new monitor

After one false start with a DOA monitor, I am pleased to report the second try worked.  Best Buy has/had a 20.5 wide-screen Lenovo LED, L2262, on sale.  So far it seems terrific for a "budget" unit.  MSRP is around $175 and the BB sale was $139.99.

I started looking a 23" varieties but just don't have the desk space.  The Lenovo is now along side one of my 17" LG Flatrons and they are about the same height.  This version has both D-sub and DVI connectors and I noticed that many other brands are dropping DVI in favor of HDMI.  The monitor has a metal stand which seems fairly substantial with very little wobble and a single thumb screw holds the base to the screen.

I have turned the brightness adjustment down to about 35; it was just overwhelming!  Colors look pretty good.  The monitor controls are a bit irksome so I finally set Windows to use the NVIDIA card adjustments which I could then do on screen and it worked easily.  Viewing angles are good in any direction.

However getting used to the widescreen is going to take some time.

Bill

That's a great deal, Bill. I have a Dell SR2220L 22" LED monitor that I use for my laptop when it's docked at home. Just like you, I had to tone the brightness down to about 35%.

The only problem I see with an HDMI only connection is that one must wait for Windows to start before seeing anything on the screen. To my knowledge, BIOS alone does not yet support HDMI... although I may be wrong about that.

I am now so accustomed to using widescreen monitors that it takes time when I have to use a standard 4:3 monitor.

Scuzzy; I wish I could tone Ace's avatar head down to about 35%.

Sounds good. I don't know that I've ever looked at a side by side comparison of LED and LCD monitors to notice differences.

I'm also not sure if connecting to a LCD TV would be any different than an LCD/LED monitor, but I've had two different computers connected to my TV with HDMI only and have no trouble watching it boot up or fiddling in the BIOS.

... I've had two different computers connected to my TV with HDMI only and have no trouble watching it boot up or fiddling in the BIOS.

Thanks, that's what I thought. Unfortunately I listened to Ace, which is why I poasted that misinformation.

Scuzzy; I should have know better.

I have my tv hooked up to an antenna. 

Bill, I'd like to hear how the transition to widescreen goes, and what you find improved or worse with it.  I've got a widescreen at work, but besides a different web orientation haven't really noticed anything much different as far as spreadsheets or docs...  I don't know with gaming if it would be better, or bizarre, to have things appear widescreen.  I'm still on a 19" LG 4x3 at home.

I'm going to watch the Grammys on a widescreen TV, which boots up quickly since it isn't connected to a computer. 
It's a plasma, which is nothing like an LED or LCD or CRT. 

Ace; I guess if it ever runs out of plasma I could donate some to it.

Side by side there are clearly visible differences between the LED and LCD.  Even with the brightness turned way down, the LED is brighter.  Colors have a deeper saturation or maybe just depth.  Text seems sharper or more crisp.  And I'm not certain if the LED technology is the cause but the new widescreen is faster than the LCD.  And there is no noticeable light bleeding or blooming with this LED but the top of the screen is a little darker than the bottom.

I only play one game -Virtual Pool-  and the action is quicker on the LED but its very different in appearance with the 1920x1080 resolution and the 16:9 format.  Admittedly the LCD is at least 5 years old and maybe the worse for wear but I use it primarily for Thunderbird and a couple of IE tabs of news and financial web sites and so it serves it's purpose.  Clearly not worth the cost to replace it just because I found something better.

I am going to start a new thread because I'd like to follow up on Ace's plasma tv, we're in the market, or were.

Bill