Educate me about LCD's

[MadMax350]

I am about done with the CRT's. The one I am using now is an Envision 19" model that is threatening failure (monitor glitches sometimes and right/left edges compress; have to smack the side of the monitor to fix). I am thinking about "upgrading" to an LCD but have a few questions...

Basically what I need to know is what would make a good LCD monitor. Any brands to stay away from? How about stuff like "response time" and "contrast ratio"? What numbers do I look for there? I don't do any hardcore gaming but I do like to play games from time to time. I'm not looking for something to be top of the line, actually I am trying to stay under a $300 price tag.

Tigerdirect has an Acer 22" Widescreen LCD on sale for $259.99. It boasts the following specs:

-5ms response time
-800:1 contrast ratio
-DVI-D/VGA Input
-1680x1050 resolution
-VESA 100mm compliant

Good or bad for the price?

Any help would be appreciated.

[YARDofSTUF]

Once apon a time computers used CRT monitors, these monitors were bulky and heavy, people hated them so they started to rise up and complain and some rich guy bitchslapped them all and said here, I giveth thee an LCD, now pay me 70 dolla mofuggah!

Now that the education part is done...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824009102

I assume you mean that one?

Looks nice. I dunno if I'd want a 22" though, 22" widescreen looks to have the same res as a 20" wide screen

[YeOldeStonecat]

LCD's a few years ago had the reputation of being slow, for fast moving graphics such as movies and gaming. Back when early models had response times in the 40ms range.

A few years later...the average was 25ms..then 16ms..and the slowness.."ghosting"...pretty much started going away.

These days..most current generation ones are below 10ms..which is more than fine for gaming.

Popular brands...Acer/BenQ (same parent), Viewsonic (my favorite), Samsung...amongst others.

For optimal performance...get a DVI one...matching with a DVI graphics card.

[Brent]

Be careful about the timings though, there are two different types, gray-to-gray timings and white-to-black timings. Usually the lower numbers are the gray-to-gray they are reporting.

The panel also matters, try and get one with an S-IPS panel and true 8-bit. Many panels with low timings or TN and the like are actually 6-bit panels (and of course cheaper).

Here is a quick guide to the types of panels - http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1039222

You can post in that forum and ask what type of panel the Acer, or any other LCD uses.

[MadMax350]

thanks for the info. further research underway...

[Brk]

That Acer is good, but the ones I've seen in person had a lot of backlight bleed.

[loop2kil]

Burke is right...the 22's all suffer from hideous back light bleed. not sure what your budget is but if you can afford it, look for a monitor with a IPS panels. I have the HP LP2065 20" LCD. IMHO, its the best 20" LCD on the market and has the IPS panel, only downfall is its price...around $450.