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Steakandchips
Apr 30, 2009

Ordering the Dell U2311 tonight!

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Dr. Habibi
Sep 24, 2009



devmd01 posted:

I've taken to using f.lux to turn the color temperature down to 3400K all the time. Obviously this isn't an option for people doing color-sensitive work, but it has gone a long way towards reducing my eyestrain from staring at dual 20" all day.

I really should try this. Even with setting the brightness really low on my U2410, I'm used to staring at a laptop screen all day, and coming home and reading text on that thing is starting to burn out my retinas.

Steakandchips
Apr 30, 2009

Woo, ordered the U2311H, in Singapore! It's seriously a lot cheaper there (£136 compared to £257 here!) and a friend is bringing it back up to the UK in January! WOOHOO!

JUST MAKING CHILI
Feb 14, 2008
The U2311H and U2410 look badass but considering the budget newegg computer I'm putting together (straight from the megathread in this forum) isn't even $700, paying $499 for a U2410 is out of the question and $289 is a stretch for the U2311H.

Right now I run two old as poo poo 17" lcds but one of them is about to die.

I'm a student and I don't play any bleeding edge FPS games, the extent of my gaming is WoW and other MMOs. Is there anything more affordable in the 20" range? I'll be running a GTX 460 1g video card.

Vile
Aug 28, 2005

by Nyc_Tattoo
What is the best way to clean a u2410 of fingerprints?

Steakandchips
Apr 30, 2009

Soft damp cloth, or windex + soft cloth.

GargleBlaster
Mar 17, 2008

Stupid Narutard
Halloa LCD Cleaner is absolutely awesome: http://cpc.farnell.com/_/hl-427/cleaner-lcd-screen/dp/AV12426
Not sure where it'd be found in the US.

A damp microfiber cloth will generally suffice, though. This stuff just seems that little bit more effective for certain users at work who seem to think they have a touchscreen and have completely covered the screen in their greasy prints.

Gucci Loafers
May 20, 2006

Ask yourself, do you really want to talk to pair of really nice gaudy shoes?


You can use any household cleaner, such as Windex. Though, if you let it sit on the monitor for an extended period of time it'll eventually eat through the mylar.

tl;dr - don't worry about what you use to clean a monitor.

Vile
Aug 28, 2005

by Nyc_Tattoo
Thanks. I had used eyeglass cleaner with a microfiber cloth I use to clean my sunglasses and it left lots of streaks I could notice when light was hitting the monitor in the off position. Blah.

Imo it would be nice if this info to be in the OP under 'how do i care for my purdy new 500$ monitor' to help out others

Fishmasher
Apr 22, 2002
I think many screen/camera/eyeglass cleaners are just isopropyl alcohol and water.

Both Dell and Apple have documentation that recommend using Isopropyl alcohol 50%, so that should be the cheapest recommended solution if a plain microfiber or water isn't enough. Both companies warn against using pure isopropyl alcohol though, so just make sure it's diluted.

For me a plain microfiber cloth is usually enough on it's own, but I try to avoid websites that cause me to projectile vomit.

Fishmasher fucked around with this message at 16:54 on Dec 16, 2010

movax
Aug 30, 2008

Tab8715 posted:

tl;dr - don't worry about what you use to clean a monitor.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Windex will rape some AG coatings in seconds! It's almost always immediately fatal to CRT coatings (and you get hilariously fun chemical reactions if you clean the internal mirror with Windex + Ammonia D).

Simplest way to make sure you don't own the AG coating: RTFM. Never use pure rubbing/isopropyl alcohol either, unless you enjoy streak-shaped portions of your screen that have had their AG coating eaten away.

Added a section in one of the OP posts on monitor care and feeding.

quote:

I'm a student and I don't play any bleeding edge FPS games, the extent of my gaming is WoW and other MMOs. Is there anything more affordable in the 20" range? I'll be running a GTX 460 1

Look at the Gateway LED-backlit models perhaps, or Dell's budget 20/21" area. You don't need IPS, a PVA or TN panel should do you just fine.

movax fucked around with this message at 16:42 on Dec 16, 2010

Xybjj
Sep 11, 2010
I've been looking at the Dell U2311H. I'm a heavy gamer and I do video editing. Some googling later, I've found that the U2311H has some ghosting but is hard to notice unless I'm really paying attention. Should I get it or find some other TN monitor?

edit: scratch the video editing part, I don't do enough editing work to justify an IPS monitor.

Xybjj fucked around with this message at 18:25 on Dec 16, 2010

GargleBlaster
Mar 17, 2008

Stupid Narutard
Ghosting is subjective. Some people don't notice if the entire screen is a blur - others go batshit at anything less than a 120Hz monitor designed by the world champion of FPS gaming. If in any doubt, once again, I say try and find a demo one somewhere or a friend with one.

Heavy gaming and not enough editing work to justify IPS (such as the Dell) screams TN to me though.

HandsomeBen
Nov 23, 2006

There is no greater calling than to serve your fellow men. There is no greater contribution than to help the weak. There is no greater satisfaction than to have done it well
I have an Acer p235H that I really like and was looking around last night to grab another. It appears to have been discontinued :( I don't understand why, it seemed pretty popular and I'm pretty sure it was released in 2009.

I want to run dual monitors but not having two of the same might drive me crazy.

Xybjj
Sep 11, 2010

LakesGuzzler posted:

Ghosting is subjective. Some people don't notice if the entire screen is a blur - others go batshit at anything less than a 120Hz monitor designed by the world champion of FPS gaming. If in any doubt, once again, I say try and find a demo one somewhere or a friend with one.

Heavy gaming and not enough editing work to justify IPS (such as the Dell) screams TN to me though.

I've been looking at the Samsung B2330H for a while now. It's probably the cheapest 23 incher that I can find. It's about 10 bucks below the U2311H. It's response time is 5ms. The U2311H is 8ms. Surely I can't see a difference, since there's only 3ms difference between those 2 screens.

(I live in Singapore, so my prices may be different from other regions)

DrDork
Dec 29, 2003
commanding officer of the Army of Dorkness

HandsomeBen posted:

I have an Acer p235H that I really like and was looking around last night to grab another. It appears to have been discontinued :( I don't understand why, it seemed pretty popular and I'm pretty sure it was released in 2009.

I want to run dual monitors but not having two of the same might drive me crazy.
Many companies update their lineups on a yearly basis, so it's not uncommon for something in 2009 to not be in production anymore, even if it is/was wildly popular. See: Dell's U2209WA. That said, without calibration, it's unlikely you'd have gotten the "matching" you wanted without substantial effort. Over time the CCFL in monitors fade (which is one of the big advantages of LED backlights), and as a cheap TN panel, uniformity and QA are generally rather low. That all combines to make it probable that the picture produced by one you picked up today would be noticeably different from the picture produced by the one you've had for almost two years now. So in that sense you're not really losing much by going with a different monitor.

My suggestion is if you can't find one on eBay or something, just find one that has a similar enough looking bezel so at least that part matches pretty well.

Xybjj posted:

I've been looking at the Samsung B2330H for a while now. It's probably the cheapest 23 incher that I can find. It's about 10 bucks below the U2311H. It's response time is 5ms. The U2311H is 8ms. Surely I can't see a difference, since there's only 3ms difference between those 2 screens.
As was born out in the previous thread, response times are basically dirty lies and should (at most) be used as such:
Is the response time >10ms? If so, you'll probably notice ghosting/latency when gaming.
Is the response time <10ms? If so, you may or may not notice ghosting/latency when gaming regardless of what the number is. That is, the difference between 2ms, 5ms, and 8ms amount to measuring techniques and should be ignored. A 2ms panel coupled with a lovely processing chip will perform worse than an 8ms panel coupled with a nice and fast chip. Sadly, there's no way to know which is which without looking at individual reviews.

tl;dr Unless you're used to playing crazy-rear end timing games on a CRT, it is unlikely you'll notice any ghosting/latency on the U2311H, let alone any difference between the U2311H and the B2330H (or any other quality monitor in its class).

DrDork fucked around with this message at 21:23 on Dec 16, 2010

HandsomeBen
Nov 23, 2006

There is no greater calling than to serve your fellow men. There is no greater contribution than to help the weak. There is no greater satisfaction than to have done it well

DrDork posted:

Many companies update their lineups on a yearly basis, so it's not uncommon for something in 2009 to not be in production anymore, even if it is/was wildly popular. See: Dell's U2209WA. That said, without calibration, it's unlikely you'd have gotten the "matching" you wanted without substantial effort. Over time the CCFL in monitors fade (which is one of the big advantages of LED backlights), and as a cheap TN panel, uniformity and QA are generally rather low. That all combines to make it probable that the picture produced by one you picked up today would be noticeably different from the picture produced by the one you've had for almost two years now. So in that sense you're not really losing much by going with a different monitor.

My suggestion is if you can't find one on eBay or something, just find one that has a similar enough looking bezel so at least that part matches pretty well.

I may just hold off for a while, right now I have a 19" viewsonic that I use. It's just there for web browsing/mumble etc while I game on the other. The two being completely different irks me but I'd rather wait and get two of the same monitors then buy a different Acer and have it almost be the same. Probably sounds incredibly stupid but now that I have a steady job and am no longer a poor college student I want my stuff to be shiny and perfect!

DrDork
Dec 29, 2003
commanding officer of the Army of Dorkness

HandsomeBen posted:

Probably sounds incredibly stupid but now that I have a steady job and am no longer a poor college student I want my stuff to be shiny and perfect!
You're talking to a thread where numerous people have tossed down $500-$600 on the U2410 because our sperging OCD was driven batty by the loss of 120 lines, rather than spend half as much on a U2311H. We understand. This is a great time of year for that "wait and see" tactic, too, what with everyone putting out sales regularly.

Xybjj
Sep 11, 2010

DrDork posted:

As was born out in the previous thread, response times are basically dirty lies and should (at most) be used as such:
Is the response time >10ms? If so, you'll probably notice ghosting/latency when gaming.
Is the response time <10ms? If so, you may or may not notice ghosting/latency when gaming regardless of what the number is. That is, the difference between 2ms, 5ms, and 8ms amount to measuring techniques and should be ignored. A 2ms panel coupled with a lovely processing chip will perform worse than an 8ms panel coupled with a nice and fast chip. Sadly, there's no way to know which is which without looking at individual reviews.

tl;dr Unless you're used to playing crazy-rear end timing games on a CRT, it is unlikely you'll notice any ghosting/latency on the U2311H, let alone any difference between the U2311H and the B2330H (or any other quality monitor in its class).

Thank you. I've been skimming over a lot of reviews on the U2311H, all of which say that ghosting is not noticeable. Looks like that's what I'll be getting for Christmas then.

Steakandchips
Apr 30, 2009

Xybjj posted:

I've been looking at the Samsung B2330H for a while now. It's probably the cheapest 23 incher that I can find. It's about 10 bucks below the U2311H. It's response time is 5ms. The U2311H is 8ms. Surely I can't see a difference, since there's only 3ms difference between those 2 screens.

(I live in Singapore, so my prices may be different from other regions)

The U2311H is awesomely discounuted in SG at the moment, about SG$100 off on dell.com.sg, go check it out. I pulled the trigger because of that, having it sent over to me by a friend who is returning to the UK in Jan.

angrytaxman
Apr 16, 2006
My U2711 arrived today, and it's quite badass, and HUGE even coming from a 16:10 26" monitor. But the one problem I have with it is that it seems to have a strange coating on it that makes everything that's light (like white background on a webpage) kind of "shimmer". Has anyone else noticed this? Will I get used to it, or does it go away, or is it just something that some people can't get over?

DrDork
Dec 29, 2003
commanding officer of the Army of Dorkness

angrytaxman posted:

But the one problem I have with it is that it seems to have a strange coating on it that makes everything that's light (like white background on a webpage) kind of "shimmer". Has anyone else noticed this? Will I get used to it, or does it go away, or is it just something that some people can't get over?
That's the anti-glare coating that has been discussed so much. By itself it will never go away. You may or may not get used to it. Some people have gone so far as to strip the AG coating off (Google for it), but I've no idea what sort of consequences that carries for the warranty. Myself, I just got used to the very similar AG coating on my U2410, but it is a deal-breaker for some people.

angrytaxman
Apr 16, 2006

DrDork posted:

That's the anti-glare coating that has been discussed so much. By itself it will never go away. You may or may not get used to it. Some people have gone so far as to strip the AG coating off (Google for it), but I've no idea what sort of consequences that carries for the warranty. Myself, I just got used to the very similar AG coating on my U2410, but it is a deal-breaker for some people.

Yeah I decided to google it after posting this, and it seems to be a very polarizing issue. Personally it's straining my eyes a whole lot right now and is making me very uncomfortable. This sucks I debated for weeks about what monitor to get and never really thought twice about the anti-glare coating being an issue for me.

movax
Aug 30, 2008

angrytaxman posted:

Yeah I decided to google it after posting this, and it seems to be a very polarizing issue. Personally it's straining my eyes a whole lot right now and is making me very uncomfortable. This sucks I debated for weeks about what monitor to get and never really thought twice about the anti-glare coating being an issue for me.

Your other option in the 27" class is the Apple LED display (along with necessary converters) but that comes with its drawbacks as well. I think most of the pro models in this size range are all matte w/ AG coatings. NEC might make a model that's glossy, but it'll be big bucks.

angrytaxman
Apr 16, 2006

movax posted:

Your other option in the 27" class is the Apple LED display (along with necessary converters) but that comes with its drawbacks as well. I think most of the pro models in this size range are all matte w/ AG coatings. NEC might make a model that's glossy, but it'll be big bucks.

Yeah the other display I was considering was a refurb 27" iMac Core2Duo and using the min-DP port to run my computer. It's $1269 which is $550 more than the U2711 was. That's a lot of dough!

DrDork
Dec 29, 2003
commanding officer of the Army of Dorkness

angrytaxman posted:

Yeah the other display I was considering was a refurb 27" iMac Core2Duo and using the min-DP port to run my computer. It's $1269 which is $550 more than the U2711 was. That's a lot of dough!
Kinda silly question, but have you tried turning the brightness down and making sure you're viewing it in a well-lit room? It might help alleviate some of the eye-strain.

Entreri
Nov 8, 2005

Are there any reasonably priced 120hz monitor on the market yet? I really want one for gaming, but I can't really justify a $450 monitor at the moment. I may end up going with this
ASUS 23" VH236H as a budget runner up. Do you guys have any immediate recommendations for gaming monitors?


Edit: Actually, I found a slightly cheaper 120hz Asus that I may jump on. Do monitors tend stay at a relatively fixed price or can I expect it to be half as much next year?




Entreri fucked around with this message at 09:31 on Dec 17, 2010

DrDork
Dec 29, 2003
commanding officer of the Army of Dorkness

Entreri posted:

Edit: Actually, I found a slightly cheaper 120hz Asus that I may jump on. Do monitors tend stay at a relatively fixed price or can I expect it to be half as much next year?
120Hz monitors are a very niche product right now--even moreso than IPS panels, in that they address a "need" that most people don't even recognize: 60Hz is quite fast enough for the vast majority of users, and 3D gaming is going to be a chicken-and-egg game for awhile yet. Which I guess is a long-winded way of saying that all the decent 120Hz panels are rather expensive, resulting from a very small target audience and being new tech. That one you linked, incidentally, does not include NVidia's 3D kit required for 3D gaming (~$150 or so), if that was what you were going for.

As for where the prices will go, the answer is always down. Or, more accurately, the price for a specific monitor stays pretty stable through its life, but new products will come out that replace it at a lower price point. Eg, the U2311H will stay at ~$275 from release to the day it's discontinued, but the refreshed 2011 or 2012 model may offer all the U2311H did, but for $225 while a new monitor with even fancier tech takes over the $275 spot.

I don't know if they'll drop by half by next year unless there's some magic push between now and then that justifies the substantial added expense of a 120Hz monitor over a 60Hz one for more than a tiny subset of the gaming population. As I don't expect such a revolution to take place, I'd imagine they'll still be comparatively expensive vice 60Hz monitors in another year. Maybe it'll only be a $100 premium instead of a $200, but it'll still be higher.

brap
Aug 23, 2004

Grimey Drawer
plus, you don't just need to buy an expensive monitor to display 120hz, you need to get a beefy enough rig to push 120fps in games.

pwh
Aug 9, 2010
There are some refurbished U2311Hs on Dell's Outlet site ($249) if anyone is interested.

Someone please convince me that I don't need a second monitor. Please.

DrDork
Dec 29, 2003
commanding officer of the Army of Dorkness

pwh posted:

Someone please convince me that I don't need a second monitor. Please.
No.

That would be entirely against the spirit of this thread.

Number_6
Jul 23, 2006

BAN ALL GAS GUZZLERS

(except for mine)
Pillbug
It seems to me LCD monitors are really going down the "wrong" path, in terms of almost every new monitor being 16:9 and 1920x1080. I don't want my PC monitor to be an HDTV. And at the same time, many or most of these monitors are still stuck at a pokey 60 hz refresh. If you play games with vsync on, this often means the framerate is going to drop to 30 fps, which is less than ideal.

I much prefer 16:10, and at sizes 22" and less, 1680x1050 is more than enough resolution for me (and more importantly, my video card would choke in games at anything higher). But most 16:10/1680x1050 monitors have vanished, or cost more than the 1920x1080 models.

If anyone knows where I can buy an inexpensive 22", 1680x1050 monitor, with at least 75 hz refresh and overall good image quality, and no discernible input lag, please post it here.

DrDork
Dec 29, 2003
commanding officer of the Army of Dorkness

Number_6 posted:

It seems to me LCD monitors are really going down the "wrong" path, in terms of almost every new monitor being 16:9 and 1920x1080.
As much as many of us here may agree and long for the days of 16:10 monitors, market forces have gone the other way, and 16:9 is here to stay (and dominate). It's a lot easier to stamp "Full HD!" on your monitor and get Average Joe to comprehend that that's a good thing, and then pocket the difference in production costs vice a 16:10 monitor.

Number_6 posted:

If anyone knows where I can buy an inexpensive 22", 1680x1050 monitor, with at least 75 hz refresh and overall good image quality, and no discernible input lag, please post it here.
Does not exist, sorry.

22" 1680x1050 monitors aren't hard to find. 75Hz though, is...uhh...well it'd be an odd bird, at the very least. Virtually no LCD monitors actually support 75Hz in any meaningful way. Either they simply don't let you select that as a refresh rate, or they drop 1:6 frames to resync, effectively displaying the same number of frames over time as at 60Hz, but skipping now and then--probably not what you want. Any monitor which actually does support more than a 60Hz refresh rate is not going to be inexpensive, by any means. The 120Hz monitors carry roughly a $200 premium for it. You're again going to run into issues with "inexpensive" and "good image quality with no lag," as well.

Also, why do you play with vsync on? If you can't also set triple buffering, you're almost always better off with vsync off.

Randuin
Dec 26, 2003

O-Overdrive~
Is there any way to for reals connect a 30" ACD to a 13" mbp? I heard the Mini display to DVI-Dual Link adapter that they sell for $100, is total poo poo.

David Tennant
Jul 15, 2010
Dell has refurbished U3011's for $899 + tax on delloutlet.com

DrDork
Dec 29, 2003
commanding officer of the Army of Dorkness

Randuin posted:

Is there any way to for reals connect a 30" ACD to a 13" mbp? I heard the Mini display to DVI-Dual Link adapter that they sell for $100, is total poo poo.
Since that is Apple's blessed method for that connection, I'm not really sure that there's any better option, other than maybe seeing if there's a 3rd party adapter. What exactly makes it "total poo poo" for you?

Fishmasher
Apr 22, 2002
My Samsung BX2440 has presets for Warm, Cool, and Normal. I wish they'd use the actual number like 6500k, or at least explain it in the manual. Does anyone know what the presets really are?

edit: I found a program called "Natural Color Pro" that's free for Samsungs. So that seems to have helped, in case anyone has a Samsung monitor and doesn't want to pay for a colorimeter. http://www.samsung.com/us/consumer/learningresources/monitor/naturalcolorexpert/pop_download.html

Fishmasher fucked around with this message at 22:01 on Dec 18, 2010

ghost biscuit
Sep 28, 2002

pwh posted:

There are some refurbished U2311Hs on Dell's Outlet site ($249) if anyone is interested.

Someone please convince me that I don't need a second monitor. Please.

I can't seem to find them, got a link?

edit: found it:

http://outlet.us.dell.com/ARBOnlineSales/Online/InventorySearch.aspx?brandId=222806&c=us&cs=22&l=en&s=dfh

NickPancakes
Oct 27, 2004

Damnit, somebody get me a tissue.

Anyone here have a u2311h from the outlet? Does the warrantee still cover dead pixels?

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smug forum asshole
Jan 15, 2005

bloodynose posted:

Anyone here have a u2311h from the outlet? Does the warrantee still cover dead pixels?

I think people were saying it's identical to the warranty for the brand new product.

So I'm seriously considering buying one of these, but I added two to my cart by mistake, and as far as I can tell, Dell Outlet doesn't provide a way for you to edit your cart.

you can't change quantity manually, but there is a "remove item" link at the top of the cart.

smug forum asshole fucked around with this message at 23:27 on Dec 18, 2010

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