Personally I think the best way to check on whether a monitor meets your needs is to try and see it first in the real world. I was going to buy a couple of 19" Viewsonic widescreen LCD's a few months ago which were really cheap and had great ratings. But then I saw them at a CompUSA and the brightness just wasn't there. I like them bright. Personal preference. You can't really judge them accurately by what someone else says. They may think something's great that you won't and vice versa. Here's a thread with some great deals, most of which have probably expired but many may be even cheaper now. http://elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=70113&highlight=LCD Gives you an idea where to look for deals. Good luck.
Can you imagine the orgasms Maestro has each day? http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/attachment.php?s=&postid=720369 That's 24 - 21" Samsungs.
Thank you for the feedback. I'm curious as to why Newegg doesn't carry the 931B. The 940T does have outstanding feedback and reviews from a quick Google search. A little pricey though. Looks like the 971P is back in stock at Newegg with no reviews due to it being a new arrival. The base has an interesting design. Reading Newegg reviews on some items are often from one extreme to the another. Mostly concerning the issues of ghosting.
The majority of LCDs made right now are geared toward gamers and use faster but cheaper TN panels. The 940T has a PVA panel and a better overall display quality. Worth the additional cost to my eye. (NEC LCDs use S-IPS panels which cost even more.) The 971P is an upgrade to the 970P, so you might want to check it for reviews.
I totally agree. Go to the frickin' store and spend some time staring at each monitor many times. Compare them to each other. Eventually, one of them will clearly be the one that your eyes agree with and you will be happy you spent some time picking the right one(s) out. You can even go to more than one store to see many makes and models! You might end up spending 2-3x as much but it is worth it. Buying one over the Internet without seeing it first would be like picking out a wife from a picture on the Internet. Anyone see Boston Legal the other night? Denny Crane had a blind date with a woman who had ok hair, face and boobs in her Internet picture. (I think it was a pic from the Internet, missed the first 10-min of the show). When she showed up for a blind date, she was a midget. And of course he is getting sued for calling her a midget in a public place. He dumped her even before they ate their salad, even though at first he said it was because she was Jewish and how would they raise their kids if he was Christian? (Actually pretty funny IMHO)... Don't make that mistake with your monitors. You don't want a midget... Or do you?...
good advice !!!!!!! LCDs are NOT created equal. better still, bring a notebook with your apps in it, and try them out with YOUR programs. The demo graphs are optimized for demo. They always look better than your real life apps.
Of course you'd rather see before you buy, but many times you can't because they are not in your area. We have all the usual retailers here ( BB, CC, CompU.. even Microcenter), but there are virtually none but the low end stuff with TN panels. Lots of HP, Gateway, Xerox, Westinghouse, ProView, etc... and yes, some Samsung, NEC and LG... but only the cheaper ones. Maybe the better ones don't sell because they appear pricey next to all the cheapos? It's like wanting to shop for a BMW but all they have on the lot are Yugo, you know?