between 8, 5, and 2 ms. 2ms probably looks worse because they use overdrive aggressively and cause a trailing artifact on objects moving across the screen. Note the 60Hz picture for the Samsung monitor and the purple shadow that follows the object. That's the trailing artifcat.

No blur route: Buy a 120Hz monitor. They generally have 0~ ms input lag and unnoticeable response time. Example:

simplyderp

I have that samsung! It's great, but gets extremely dirty for some reason.

I don't particularly recommend the Samsung 2233RZ - just wanted to show the difference between 60Hz-labeled and 120Hz-labeled monitors. As far as I know, the 2233RZ is discontinued. I noticed you said the 20" is too small for you. You will definately not want any of the 21.5 inch monitors that you listed. Compared to your current monitor, a 21.5 inch monitor will only be 10% larger. The only decent advantage would be a higher resolution. Instead, go for 23+" (25+% larger) 16:9 monitor or 22+" (21+% larger) 16:10 monitor depending if you need the horizontal resolution. Instead of buying two small monitors, I would recommend buying a larger monitor and then adding another later. If you could get 2 23+" monitors in your price range then that would be best.

Here are two reviews of the U2311H: http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/reviews/dell_u2311h.htm and http://www.flatpanelshd.com/review.php?subaction=showfull&id=1275291737. For me, the image quality difference was worth the extra money. I got it for $239 + tax with a coupon. Any higher than $269 would not be worth it.

By the way, what country do you live in?

Would HD movie play any differently on those two?IronTrooper

HD movies will look better on an IPS/PVA monitor. Also, if you decide to slouch or more your head to the side the colors won't shift too much if you have an IPS monitor. A 120Hz monitor would allow your graphics card to use 5:5 pulldown and smooth the motion of movies. A 60Hz monitor would require the graphics card to use 3:2 pulldown which causes stuttering in movies (it plays each frame 3 times, then 2 times, then 3 times, then...).

The game should run smoothly if FPS is high, I guess the ms doesn't apply too much to it?IronTrooper

You probably won't get the full benefit of 120Hz, because you need to reach 120fps to get that. That being said, most of those 120Hz-labeled monitors have almost no input lag relative to CRT and unnoticeable response time. Input lag is the time from when you move your mouse to when you can see your cursor move. A low input lag really matters if you are a hardcore FPS gamer. Another advantage is that most, if not all, 120Hz monitors are 3D. Most people would take image quality or lower price over 120Hz, but I thought I'd just let you know since you mentioned that you didn't want blurring or ghosting.

The U2311H actually has very good black levels for an LCD monitor. One of the reviews measured 0.14 cd/m^2 black depth after calibration.

An alternative is the LG IPS231P (0.21 cd/m^2 black depth). It is slightly worse than the U2311H but is a better value. Do they have that in your country? I couldn't see the link you gave.

LED is just the backlight for the monitor. The normal backlight that LCD monitors have is CCFL. Manufacturers use LED to save energy, make thinner screens, and inflate their dynamic contrast ratio measurements (LED is instant on/off full brightness). AFAIK, a "White" LED lowers gamut and usually has a blue tint.

Also the link is: http://www.nabava.net I cannot seem to be able to link, wohoho.

Thanks a lot for your help. I'm going to order Dell U2311H today. I'll see if its enough for now, if not I'll get another one! Thanks for all the explaining and suggestions, really helpful =)

When you get the U2311H, the first thing you should do is lower the brightness to 30-33~ and contrast to 75~ with color mode Standard. If you want a more accurate color you can switch to RGB mode and make finer tweaks.

Enjoy your monitor :)

Asus ML239H.

Can be had for a few dollars over $200 and its IPS. Considering you are getting 2 of them, good viewing angles should be important. Multi monitor TN setups are.... not very desireable.

XaosII