Choosing a monitor

[Thresh25]

So I bought a 26" tv from bestbuy to use as my monitor and regret it greatly. Way too many resolution setting problems, so I'm going to use it as a paper weight or something and actually get a monitor.

So I went to bestbuy to look at some then went to compare at newegg, here's what I'm looking at.

This is a 22" it had a glossy screen which I actually liked a lot. I only looked at if for a few minutes, it's not on newegg and this is the cheapest I could find it. Anyone know much about it?
Gateway - 22" Widescreen Flat-Panel LCD HD Monitor - HD2201

This is another I found at bestbuy, which I did not get a chance to actually see.
Acer - 23" Widescreen Flat-Panel LCD Monitor - Black - H233H bmid

It's also on newegg but actually more expensive. here it is,
Newegg.com - Acer H233Hbmid Black 23" 5ms HDMI Full HD 1080P Widescreen LCD Monitor 300 cd/m2 40000:1 (ACM) Built in Speakers - LCD Monitors
Or the same thing w/o speakers.
(cheapest)
Newegg.com - Acer X233Hbid Black 23" 5ms HDMI Full 1080P Widescreen LCD Monitor 300 cd/m2 40000:1 (ACM) - LCD Monitors


So I've got quite a few questions...

1. Does Acer have good quality, the picture on other Acers I saw looked a little dull compared to some nicer LG and the like.
2. I have an hd4850, I'm pretty sure a 1920x1080 resolution my card would stumble and fall on more demanding games. Is this correct?
3. Anyone know much about dell's quality, a pro or con with the glossy screen? I don't have much sunlight in the room where it's at so that's not a problem. It also got good reviews on cnet.
4. With the monitor with speakers, if I have it hooked up dvi to hdmi how can I get sound? Because dvi is video only, so how would I use the monitor speakerS?
5. The 1680x1050 resolution will look good, and my hd4850 will handle it fine correct?
6. Last, the Acers say maximum and recommended at 1920x1080, even though it's recommended could I set it to a lower resolution, or would this cause problems?

Thanks in advanced, first to answer gets much rep! haha

 

[meat_helmet]

1. Acer screens are generally not as good as LG or Samsung, but it does depend on the screen.
2. Yes. 1080p on a HD4850 will be hard for alot of newer games, but still might be ok to max, say, COD4.
3. Dell have very good screens because they generally use higher quality panels than just about anyone else (im just about to buy one), especially the ultrasharp series. I would stay away from glossy screens, even with a small amount of light i think the reflectivitiy would become annoying.
4. Yes.
6. You could set it at a lower resolution, but LCDs only display their native (which is also their max) well. Any other lower resolutions will look very poor in comparison.

Also one thing you have to remember when going for a 1080p screen is that is is a 16:9 ratio, which while good for movies, isnt so great for games. Most games are designed for 16:10 these days, so some fps games things may get cut off, or you hay be at a disadvantage compared to other people. Its not a huge difference though - depends how much you game.

 

[Thresh25]

You went from 4 to 6. and 4 could not be answered with just yes, but number 5 could lol. So I assume 5 was a yes.

I assume you don't know how to use the monitor's speakers either?
I think I would be better off just getting a 1680x1050 monitor then since that's about as much as my 4850 could handle. Do you think there's a very big difference between the two?

edit: I don't ever watch movies on this, so I would want what's best for gaming.

 

[baron5]

Just get a standard 22" 1680x1050 monitor. Thresh is right acer do make some nice monitors especially budget ones, but samsung are usually of higher picture quality. Dell is good because they use samsung panels. The difference would be noticeable but for a 4850 it's just not worth the upgrade for gaming performance. Either you would take settings down or resolution down and both would be worse off then having a 22" at maxed settings or higher settings anyway.

 

[philbar71]

at 1680x1050 my old 9800GTX maxed every game i had. ran it like butter (except crysis) so your 4850 shouldn't have a problem.

i have been eyeing this monitor. looks good but your 4850 might struggle at 1920x1080. but it's still a good deal.

Newegg.com - Acer X233Hbid Black 23" 5ms HDMI Full 1080P Widescreen LCD Monitor 300 cd/m2 40000:1 (ACM) - LCD Monitors

use the promo code below and get it for $179

EMCLRMT52

 

[Druid]

Just a question about this 26" paperweight, what was the problem you were having? Was it the one where you can't get the resolution to fit the screen correctly? If that is all, you can probably fix that in your graphics control pannel. I know I have a computer with a gtx 260 core 216 hooked up to a 52" 1080p tv, and I had to use that thing in the Nvidia control pannel to slide the boundaries of the screen to get everything to display correctly. I wouldn't give up on your tv just yet.

 

[Thresh25]

The same model on my old 8600 gt I was able to use it's native resolution at 1336x768 via nvidia control panel. However with CCC I cannot set it to 1336x768, when I do the TV just says no signal. So i''ve got it at 1280x1024 which takes up the whole screen, but then it forces my refresh rate to be 30hz. So I can do 1280x720 which looks like **** and then have 60hz.

I've tried everything and am tired of messing around with it.

 

[Druid]

Alright then, I hope you didn't pay too much for it.

 

[Peter.Cort]

If it was a Sony which is one of the only 26" makers I know of, then you paid $500 for it. Get a nice 24" Acer or something

 

[Thresh25]

Heh that's kind of weird. At sears we've got vizio, samsung, sony, and at bestbuy i saw westinghouse, dynex insignia, and i believe some sharps as well along with samsung and sony.

But I bought it new, got it for the open box price they had listed at bestbuy, a westinghouse 26" for like 349.99. for a 26" hard to beat that price. Not the best quality but it was an impulse buy.