Why Buy a Flat Panel Monitor

Not so long ago, a flat panel monitor was an extravagant purchase, where a 17 inch LCD monitor would cost over five hundred dollars, and that wasn’t even for a widescreen model! Thankfully, manufacturing technology and costs have improved, resulting in larger widescreen monitors costing little more than an old and heavy CRT monitor.

What to Look for in a Monitor

Before buying a flat panel monitor, you need to be aware of the following, to ensure your new monitor can connect to your computer, and optimally perform for all your needs, whether you are a hardcore gamer, graphic designer, video editor, or just like to surf the web, chat, and email.

For connectivity, you need to know what type of monitor your computer’s video card can support. The most common monitor ports are VGA, DVI, and HDMI. Older video cards always support VGA monitors, while newer cards have added DVI and HDMI connectivity. Refer to your computer or video card’s documentation, or do a little research online to find out what type of monitor your computer supports.

For gaming and multimedia editing/viewing, a 19 inch or larger widescreen monitor is a good place to start. Make sure you get a monitor with a 5 ms (millisecond) or less response time for gaming, and for a crisper picture, the lower the dot pitch value the better.

Ultimately, it’s best to see a monitor in action for yourself, but that’s not always feasible, so check out our expert and user reviews to see which monitors are the best for your needs in features, price, and functionality. At TopTenREVIEWS, we do the research so you don’t have to.

Rank	#1	#2	#3	#4	#5	#6	#7	#8	#9	#10
Excellent Very Good Good Fair Poor	Samsung Syncmaster T220	NEC MultiSync 70GX2	Acer AL 24116WD	Hewlett Packard LP2465	Apple Cinema HD Display	Dell UltraSharp 2407WFP	Eizo Coloredge CE240W-WS	Viewsonic VA2226W	Planar PL 1910M	Viewsonic VX 724
Excellent Very Good Good Fair Poor
Reviewer Comments
Lowest Price	$279	$349	$919	$513	$1694	$339	$1612	$189	$199	$365
Price Comparisons

Overall Rating
Ratings
Features
Value
Expert Reviews
User Reviews
View Specifications	Go	Go	Go	Go	Go	Go	Go	Go	Go	Go
Features
Resolution	1680 x 1050	1280 x 1024	1920 x 1080	1920 x 1200	2560 x 1600	1920 x 1200	1920 x 1200	1680 x 1050	1280 x 1024	1280 x 1024
Response Time	2 ms	4 ms	6 ms	6 ms	14 ms	6 ms	8 ms	5 ms	5 ms	6 ms
Brightness	300 cd/m2	400 cd/m2	500 cd/m2	500 cd/m2	400 cd/m2	450 cd/m2	450	300 cd/m2	240 cd/m2	300 cd/m2
Contrast Ratio	894:1	700:1	1,000:1	1,000:1	700:1	1,000:1	1,000:1	1000:1	700:1	500:1
Dot Pitch		0.264 mm	0.27 mm	0.27 mm	0.25 mm	0.27 mm	0.27 mm	0.258 mm	0.294 mm	0.264 mm
Warranty	3 Years	3 Years	3 Years	3 Years	1 Year	3 Years	5 Years	3 Years	3 Years	3 Years
Aspect Ratio		5:4		16:10	16:9	16:9	16:10		5:4	5:4 (Regular)
Backlight Life				50,000 hour(s)	60,000 hour(s)	60,000 hour(s)		40,000 hour(s)
Depth	8.5 in	8 in.	8.7 in.	9.1 in	8.5 in		9.06 in.	8.9 in	8.30 in.	2.4 in.
Display Type		LCD		LCD	LCD	LCD	LCD	LCD	LCD	LCD
Height	17.4 in	14.4 in.	18 in.	21.8 in	21.4 in		14.13 in.	17 in	241f 16.40 in.	2583 17.2 in.
Power Consumption	45 Watt	47 Watts	110 Watt	75 Watt	150 Watt	33 Watt	110 Watt	38 Watt	55 Watts	35 Watts
Signal Input	DVI-I	DVI-D	VGA	DVI-I	DVI-D	DVI-D	DVI-I	DVI-D	DVI-D	DVI-D
Size	22 in.	17 in.	24 inch	24 inch	30 in	24 inch	24 inch	22 in.	19 in.	17 in.
Sync Rate	75 Hz x 81 KHz	56 - 75 Hz	75 Hz x 80 KHz	85 Hz x 94 KHz	75 Hz x 80 KHz	76 Hz x 81 KHz	86 Hz x 94 KHz	75 Hz x 82 KHz	49 - 75 Hz	50 - 75 Hz
Vertical Viewing Angle	160	155	178	178		89	178	160	170	160
Viewing Angle	170	170	178	178	178	89	178	170	170	160
Weight	12.8 lbs	12.6 lb.	20 lb.	23.6 lbs		14.31 lb.	23	11.2 lbs	12.10 lb.	11.0 lb.
Width	20.5 in	15.4 in.	22.7 in.	19.7 in	27.1 in		22.28 in.	20.1 in	16.60 in.	15.3 in.

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