So my old terrible Packard Bell TFT monitor of about 7 years died today. So i'm looking for a new one, preferably 20 or 22inch widescreen.

I've got a budget of about £150 - £200.

Now about these new monitors, all the TN panels seem to have the best specs, but i've heard this is very misleading, as apparently all the TN panels have crap viewing angles and bleeding issues.

Now i'm looking at this Samsung syncmaster model "SM2243NW":

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/145316

It's a good price, and doesn't seem to be a TN panel, so hopefully it has better viewing angles. Can anyone recommend this monitor, or a better one at a similar price? Anything udner £200 will do.

Thanks guys.

There's also this one as well:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MO-096-SA

Samsung SM-2253LW, looks really nice, not a crappy TN panel, but some guy on this forum says it hums and makes loud noises, which isn't good is it?

get one that has a built in nic and an always live connection to a porn site

Yeah, there are some things about TN panels that some folks love to hate. Here's the thing: TN panels are cheaper to make with better specs that people care about, IE response time, resolution, contrast ratio, etc. The trouble with TN panels is that they're almost always 6-bit panels, meaning they can only carry 6-bits of color information per-channel per-pixel. This means that the total gamut of displayable colors is about 260,000 colors, versus the 16.7 million colors offered forth by 32-bit RGB color.

In order to display 32-bit color natively, you need an 8-bit panel -- which tends to run a little bit more money, but I would be willing to bet that those samsungs are 8-bit panels.

Honestly, though... TN panels aren't bad. Actually, that's an understatement -- just because they can't TRULY display 32-bit color doesn't mean they can't fake it very very well. There are good TN panel makers and there are bad TN panel makers, and the good TN panel makers deserve kudos for what they're doing.

I have a 28" Hanns-G TN panel -- it's huge, and it cost me $650. Now, it's around $490, while the competing Dell is at $800 and still doesn't get you an HDMI input. It's a very nice monitor, and yes... it's a TN. I really wouldn't throw those out the window.

So what you're saying is, that even though TN panels have their downfalls, they're still really good at other things.

I don't mind if the viewing angle is bad vertically, it's just horizontally. I'll never view it from an above position or anything, i have a samsung hdtv in my room that i use to watch all of my movies, dvds and blu-rays.

All i'll be using this for is general pc use and playing a few games (i have an ati 4850).

So are the TN panels a good deal then?

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MO-063-SA&tool=3

This samsung pebble gets rave reviews from customers, and it's specs are phenomenal, it's just the fact that it's a TN panel. But if they aren't that bad, then do you recommend me picking one up?

I can't use this ugly 12 year old IBM CRT monitor for much longer, i really do need to make a decision.

The above non TN panels with worse specs, or the below TN panel with superior specs?

Thanks.

Right i think i might have decided on a great monitor then.

This LG L226WTQ monitor:

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/142047/show_product_reviews

It's £174.96, which is a great price, it's received rave reviews from CNET here:

http://reviews.cnet.co.uk/monitors/0,39030121,49294285,00.htm

They say it's the best 22 inch monitor in that price range, obviously there are better monitors but they're gonna cost upwards of £250, and that's money i don't have, it looks great, it feels great, i think i'm going for it.

If anybody has had a bad experience with these monitors, or if this is a worldwide conspiracy to intoxicate me with a biological airborne toxin when i turn this thing on after it gets here tomorrow, please speak up now.

Thanks guys.

Basically, yes, that's what I'm saying. Unless you're a professional video editor/photo editor (and even then...) you're not going to reap the "advantages" of a non-TN panel. Save yourself some money and fetch a good brand TN panel. Samsung and LG both have excellent products, so... I wouldn't worry about their quality. Just... since you're looking for a monitor in the 20" to 22" range, make sure it has a resolution of 1680x1050. That's a nice and big resolution, and all the while your Radeon HD 4850 shouldn't have any trouble pushing that many pixels (even with some extra anti-aliasing and anisotropic filtering and other high settings).

A word of warning: TN panels don't have good viewing angles -- this is their achilles heel. Usually this doesn't matter, because a computer monitor is almost always viewed by only one or two sets of eyes, and they're usually looking directly at the monitor. TV's are different, they're designed to be viewed by many sets of eyes, from a distance, at many different angles (like, say, you and a couple friends watching TV on a couch and a living room chair).

If you NEED good viewing angles, then yes -- you'll have to bite the bullet and go with a good non-TN panel. I don't see that you'll really need to, though, being that you have a TV in your room as is already.

Sorry but thats a TN panel.But guess what there is nothing wrong with TN panels any more.Most of Samsungs best selling LCDs are TN panels.I just switched from a Acer X192w 19 WS (TN panel)and its image quality was great and viewing angle were pretty decent to at 160/160 which i tend to believe because i could watch videos from almost any angle.I now have a 20.1 inch Dell 2007FP and its image is great also.But if you ask me the Acer had a nicer pic.But the Dell has awesome viewing angles 178/178.I do like my S-IPS panel,But id trade it in a minute for a Acer 24 inch LCD.This what i want after i get my second 260GTX here next week.And ill have one very soon since i dont like waiting..lol

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824009125

A_Pickle
I want one of those Hanns G 28inch LCD';s they are nice.