The first thing that should be noted is the native resolution of 1,920×1,200, which is HD resolution and useful for a number of reasons; such as being able to open multiple windows at once without maximizing them and yet remain viewable. Here’s the catch; though the resolution is 1920×1200, which is enough for HD, 1,080p image should optimally be used meaning 1,920×1,080 resolution for best image quality. So should you try to plug a device that inputs 1,080p signal into the 245B, the resulting image will be scaled to fit the native resolution of the monitor, which will affect the image’s sharpness.
The stand is a decent one, though you don’t get pivot capabilities. But, you can still get the regular height adjustment, up-down angle tilting, and a twist pad built into the base of the stand allows you to pan the monitor left or right (viewing angle is 160°). The overall design is a simple black, with buttons evenly spaced between each other situated at the bottom right of the monitor. Pressing the down button brings up the the MagicBright settings, which is for you to change between various presets. The Samsung 245B has a response time of 5ms, which is great. It also has a high contrast ratio of 3000:1 on dynamic mode and 1000:1 on static mode. What actually differentiates the 245B from the other 24” monitors is the TN panel used instead of the S-PVA panel in others. This means that instead of being an 8-bit colour panel, it’s a 6-bit colour one.
This display panel proves to be a competent one for gaming purposes. One good thing about the TN panel is that it switches quickly, with a gray-to-gray response time of 5ms, and there’s no hint of motion smearing. Video-wise, the quality is decent, but not really a match for HD TVs. There’s no HDMI port, which is a bit disappointing. It has a HDCP compliant DVI port and an analogue D-sub, the standard fare. Still, without 1:1 pixel mapping the HDCP support may not be all that useful since high-definition sources you try to plug in will be scaled to the native resolution of the display panel.
Though it may not be the cheapest 24 inch display around, but it is still considerably more affordable than some of the higher end models. If you are a little tight on budget, Samsung’s 245B is one you can consider.
LaCie 526:
If you're into games, or just want to watch some movies or surf the Web and check your email and so on, many of the quality consumer LCD (liquid crystal display) monitors on the market are fine for you. We feel the world is moving to a widescreen world and obviously we'd recommend a nice 22-inch or bigger widescreen monitor for maximum enjoyment of your PC, but you don't have to go nuts with a high monitor budget.
If you do a lot of work with photos, desktop publishing and layout, or video editing, you'll probably want something more. Professional grade monitors, like LaCie's 526 model, cost a lot more than your average consumer LCD, but they offer wider color gamuts, better uniformity, and better color accuracy. Today we put LaCie's 25.5-inch display to the test and see if it's really worth almost $2,000 for a professional user. Continued...
ASUS MK241:LCD monitors fall into a wide range of categories, from the small, cheap, no-frills models to bigger, more expensive models filled with TV tuners and other extras. There are consumer displays optimized for desktop, video, and game use and professional displays that emphasize color accuracy and uniformity.
For most people, the sweet spot these days is a 22-inch or 24-inch widescreen consumer LCD that falls somewhere between "bare bones" and "kitchen sink" on the features scale. Today we'll give you the lowdown on just one such monitor from ASUS, their MK241 model.
As a standard 24-inch, 1920x1200 widescreen LCD, the MK241 boasts some impressive stats. A "130%" color gamut means a wide color range, 3000:1 contrast ratio for dark blacks and bright whites, 2ms response time for clarity in games and fast-moving video, and an integrated webcam and array microphone. Manufacturer claims are one thing, and actual performance in the real world is another. Is this your next LCD, or are the promises too good to be true? Continued...
Most PC displays have some form of video processor built in. While some are more capable than others, their main job is scaling an interpolation of non-native resolutions. Want to run a game at 1680x1050 on your 24-inch, 1920x1200 display? The video processor takes care of that. Toss in video inputs, and the video processor needs to take care of de-interlacing, noise reduction, and other video related features.
Until recently, no video processor for PC displays was really capable of handling the video processing needed to properly scale to 2560x1600. Instead, your PC system's graphics card was used to handle video processing for existing 30-inch monitors.
That changed on October 4th, when Gateway announced their XHD3000 display, which incorporates a Silicon Optix Realta chipset. Normally used in high end consumer electronics hardware, Silicon Optix video processors offer the horsepower needed to scale and de-interlace both standard definition and HD video streams.
Can this high end, Swiss Army Knife of displays really live up to Gateway's promises? We've put it on the test bench, as well as used it for several weeks, to find out.
First, though, let's take a quick tour of the key features of the XHD3000. Continued...
Planar px2611w:
The world of LCD PC monitors can be broken up into four groups. The "save a buck" group of 20- and 22-inch displays with resolutions of 1680x1050 can certainly deliver very good image quality if you buy the right one, but their screen size and resolution keep the price low. Many 24-inch displays are in a class by themselves; you step up to 1920x1200 resolution and move up in price, but it's considerably cheaper than the big monitors. The high end is dominated by new 30-inch displays with a resolution of 2560x1600, which is nearly twice the resolution of 1080p. You'll have a hard time running modern PC games at that resolution without a good dual-card graphics setup.
Then there are the "tweeners" that fall somewhere between the 24- and 30-inch units. You'll find sizes of 26-, 27-, or 28-inches, and the resolution is almost always 1920x1200. Sometimes these represent a really good value over 30-inch models, saving you several hundred dollars. Other times they're priced nearly the same as their bigger brethren. A good price these days for a quality monitor in this range is under $1,000. So at first glance, Planar's 26-inch PX2611W looks attractive. It's available from quite a few online retailers for $950—not dirt-cheap enough to raise warning flags about its quality, but less expensive than some other 26 to 28-inch competitors. Of course, it's only a good deal if the quality is there, right? Let's see if Planar offers a good price on a good monitor, or just another excuse to spend more money on a different panel.Continued...
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