Monitor or TV?

Tunapiano

Tunapiano

Active Member
So it's been a few years since i went shopping for monitors and now we have TN and IPS monitors. as i have read over posts it's almost impossible to tell what brand is good anymore and what monitors from what brands are the best.

With so many possibilites and no clear front runner i was wondering if just getting a 30 inch tv with 1080p was better than risking getting a monitor that may end up a dud. I myself play mostly games like Planetside 2 where you have to have a monitor with good color and fast response times because the colors in the game go from bright to very dark depending on the time of day and Final Fantasy 14 where they pretty much do the same.

My old monitor a Samsung Syncmaster P2770 has a 1ms response time and great color but the monitor is dying and has been for a few months now and needs replaced. Money isn't the issue as much as just finding a monitor or TV with less than a 2ms response time and excellent colors.

It would need to be a 27 inch to 30 inch monitor or tv.
 
I'm using a 2nd hand 27 inch 1080p samsung that I got off a friend for about 200 bucks(That would be around 160 Americalanddollars) and it's been working fine for me. The same friend upgraded his monitor to a 30inch 2k samsung which I think should be this one : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824001098. From the way he goes on about it, its probably good. Personally I probably wouldn't make the jump to 30 inch anytime soon just because I feel that the extra inches makes it a little too big for my eyes. I might get a couple more 27 inches though.
 
I've been thinking the same about monitor or TV and frankly its a pain. I think TV would be best because most of my friends use both, one of my friends use there tv for there gaming rig and use for everything, tv, gmaes,etc . I got a buddy that use Sony brands for his lager office room. its got to be like a 42" inch. But I'm leaning on my next computer purchase on just the tower and use my tv. it just
looks better plus its like all in one. Just like the Xbox one which maybe got the idea from most people do. bottom line.... go for the TV
 
Personally for that size range, I'd say stick with a monitor versus TV. Do you have any set budget? You can find some great deals on "generic" IPS displays - and on that end, I'd recommend something from Overlord Computer. They often have large pre-order sign-ups and also sell replacement controller boards to push the monitor to 120Hz. You can find similar IPS models on EBay.
 
Do NOT use a TV for a computer screen unless you hate you eyes. At those sizes and viewing distance, 1080p is not enough to get a sharp enough image, and the colors aren't the best. Sure, you pay less, but that's because the quality is terrible.

A monitor's quality depends on a couple of factors, including, but not limited to: Size, Resolution, Response Time, and Color
If you want a 27in+ monitor, you should NOT be considering anything less than 2560x1440. As I said, the PPI is to low to get a quality image at short viewing distances.
For color reproduction, Dell's Ultrasharp series are the best. (Not counting NEC, as NEC's monitors are very expensive).
For me, response time comes last on my list because the gains from the other factors far outweigh the gains from a barely noticible response time increase.

Because of your criteria, I will refrain from posting specific models, but if you do change your mind, I would be glad to suggest a couple of Ultrasharps that I believe would be the best.
 
When i bought my current monitor response times were all the rage. if that's changed then so be it. i'll go with whatever is good these days. has to be able to show bright and dark colors well even when they're changing back and forth in seconds and not have too much screen tearing when gaming. i choose to not run v-sync when gaming unless it gets really bad.
 
Tunapiano said:
When i bought my current monitor response times were all the rage. if that's changed then so be it. i'll go with whatever is good these days. has to be able to show bright and dark colors well even when they're changing back and forth in seconds and not have too much screen tearing when gaming. i choose to not run v-sync when gaming unless it gets really bad.
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you could get a tv that does both, I don't think a 42" inch tv is the best choice but i guess now i know why most of my friends wear glasses :p but a 25" or 27" should be pretty good. i had a polaroid tv to replace my fryed monitor and it worked fine for me. it was 27" I showed it a few times on tinychat and Jerzey said those were good. and i would flip it back and forward to watch tv and stuff. it had all the connections to play my 360/PS3 to my computer and most of all my retro consoles! who wants to play pong with on the Atari 2600?! (would not recommend play Atari 2600 on a LCD tv, burns the life span within few months or days)

Now I don't know the spec's and details about the polaroids tvs but it work just fine for me. I had no problem played nicely and Jerzey gave it thumbs up back then. I gave to my mom because she needed a tv so I would buy one but Kerzyte was right on big tvs don't buy those. I forgot to say that about the polaroids on the first comment
 
Human eyes don't work exactly like monitors as far as refresh rate is concerned. While generally, a higher refresh rate will look smoother, the amount of tangible difference varies. (Looking at my previous post, I am a bit surprised that I forgot to include that as a factor) Not to mention, unless you can run your games at a constant 120 FPS, you will not be able to fully make use of the better refresh rate.

If I were you, I would get an Ultrasharp. The screen will be smaller than what you're used to, but the quality will more than make up for the decrease in size. It's really between the U2312HM and the U2412M

The differences being:
Size: 23" vs 24"
Resolution: 1920x1080 vs 1920x1200
Price: $210 vs $310

If the bigger 16:10 monitor is worth $100 extra dollars to you, then definitely go with the U2412M
If you don't necessarily need the extra space, save yourself $100 and go with the U2312HM

And remember, no matter your choice, multi-monitor setups are your friend. Grab two (or three, for Eyefinity/Nvidia Surround), and you will have so much space, you won't even know what to do with it.
 
After talking with Woot and Ozy the other day a Dell Ultrasharp is more than likely where i'll go but this is what i'll probably get. I would love to have dual monitors but i'll have to get a new desk that can hold them and a 2nd monitor later. so that's my goal to get it done by halloween.

Thanks for the help, it's been a few years since i monitor shopped. i run 580's in SLI but i don't know for how much longer. PC is more than 2 years old now, almost time to upgrade and when i do it will probably be just 1 card this time. I've never had a game that could max out both 580's even on the highest settings BF3, Planetside 2, Crisis 1 and 2, none of them have been able to do it.
 
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