I was over at MicroCenter the other day and discovered they have the HP 2207 22" monitor on sale for $299. (Normally $349.) I've been thinking about getting an external monitor for my laptop for some time now and this looks like a great buy. It gets great ratings both on Amazon.com (4.5/5.0 stars from 45 users) and Circuit City (4.7/5.0 stars from 57 users).
Here are a few of the specs:- Flat-panel LCD
- 1000:1 contrast ratio
- 300cd/m2 brightness
- 1680 x 1050 resolution
- 5-millisecond response
- Digital and analog input
- VGA and HDMI connections
You could pick up the 24" version for $499. (See reviews on Amazon and Circuit City.) While the $200 price difference sounds like a lot for only 2" of screen size, you're acutally getting more than that. The 24" monitor has a 1920 x 1200 resolution (vs. 1680 x 1050 on the 22"). That works out to 30% more pixels, which does affect how much you're able to display. One of the tech guys at MicroCenter recommended against the larger screen given my laptop's limited graphics card. The same advice holds given my limited grad student budget too.
This is something I'll have to seriously consider. I've blogged before about how much extra productivity adding a second monitor can give. It might be time I give this a try. The sale is in effect until August 31st.
Another Idea: If I could put up with 1440 x 900 resolution, a slightly smaller (19") screen, and no ability to rotate, I could get the Samsung 19" LCD TV from Circuit City for $349 instead. It would have far more options for input sources (computers, DVD players, video cameras, etc.) and double as a TV (allowing me to get rid of my tube-TV and free up some valuable space in my room). Does anyone know how the quality of LCD TVs compares to dedicated computer monitors when connected to a PC?
1 comment:
...i've got a gigantic plasma (60) w/ only 720p of resolution hooked up to my mac mini, and I'd consider it definitely usable, if not outright awesome. now, of course, it's more of an htpc, and as such serves as mostly media server and movie repository, but I *have* browsed with several times, and found it quite worth it. If you want to see the setup, you're free to come over to g-town and check it out.
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