Just bought a PC need help with buying monitor.

[Dex]

I will be getting along with the student discount a student gift card totaling $253. I am going to buy a monitor with it and was looking for any insight as to what PC gamers use. The gift card is strictly to Dell so anyone with experience with Dell please post. Looking for around a 20" monitor around the price range of the gift card. Best quality for the price please.

[CarolinaSock]

Not sure you'll even find a monitor that expensive at that size. So if you really want that size you can have your pick of them pretty much. Recommend a response time of 8ms or better. Other than that Asus, LG, Samsung, and Acer all make good monitors in my experience. I have one of these and love it http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236174. It's 24 inch and still well short of your price limit.

[Dex]

Not sure you'll even find a monitor that expensive at that size. So if you really want that size you can have your pick of them pretty much. Recommend a response time of 8ms or better. Other than that Asus, LG, Samsung, and Acer all make good monitors in my experience. I have one of these and love it http://www.newegg.co...N82E16824236174. It's 24 inch and still well short of your price limit.

It's a Dell gift card. So it must be on the Dell site. I would love to have an Acer but they don't sell them.

[Donald LaFell]

luckily dell makes great monitors. You should be able to get less than a 5ms response time. I would try to get 1920 x 1080 as that's the fastest growing standard. 24" should be a good size to shoot for. I would explore the web for some dell coupons, dell always has huge sales and promotions. I'm sure the company store is overpriced as hell.

[Seamonk]

dell has good monitors. just do some research on Panel type (TN vs IPS, etc) and response time. Most monitors $200 and up should be 1920x1080 or higher. and typically the higher the contrast ratio the better(However you won't notice a difference after a certain point so the only thing it'll do is burn your eyes out)

[Dex]

http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/productdetail.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19&sku=320-1629&~ck=baynoteSearch&baynote_bnrank=4&baynote_irrank=0 How about this one guys? Also comes in a 23 inch.

[God]

id try to get one with an HDMI if you can

[Dex]

Obviously lol

[Ivan The Awesome]

http://accessories.u...en&sku=320-2736

You want this. LED is superior to LCD.

LCD= Liquid Crystal Dislplay

VS

LED= Light Emitting diode

LED is superior in ever aspect. Crisp lighting, energy efficiency. Each Diode having all the basic color schemes RGB, RBYG. Less effort than LCD. Trust me I used to sell light bulbs and had to know every nook and cranny about lighting and why its better to buy this bulb than that bulb.

I recommend people who are buying a HDTV to buy the LED version instead of the LCD version always. LED will outlast the LCD every single time. Never buy plasma. Once they are fuged you can't fix them.

I'm going by the dollar amount you've provided so here you go.

[Dex]

http://accessories.u...en&sku=320-2736

You want this. LED is superior to LCD.

LCD= Light Crystal Dislplay

VS

LED= Light Emitting diode

LED is superior in ever aspect. Crisp lighting, energy efficiency. Each Diode having all the basic color schemes RGB, RBYG. Less effort than LCD. Trust me I used to sell light bulbs and had to know every nook and cranny about lighting and why its better to buy this bulb than that bulb.

I recommend people who are buying a HDTV to buy the LED version instead of the LCD version always. LED will outlast the LCD every single time. Never buy plasma. Once they are fuged you can't fix them.

I'm going by the dollar amount you've provided so here you go.

What's the difference between these two then?

http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/productdetail.aspx?c=us&cs=ussoho1&l=en&sku=320-2736

http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/productdetail.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19&sku=320-1629&~ck=baynoteSearch&baynote_bnrank=4&baynote_irrank=0

[Dex]

It looks like the one you chose Ivan is older, has no HDMI connectivity and a response time of 8 ms while the other has 5 ms. I think I should go with the one I posted.

[Ivan The Awesome]

What's the difference between these two then?

http://accessories.u...en&sku=320-2736

http://accessories.u...aynote_irrank=0

Well go with the one that is LED all the way through. There is no such thing as LCD with LED display. That's a farce. You can't have liquid crystal display with Light emitting diode display.

You have to find the true LED display. HDMI is very important for sure.

[Dex]

I don't understand how can it be LED then?

[Seamonk]

for a monitor, you don't really need hdmi. The video signal in hdmi is the same digital signal in DVI. The only thing HDMI has different is sound. So unless you're gonna use the shitty built-in speakers on you monitor(if present) then it should make no difference quality wise.

If you're looking for convenience, that's a whole other story. For example, you want to plug your xbox/ps3 into your monitor to play on it or something. Then that comes in handy.