Gaming/PC Monitor

[Vendeen]

Basically I'm going off to college next year and I'm going to need something to play Xbox and also a screen for my PC. Due to the limited amount of space in the dorms I was thinking having a monitor/TV to use for both would probably be best, so I was thinking about getting this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16824001337

I play mainly FPS on Xbox like MW: 2, Halo 3 and I also watch a lot of things on my computer like TV shows movies etc. Seeing as I'll be using my comp a lot in college I thought it would be good to get a nice monitor.

So I don't really know that much about monitors but this looked pretty appealing due to the HDMI input for my xbox and also the built in speakers. So what I'm wondering is: is this a good monitor in terms of quality of picture, would the 5 MS delay be that detremental for FPS, and it's nice to have built in speakers, but how much better/worse would it be to have external speakers that I would buy?

[Isiolia]

It's a TN panel, so "quality" is relative. Unless, however, you're prepared to pay at least twice that, you're probably going to be looking at a TN panel regardless. If accurate/consistent color isn't a concern, then TN panels do tend to be the most responsive. Viewing angle isn't always the best either, but unless you're packing people into your room to watch a movie on it, probably won't be a big deal.

Another slight consideration is that, unlike many 24" monitors, that model is a 16:9 rather than a 16:10 - the native resolution is 1920x1080 rather than 1920x1200. I've seen that more on slightly smaller panels, but it may be more common now.
For use with your XBox, you'd miss nothing, as HDTVs are 16:9, with the whole 1080p standard and all. On a 16:10 screen, you get black bars on the top and bottom. When using on the PC though, you're talking about 120 pixels of vertical height gone.

Delay is pretty much in line with most TN panels. It shouldn't be a big deal - 16ms can do "60fps" - though things tend to get a bit murky with those specs. Pretty much need to do hands-on with the monitor to tell for sure. However, most people have little issue with playing on LCDs now - 10 years ago, sure, it was a bit iffy. These days complaints tend to be more with delay introduced by upscaling chips and the like than with pixel delay/ghosting.

The speakers are likely passable for basic sound or occasional use. Given that you're talking dorm room, I would probably look first at a quality pair of headphones if you don't already have some. If you care much about sound quality, you'll probably want external speakers as well, but with the built-in ones you'd have -something- in the event that you want to share audio with the room.

[Vendeen]

Yea, forgot to mention I have these:

http://www.amazon.com/Sennheiser-HD5.../dp/B0001FTVDQ

Also, would the 120 pixels of vertical height gone while using PC be significant? And what would be your overall recommendation?

[Isiolia]

Significance would probably be dependent on application. I don't think you'd find yourself unable to do something because of it, but it certainly wouldn't hurt to have. Consider, for example, that the Windows 7 taskbar is 40 pixels high. There's a fair bit you can fit into those 120 pixels.

That being said, 1920x1080 is still plenty of space. If you're coming from a 17" LCD or something, either will put a big grin on your face the first time you fire 'em up.

I would say to maybe go peruse this board and see if there are some alternate models to consider. Which isn't to say that the Samsung you linked to isn't decent, but no product is perfect =p Offhand I don't know of something to suggest, since I haven't been looking at the market much (I got one of these for Christmas last year, and have been happy with it).

[ahiyam]

help /w new monitor decision

so i just got a nice new comp today and currently have a sceptre 21'' monitor 1920x1080 resolution (forgot rest of specs)

but the new vid card i have is a nvidia geforce gtx 285 2 mb card and was wondering if i should get the new 22'' 120hz monitors or look for a nice 120hz tv to be compatable /w the video card i have or shall i just wait until companies come out with larger 120 hz cpu monitors?

[fishstix]

Using a monitor that doesn't have 120hz won't make it incompatible with the video card. It's pretty much a personal preference you're asking. For me, I'd just keep using my old monitor, but I'm broke and don't want to spend excess money. A second monitor is always nice for a 2 screen setup though.