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Best Deal on a 20-24" Flat Panel?

B

bep207

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jul 20, 2006
259
0
im looking for the best deal on a 20-24" widescreen flat panel monitor.
one that accepts both DVI and VGA would be great. since i plan on using it with both a MacBook Pro and an iMac G5.

I love how the Apple displays look, but they dont accept VGA and they have a pretty high price for the shiny case.

is dell the best way to go? or some other brand that may be cheaper?

thanks for your advice
 
I have the 24 inch Dell and love it (except fot the logo on the front;) ) Highly reommend it, as it has both VGA and DVI inputs, composite, and you can always find a deal on them.
 
macaddicted said:
Apple is offering a special on refurb cinema displays. $599 for a 20", $849 for a 23".
http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore.woa/6214000/wo/zD29mr6KwEbp2y3Z7H2DnwGmg3j/1.0.0.19.1.0.8.7.1.0.1.1
Scroll down for the displays.

I found a generic VGA to DVI adapter at pricegrabber:
http://www.pricegrabber.com/search_getprod.php/masterid=400637/
Haven't used it, can't say anything about it. But it does show that you can go from DVI to VGA relatively cheaply.
Click to expand...

i think this adapter will only work from DVI TO VGA, not vise versa
i would love to be wrong though
 
It should be OK to pass the analog signal to a DVI-I or DVI-A input.
If the input is only DVI-D, you're out of luck.
 
cube said:
It should be OK to pass the analog signal to a DVI-I or DVI-A input.
If the input is only DVI-D, you're out of luck.
Click to expand...

does anyone know what the apple cinema displays are?
 
I was curious too. I looked it up on the Apple Store site and found this on the refurb 20" page:

http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore.woa/6424003/wo/y04Itnt1jWp22pQEohD2tCAWpD2/17.0.0.19.1.0.8.7.3.5.1.1.11.1.5.1.0.5.0

The Cinema features a single cable design with elegant breakout for the USB 2.0, FireWire 400 and a pure digital connection using the industry standard Digital Video Interface (DVI) interface. The DVI connection allows for a direct pure-digital connection to Apple's latest aluminum Power Mac and PowerBook systems, as well as to Windows-based desktops
Click to expand...

I am assuming that this is DVI-D. Am I correct? If it is then Cube is correct, you are out of luck as converting from analog to digital makes for an expensive converter.
 
bep207 said:
im looking for the best deal on a 20-24" widescreen flat panel monitor.
one that accepts both DVI and VGA would be great. since i plan on using it with both a MacBook Pro and an iMac G5.

I love how the Apple displays look, but they dont accept VGA and they have a pretty high price for the shiny case.

is dell the best way to go? or some other brand that may be cheaper?

thanks for your advice
Click to expand...

The Viewsonic VX2025WM , best panel on the market for the money. Specs are better then Apple's newly revised Cinema Display and equal Dell's at a lower price. My uncle has one of these displays and they look beautiful. $309.99 shipped. I plan on buying 2 of them very soon.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16824116381
 
macaddicted said:
I was curious too. I looked it up on the Apple Store site and found this on the refurb 20" page:

http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore.woa/6424003/wo/y04Itnt1jWp22pQEohD2tCAWpD2/17.0.0.19.1.0.8.7.3.5.1.1.11.1.5.1.0.5.0



I am assuming that this is DVI-D. Am I correct? If it is then Cube is correct, you are out of luck as converting from analog to digital makes for an expensive converter.
Click to expand...

They say it allows digital, not only digital. It could be DVI-I
 
jiggie2g said:
The Viewsonic VX2025WM , best panel on the market for the money. Specs are better then Apple's newly revised Cinema Display and equal Dell's at a lower price. My uncle has one of these displays and they look beautiful. $309.99 shipped. I plan on buying 2 of them very soon.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16824116381
Click to expand...


I just got one of these viewsonics the other day and it is a nice little monitor. Basic inputs (VGA &DVI) but great specs for the price, it looks really nice and has a good quality feel to it. Also it has a nice silver beveled edge that goes nicely with Apple Pro Products... Anyways, it is worth a look...
 
Displays

I have a Dell 2005 (20.5") attached to a MacBook Pro. Pro Tools lives on the MBP, FCP and AfterEffects/PhotoShop on the Dell. Works for me. Some guys on Ken Stones site told me about the Dell, lower price for the the same LCD panel and better connectivity. Haven't seen the new Apples yet.
:)
 
If you don't care that an external LCD monitor will match your computer, or carry the Apple brand buy the Dell. 700 bucks for a 24incher seems like an awesome deal.
 
depends on use

depends what you are going to use it for. Gaming? Photoshop or just general purpose email and web surf? If just general purpose the dells are a pretty good deal you get good size 20-24 inch DVI and vga inputs some come w/s video usb ports and the 24inch I think has a card reader. There has been some criticism of the 24 as far as color correction and backlight leakage, still not bad all around. You can also get it refurbished and knock maybe another $100 off it.

However, if you game especially FPS the Dells have a pretty slow response time. I have a 17inch on my dell that's really bad and the rest are not rated well for gamers. I mainly use my mac for photoshop and some gaming. My old sony CRT died on my mac and I just replaced it with a 20inch with a samsung 204B. I wanted to move up to flat, save weight and watts, good response time and not hard on the wallet. I'm really happy with it and samsungs got a $60 rebate going on I ended up picking it up for about $287 after rebate comes in both black and silver (for some reason silver is more expensive). Halo runs smooth as butter on it. Take a look here for it:

http://www.pcconnection.com/ProductDetail?Sku=6319661

and here is a review:

http://20-1-lcd-flat-panel-game-monitor-review.toptenreviews.com/samsung-204b-review.html

good luck.

:)
 
Now that apple has dropped it's prices, the 23" Apple display is the best deal i'd say. It's marginally more expensive than the Dell 24".However, I have the Dell 2405 24" and can't say it is a great monitor. It is too bright, even at low settings, and generally does not give good color reproduction. The apple displays are much more accurate. I'd love to sell this p.o.c. and purchase the apple display in its place, but alas that is not to be... oh, movies don't look too bad on the dell, but you aren't buying it to replace your tv, are you?
 
bep207 said:
does anyone know what the apple cinema displays are?
Click to expand...

The current Apple cinema displays have DVI-D connectors. Since the display requires a digital input, a simple adapter will not work. You'd need an expensive analog-digital converter.
 
gman71882 said:
Cant beat this deal AS of YET
SAMSUNG 20" widescreen for $349 but WITH REBATES = $270
:eek: :eek:

Compusa.com SAMSUNG MONITOR

Check DEALMAC.com For good deals like this:

roomate got one for his 17" Powerbook, has a a DVI connector that works find with any Mac desktop or Laptop.
Click to expand...

That Samsung 205BW you linked is a TN panel. If you're a gamer, it doesn't really matter, but for people with more demanding tastes, you may not want a 6-bit LCD panel...
 
Mav451 said:
That Samsung 205BW you linked is a TN panel. If you're a gamer, it doesn't really matter, but for people with more demanding tastes, you may not want a 6-bit LCD panel...
Click to expand...

According to a review on Trusted Computing's web site, the Samsung 205BW is an 8-bit panel.

http://www.trustedreviews.com/article.aspx?art=3244

The reviewer says, "Thankfully the lower response time doesn’t come at the expense of colour depth, since the 205BW still uses an 8-bit panel rather than a 6-bit model. This means that the 205BW has the full complement of 16.7 million colours at its disposal."

The specifications for the 205BW on Samsung's web site also confirm that it supports 16.7 million colors.

http://www.samsung.com/ca/products/monitor/lcd_digital/ls20hawcbqxaa.asp?page=Specifications
 
elsiedee said:
The specifications for the 205BW on Samsung's web site also confirm that it supports 16.7 million colors.

http://www.samsung.com/ca/products/monitor/lcd_digital/ls20hawcbqxaa.asp?page=Specifications
Click to expand...

The dead-give away of a TN panel is the 160/160 viewing angles. If it was PVA/MVA, it would be 178/178.

The two sites I usually check with to determine the panel in a specific LCD:
http://www.flatpanels.dk/panels.php
http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/

Both sites indicate it's a TN panel.

Anyway, I'd be careful.
 
jiggie2g said:
The Viewsonic VX2025WM , best panel on the market for the money. Specs are better then Apple's newly revised Cinema Display and equal Dell's at a lower price. My uncle has one of these displays and they look beautiful. $309.99 shipped. I plan on buying 2 of them very soon.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16824116381
Click to expand...

It looks like they're $328.99 now.

Also, be warned bulk buyers, there is a limit of 99 per person :) .
 
Mav451 said:
The two sites I usually check with to determine the panel in a specific LCD:
http://www.flatpanels.dk/panels.php
http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/

Both sites indicate it's a TN panel.

Anyway, I'd be careful.
Click to expand...
Well, so much for "trusted" reviews :)

And thanks for the warning. I'm not really interested in this monitor though. I only posted because I had just read that review and remembered the author pointing out that it used an 8-bit panel and not a 6-bit panel. Think I'll e-mail him and refer him to those two sites. Maybe he'll update his review.
 
for good deals on monitors (and pretty much anything else Mac related) keep a check at www.dealmac.com. They do a great job at researching websites that offer deals, as well as verifying that a deal is accurate (of course the sites sometimes change without notice).

The Dell 2407WFP (24" widescreen) has been dropping to just over $700 recently, which is a really nice deal for it. I use one myself as a secondary display on my 15" MacBook Pro and it's amazing.
 
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