Hello all,
I am looking for a new LCD monitor and i need some advice.
Right now i own a Xelo SP1702 17" LCD. Probably well known in the german community. It is based on a samsung TN panel of 25ms response or so. Its 1 year old and i dont like and i dont know why i have been keeping it this long.
My main gripes about it:
- brightness/backlit: I dont know why but i get very tired on this monitor. Either it is very bright or there is something with the backlit frequency that i dont like. But it hurts staring at this monitor for long. I have 0 brightness setting and still get tired. I spent a lot of hours in front of the screen so confort is a must. If this is common with LCDs I might go for a CRT but space saving is critical for me also.
- dark scenes: I hate when i am not able to see anything on dark movies or games. DOOM3 is a complete different game watched on a CRT. The Xelo only knows one dark colour: black (well, dark grey ;).
My secondary gripes:
- Viewing angle: really narrow. I care more for vertical than for horizontal viewing angle.
- No DVI
- It looks like color is darker in the upper part than in the lower part of the screen.
- Lot of qulity seems to go away when lowering brightness.
The use I give to my monitor:
50% desktop use: programming + surfing.
30% movie watching: DVDs + Divx
20% games: Flight simulator, counter strike, more fps...
I am not a response time fanatic. What i mean: i want to play games acceptably without having to regret the money spent on the monitor. On the Xelo i dont notice any ghosting. So 16ms, 20ms is great for me. Even 25ms if the Xelo is 25ms, but im not sure.
I prefer 19" monitors since its better for 1280x1024 resolution.
The price is not really an issue if it is well spent money.
I hope you can help me on this. I have read tons of reviews yet i dont know what i need. Thanks deeply for your help.