The Gun Counter

Getting fed up with this 19' screen (was fed up with it the day I bought it, but money issues left me no choice at the time). I've a good idea of the basic spec, but where's the best place to buy, and what models come most objectively recommended (not just Amazon or Newegg opinions)

Brand name, or are there some generics out there that are just as good?

I've got an Acer I got a number of years ago that I like allot.

*sigh*

If you're asking the question, it means that anyone making an effort to give you a genuinely useful answer is going to have so much work to do laying the groundwork and giving context that it's not worth the effort. Ugh, sorry. (So what I do say probably won't make too much sense at first.) But I can recommend some background reading that may help.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liquid_crystal_display
http://www.tnpanel.com/tn-vs-ips-va/
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/52516 ... types-help
http://www.pchardwarehelp.com/guides/lc ... -types.php

The really short version is most monitors you'll see are TN panels, which are basically the lowest-common-denominator LCD tech. It's cheap, and it can do fast refresh rates so gamers like it. And it's cheap. Then you have IPS panels, which are nice to look at but expensive and aren't capable of as fast refresh rates. So you don't see them much and they tend to be more expensive but picky people prefer them.

Don't get me started wrt screen resolutions and aspect ratios. The short version there is that there was a brutal race to the bottom and the whole market now treats everything like it's going to be used as a tv/tv-like-media-consumption-device, (the fuckers) nobody uses their monitor to get work done anymore. (the fuckers) You won't find 4x3 aspect rations anymore, it's over and widescreens won. (the fuckers) Plus you have to pay a premium to get a laptop screen that's higher-res than 1080p, (the fuckers) which may seem impressive for a tv but in the real world is actually pretty pathetic (the fuckers). I'm personally not happy about this.

That said, if I were to buy a monitor tomorrow it would be http://www.amazon.com/HP-ZR24w-24-inch- ... B003D1ADUU this one.

I have a 21/22" Acer, about $100-150 at Wally World. I like it pretty much. YMMV.

If possible, configure a laptop to output external video as close as possible to the specs you want, and take that to the store with you. I realize it will be VGA, but it may show a few advantages and deficiencies in the setup.

Then again, perhaps not.

Thanks for the advice and suggestions guys. I'm going to revisit the Stores I've been to so far plus a few others, I don't think most of them were as adjustable as I'd like. Seemed like Best Buy had the best selection in this area from what I'd checked so far.