I've been thinking about buying a new monitor, but I'm undecided on whether to get an LED vs. LCD.

Has anyone had experience with both? Is LED worth it?

Sorry to rant for a second, but I HATE how marketing departments have made people think that LED TVs are not LCDs...

LED just refers to the backlight of the LCD. It's still an LCD, it's just backlit with LEDs instead of fluorescent lights.

That said, LED backlit TVs do look better and have more even color, but they come at a premium. Is it worth it? That's up to you. It's best to look at both types and see if you think it's worth the hundreds of dollars more.

No worries. I know an LED is an LCD with a different backlight.

The monitors (23") I'm looking at at Best Buy are roughly $40-60 in price difference going from LCD to LED.

It's just a pet peeve of mine.

In terms of monitors, I tend to favor LED backlit ones. I've not bought a standalone monitor that's LED backlit yet (mainly cause I plan to rock my old Dell IPS monitors until they die), but I've bought multiple LED backlit laptops and I think it's worth the extra few bucks. I don't really have the same opinions on TVs though just because the premium is so high still.

The SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT factor in LCD image quality is the panel type. In order of best to worst of common panels:

IPS panels such as S-IPS and H-IPS
VA panels such as S-PVA and MVA
<<pile of ****>>
TN film panels

These days you usually see IPS and TN film. Almost every monitor you see advertised on sale these days is TN film, and I can guarantee the image quality will suck, no matter how many good reviews it has on Newegg. It isn't even a matter of using it for gaming vs photo editing or being some videophile elitist. If you show an IPS and TN panel next to each other to any human being with eyes, they will pick the IPS panel every time.

That being said, IPS is much more expensive. In my opinion, totally worth it. But if you just need SOME monitor now and don't care if it's perfect, TN film panels are a better option. If this is just a luxury improvement, you are FAR better off saving for an IPS panel. Since many manufacturers don't list panel type in the specs, you can tell if it's NOT a TN film because it will have a crazy huge viewing angle. IPS and VA panels are usually no less than 176 horizontal/vertical. TN film is around 160 for the best of them.

Traditionally, TN film has been better for gaming because of lower response times. But these days you see IPS panels with less than 10 ms response time, which is more than enough. ALL LCD panels have SOME ghosting, it should just be as low as possible. I have two Dell 2007FPs that have 16 ms response time, but after a few hours of first use I didn't notice the ghosting any more.

Also make sure to research input lag. Many LCDs regardless of panel type have horrendous input lag, like upwards of 125ms. That means, on the worst of them, there is upwards of 125ms of a delay between when the signal is sent to the monitor and when the picture is displayed. Horrible for gaming.

I agree completely with Emon on panel type too. Love all my IPS monitors, can't stand the TN film monitors I have in my office at work.

If I were forced to pick between a CCFL backlit IPS and an LED backlit TN panel, I'd pick the IPS any day of the week.

Whoa there. I had a bunch of people tell me this when I was shopping for a monitor. The IPS monitors for the size I wanted were in the $500 - $1000 range. I was THIS close to buying one too, based solely on the opinions of people on this forum. Boy am I glad I didn't. I bought a 24" TN for $160 from Costco and I couldn't be happier.

You make it seem like anybody who buys a TN panel is wasting their money on a monotone green screen monitor from the 1980s. We're not all monitor elitists.

Sithlord - go to the electronics store and walk around the computers section. Do you see anything SERIOUSLY wrong with any of the monitors on display that can't be tuned out by tweaking some settings? I sure didn't, which is why I said **** that and am currently enjoying 24" widescreen primary monitor alongside a 19" 4x3 that I got for free out of a recycling pile. That's 3 feet of horizontal monitor space.

Unless you edit media professionally, are a severe upper 1st percentile videophile, or have an abundance of cash to blow (which I'm assuming that like most of us you don't, based on the original question you asked) don't get caught up in this IPS vs TN thing. Eventually it will get in your head and you'll spend money you don't need to. Go check out the TN panels at the store, and if they look good enough for you, buy the one that's best for you and put the SEVERAL hundred left over in your pocket towards a graphics card or something.

I'm not saying there isn't a difference - I'm just saying there's a reason everybody in the country doesn't drive around in a brand new BMW.

:2cents:

Sounds like you never saw an IPS panel in person, Dash... There is a reason why people hate TN panels. I went from PVA to TN and I think it was one of the worst purchase decisions I ever made. You will always think TN is good enough until you realize how ****ing pale everything is when you've seen something better.

IRG Sithlord, I would recommend the Dell 2209wa monitor if you don't mind the 1680 x 1050 resolution and 22" size. It is an E-IPS panel which goes for about ~$200. An E-IPS panel is basically a detuned version of a full out IPS panel. Its the second best panel type you can get, and its comparable to a TN panel in terms of cost.

I have an Ultrasharp 2408WFP (PVA) and my tablet has an IPS screen and I still find no issue with TN panel displays <_< (80% of my computer usage is either on my desktop or my tablet and the other 20% is using various school computers that have TN panel displays)

I generally would not be hesitant about buying a TN panel monitor unless it had to sit next to my Ultrasharp

I've got a CRT. Weighs more than the rest of my computer combined and maxes at 60Hz. It's glorious.

What does this mean, exactly? The word "detuned" suggests to me that it simply isn't as color accurate. If that's the case you can probably calibrate it with software and get it damn close to something much more expensive.

That is precisely what it means. After calibration, it is VERY VERY close to other IPS panels.

Ended up buying http://www.bestbuy.com/site/LG+-+23%22+Widescreen+Flat-Panel+LED+Monitor/9750954.p?id=1218167169110&skuId=9750954

Works/looks great so far. Pretty lightweight (~5.5 lbs) as well and consumes half the power my other monitor does.

Got my PC going to the DVI input and my PS3 going to the HDMI input (my pc and ps3 also share the same speaker system) which works out great for switching between the two.

Thanks for the advice guys.

I wish panels weren't all wide gamut these days. It makes calibration a pain.

What, you mean the bogus 50 million:1 contrast ratios and such? All they do is dim the backlight in dark scenes and brighten it in bright scenes. You never actually get more dynamic range out of the panel.

No, color gamut. They make panels with a wider color gamut than any apps are designed for, so you have to screw around with calibration profiles for the individual apps, and even then it's a crapshoot. Also wide gamut color colormeteres are too expensive.

windows 7 is supposed to be color aware

LED vs LCD vs LSD, amirite? <_< >_>

LCM, LOL, LGM...

I hear it still doesn't quite fix the problem.

You know who else was color aware?

The KKK.

Why would individual apps differ? Shouldn't they support working with any color profile you want?

I'm confused too, Why would you need to change them?

Conclusion: Windows 7 is racist!

werd

by the way guys swordfish