Jonathan Bones
Baseband Member
- Messages
- 75
As part of my ongoing study of hardware (see here), I have a few questions regarding LCD monitors. In short, what does the intelligent consumer look for?
My experiences so far tell me that response time (in ms) is key. Also of some importance are contrast ratio and brightness, but only in comparison to other models.
Question 1, response time: Response time is, in effect, refresh rate for LCD monitors, correct? If you want to see no drag whatsoever, how low of a response do you want? 12ms? 8ms? I know that it's still noticeable in our 16ms models. And this is really only an issue if you're gaming/watching video, right? A 25ms response is fine for desktop publishing/internet browsing?
Question 2, contrast ratio: How big of a contrast ratio difference is notable? In our 17" BenQ models at work, which range from $279.99-$429.99 CAD, they're all from 450:1-500:1. So there's really not much difference here, right? The 19" Acer for $399.99 has an 800:1 contrast ratio, on the other hand.
Question 3, brightness: All of the 17" BenQ models have 260 cd/m brightness. The 19" Acer has 300 cd/m. Like in question two, how big of a difference is a notable difference? What's cd/m? And is this something that really only scales with monitor size, or do higher quality monitors have higher cd/m?
Question 4, other things?: What else is crucial, in your opinion? I imagine that resolution is notable.. For example, our 19" will only support up to 1280x1024, not 1600x1200. I was also reading in a magazine that dot pitch and pixel size are of issue, as buying a 19" instead of a 17" may just get you bigger pixels instead of more pixels.
Thanks!
My experiences so far tell me that response time (in ms) is key. Also of some importance are contrast ratio and brightness, but only in comparison to other models.
Question 1, response time: Response time is, in effect, refresh rate for LCD monitors, correct? If you want to see no drag whatsoever, how low of a response do you want? 12ms? 8ms? I know that it's still noticeable in our 16ms models. And this is really only an issue if you're gaming/watching video, right? A 25ms response is fine for desktop publishing/internet browsing?
Question 2, contrast ratio: How big of a contrast ratio difference is notable? In our 17" BenQ models at work, which range from $279.99-$429.99 CAD, they're all from 450:1-500:1. So there's really not much difference here, right? The 19" Acer for $399.99 has an 800:1 contrast ratio, on the other hand.
Question 3, brightness: All of the 17" BenQ models have 260 cd/m brightness. The 19" Acer has 300 cd/m. Like in question two, how big of a difference is a notable difference? What's cd/m? And is this something that really only scales with monitor size, or do higher quality monitors have higher cd/m?
Question 4, other things?: What else is crucial, in your opinion? I imagine that resolution is notable.. For example, our 19" will only support up to 1280x1024, not 1600x1200. I was also reading in a magazine that dot pitch and pixel size are of issue, as buying a 19" instead of a 17" may just get you bigger pixels instead of more pixels.
Thanks!