heywood on 2/10/2009 at 17:49

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That's dreadful, but probably not a typo. Like I was saying, white LEDs won't give you good color. In fairness, that number probably refers to the NTSC gamut. Coverage of sRGB might be a little higher, but still relatively poor.

And there is no way that the LG or the BenQ have an RGB LED backlight. First, contrast ratio has nothing to do with which type of LED is used, so you can't conclude anything from that. Also, the thin form factor is a dead giveaway that it's not an RGB LED. Because there are separate red, green, and blue LEDs in an RGB LED backlight, you need a diffusor or light guide to allow them to blend together into white. And there isn't enough space for that in an ultra-thin display like the BenQ or LG. See page 4 of this NEC white paper, it explains what I'm talking about:

(http://www.necdisplay.com/cms/documents/TechnologyPapers/LCD2180WG-LEDTechPaper_121605.pdf) http://www.necdisplay.com/cms/documents/TechnologyPapers/LCD2180WG-LEDTechPaper_121605.pdf

If you want a 24" monitor with an RGB LED backlight, you have to step up to something like these:

(http://www.trustedreviews.com/monitors/review/2009/04/01/HP-DreamColor-LP2480zx---24in-Professional-LCD-Display/p1) http://www.trustedreviews.com/monitors/review/2009/04/01/HP-DreamColor-LP2480zx---24in-Professional-LCD-Display/p1
(http://www.lacie.com/products/product.htm?pid=11093) http://www.lacie.com/products/product.htm?pid=11093

The other dead giveaway is obviously the color gamut. The whole point of an RGB LED backlight is to have a wide color gamut. That older NEC model I posted a white paper from claims 103% of NTSC and the newer HP and LaCie monitors I linked to claim 133% and 125%.

When it comes to color, RGB LED backlights are the best but are not available on consumer models. Good CCFLs are second best. White LEDs are worst. As I said before, white LEDs give you thin designs, low power consumption, and dynamic contrast (can vary the backlight output). But they generally do not have good color.

If we're going to stick to the 24" size, here is what I would do:

If you have $500-600 to spend and plan on doing digital photography work, look at the Dell u2410 and HP LP2475w. They both use the same LG H-IPS panel and both use wide gamut CCFL backlights. The HP came out first with an earlier version of the panel which was a bit laggy for gaming. But they've since switched to the same revision as the newer Dell and that shouldn't be a concern. I think these monitors will mostly appeal to camera buffs with a midrange DSLR or better. The HP covers the full Adobe RGB color space which is a nice bonus for serious photo editing. The Dell falls just short of that but is close enough, and has a better warranty than the HP. I found out that Dell does still offer the 2408WFP for $450, but I can't see buying it now that the u2410 is finally out.

But if you're not a camera buff, then I think you're better off selecting from one of the myriad of choices in the $200-350 range. They are all TN panels, but that is not necessarily a bad thing, especially for a gamer, because TN panels have the fastest response time. A typical TN panel has a 5ms grey-to-grey response time when not overdriven. With overdrive, they're more like 2ms. A VA or IPS panel is typically 6ms with overdrive - worse than a TN panel without. And overdriving causes other problems, like input lag and inverse ghosting:

(http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/monitors/2009/02/06/the-dark-side-of-overdrive/1) http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/monitors/2009/02/06/the-dark-side-of-overdrive/1

I don't know that you'll necessarily be aware of the response time/lag differences between a TN panel and an IPS or VA, but it's something to check into before choosing, because there have been some notorious examples where the manufacturer has sacrificed input lag to achieve a fast response time. And if you're buying a TN panel with a 2ms response time, I'd want the option to turn off the overdrive.

One thing I do agree with Bikerdude about is that it's best to see these in the flesh if possible before buying. It's hard to say whether a difference or issue you read about will actually be noticeable or bothersome in actual use. For example, I was ready to buy a Dell with a VA panel based on everything I read until I saw it in person and realized that differences in color gamut were more important to me than I thought. And like Bikerdude said earlier, the color shifting across the screen can vary a lot from monitor to monitor even though the viewing angle specs are the same (because viewing angle only considers contrast).

Anyway, here is the best site I've found for reviews. They haven't reviewed everything, but they're very comprehensive:

(http://www.prad.de/en/monitore/reviews.html) http://www.prad.de/en/monitore/reviews.html

I also spent some time checking out these sites when shopping:

(http://www.trustedreviews.com/monitors/) http://www.trustedreviews.com/monitors/

(http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/monitors/) http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/monitors/

mudi on 6/10/2009 at 15:01

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Looks similar to the 23" 1080p HP LCD I have. It's very nice.

mudi on 6/10/2009 at 22:57

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I don't notice any lag on mine, but I don't know the exact response time on my model. I'll look it up when I get home...

heywood on 8/10/2009 at 04:47

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Here's another review that places it mid-pack when it comes to input lag:

(http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/reviews/content/hp_lp2475w.htm) http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/reviews/content/hp_lp2475w.htm

Since that review was from a year ago, I don't know if it reflects the latest revision. But 4 ms input lag seems a bit unbelievable. If true, that's less than the claimed pixel response time of 6ms and so it would be imperceptible. Of course, if they eliminated lag by turning off the overdrive, then the response might not be 6ms anymore.

If you're worried, you could also search (www.hardforum.com) and other places for use comments about lag during gaming. Or look up reviews of the Dell u2410 for comments about lag. It uses the same panel as the HP. While that doesn't guarantee it will have the same lag, they should be about the same unless one manufacturer allows you to turn off overdrive and the other doesn't.

cyclops1101 on 8/10/2009 at 19:28

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Im currently using a 32 inch LCD Television as my monitor but playing games on 1024x768 the screen is to big i.e its hard to read writing since its to small. Should I buy a smaller LCD monitor for playing games? is 32inch a bit big? (ive never seen a 32 inch computer moniter before, is mine too big for proper gaming?) or does somebody know if I can make readables more easy to read?