Cheap flat panel monitors – Our buyer’s guide
Cheap flat panel monitors Flat panel monitors are becoming more popular; they have risen significantly in popularity over the past few years. I recently purchased a cheap flat panel monitor to see what they offer. I was surprised to see that the quality was able to match some of the high-end CRT monitors.
You can get some excellent deals on cheap flat panel monitors, however, before you buy, remember to access your needs. For gamers I would still go with CTR monitors. You can view my CTR monitor guide here. They offer better quality in games. Try playing one of the recent 3d shooters on a TFT flat screen and then compare on a high-end CRT, and you will see what I mean. For everyone else, flat panel monitors are the way forward. Over the past few years, flat panel monitors have decreased in price, and are now affordable for many home users. I did some shopping around before I got my flat screen, and I Found TigerDirect to be one of the best for low pricing. Lets take a look at some of the things you need to look at before buying a cheap flat panel monitors. Screen Size This is the size of the viewable screen on the monitor. The good news is a 17-inch flat screen gives around the same viewable area as a 19-inch CRT monitor. If you were to buy a 21-inch flat screen, it would be like having a 23-inch monitor. This is pretty awesome by most standards. Refresh rate You don’t want your cheap flat panel monitors flickering; this is where the refresh rate comes in to play. Most flat panel monitors will have support for 70 – 90 Hz. This is fine, and you wouldn’t notice any flickering with this high refresh rate. Fit more on the viewable screen area This one is obvious, the larger the screen, the more you will fit on the screen. By today’s standards you are looking at around 1024x768 for the screen resolution. Most of the cheap flat panel monitors will support this. The higher the resolution, the better it is for you as a general rule of thumb.
You want sharp images on your monitor Make sure your monitor has a low dot pitch number. The smaller the number, the more clearer and sharper the images will be on screen. 26mm to 30 mm is fine. Most 17 inch flat panel monitors will give you 26mm for dot pitch. This results in excellent quality. Adjustable contrast You want a good contrast ratio on your cheap flat panel monitor, for example a typical rate is 300:1, however if you can get 400:1 this would result in a far superior colour definition. Lets take a look at typical price tags for different sizes of flat panel monitors. 15” - $200 - $300 17” - $300 - $500 18” - $400 - $600 19” - $500 - $750 Let me summarize this article by showing you the flat screen I recently purchased.
This IBM flat screen offers a 17-inch screen at 1280x1024 resolution. This meets all the requirements that I mentioned above. The pixel is 26 mm, which is excellent and I can say the quality is high class on both games and DVD movies. The contrast ratio is 500:1, which is way above the standard, which again results in some of the best picture displays around. Saves a vast amount of space, and also looks very classy. Highly recommended and I am well pleased I bought this flat screen. Conclusion Following the guidelines above can get cheap flat panel monitors with decent specifications. The screen I purchased is not the cheapest, but this is what I wanted to replace my high-end 19-inch monitor. Remember access your needs, use the above guide and you can end up with a bargain flat screen what is right for you.
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