Flat Panel monitors

[Fusion]

basically, i'm going for the following base unit from a store near me:

XP2600-DVD/CD-ReWriter

Specifications

* Mainboard: Asrock/Asus
* Processor: XP 2600+
* RAM: 512MB DDR 333
* Hard Drive: 120GB (7200RPM)
* Graphic Card: upto 64MB O/B
* Sound: O/B
* DVD-ROM: 16x
* CDRW: 52x
* Modem: 56K
* Network Card: 10/100
* Others:
o 1.44" Floppy Drive
o 6 x USB Ports
* AMD Approved Cooling Fan
* ATX 400Watt Case

Price: ?379

mouse and keyboard are fine, it's getting the monitor i'm worried about.
i really badly don't want another CRT, as this is going in my room, and space is limited.
i'm looking for a flat panel monitor, but don't want too spend much money at all. size isn't really that much of a problem - i'd go smaller to save some cash.

oh yes, and what of the different technologies? i studied alot of this last year, but didn't pay much attention. boo me.

anyone?

[Treble]

If you are going for 17", I personally recommend this one:

http://www.kelkoo.co.uk/sitesearch/search.jsp?siteSearchQuery=aoc+17+tft

AOC one, top of the list.

Look at the awards next to it, and the price!
>_<
I'm completely happy with it; it really is excellent. Only drawback: no DVI socket. Is that a problem for you?

[Fusion]

ah yes. i tried kelkoo, but the prices were still a bit steep (i'm a poor git, me ) for my liking. btw having no DVI socket doesn't make a blind bit of difference to me!

my friend got himself a really nice 17" TFT for under ?150. and i mean really nice. but it was probably nicked. or something.

[Moodmon]

While on the subject, I was wondering. If you have the space, would you get a TFT or a CRT? Just wondering as the way my desk is I have plenty of room, and haven't been overly impressed by my friends TFT monitors. I am just being daft?

[Fusion]

well, if i had the room, i'd just get a CRT. stupidly cheap, and apparently they produce a better quality image for longer. i know one of my tutors won't touch TFT's.

[yashiro]

To be honest it depends on what you do with your PC.
For coding, writing docs & browsing, TFT is miles better. Much sharper images (especially via DVI) and its less stressful on the eyes.
Of course they're not quite as good with games and require a fixed rez.

I recently moved from CRT to TFT. For my purposes I wouldn't switch back. (My old crt was donated to the dreamcast)

Lots of webbing, occasional gaming = TFT
Mostly gaming = CRT

[superkully]

LG 1701B from Amazon - ?299

Excellent build and image quality plus a built in hub.

It's native is 1280 x 1024, but I play Call of Duty at 1024x768 and the slighty boxiness doesn't bother me. At 800x600 it pisses me off, but who uses that resolution nowadays? Response time is 16ms and I don't notice any blurring at all in Call of Duty at 1024x768 or BF1942 at 1280x768.
Bought it last week after spending days finding a TFT which was good AND in-stock AND didn't completely rip me off.

But if you're on a budget, a good CRT can be had for ?100...

PS Looks grand with a black case too!

[mt50]

TFT is miles better. Much sharper images (especially via DVI) and its less stressful on the eyes.

Lots of webbing, occasional gaming = TFT
Mostly gaming = CRT

i agree with that, my last monitor was a crt and after 30mins or so my eyes started to hurt, but now on this tft i can sit looking at it for hours at a time and my eyes are fine, allthough when it starts going dark you need plenty of light, as the screen is so bright even with the setting right the way down it is still very bright.

my tft is just fine for the ammount of games i play. can't tell the difference between crt and tft for gameing, maybe thats because i have got a crap graphics card though

[Fusion]

got the base unit earlier, along with a bog-standard 17" CRT, for a grand total of ?460.

when i tried to hook it up with my old PC (the one i'm using now), i realised i don't have a NIC in here. gonna go and grab one on the cheap tomorow i think. ICS will suffice for now, i'll get a router at a later date (expect another topic for that, then, in the near future )