5. Monitors

By Ed Tittel

Dell SE198WFP 19” Widescreen LCD

$129 at Dell.com

The word is out that Dell will be knocking down all kinds of prices in partner outlets and online on Black Friday. Right now, for example, you can pick up the SE198WFP 19” widescreen LCD for $139 on its Website; on November 28 that price drops to $129. What you get for that money is an attractive, capable LCD monitor with a rated 1000:1 contrast ration, 5 ms pixel refresh time, VGA plus DVI with HDCP support and 1440x900 resolution. For the money, it offers clear, crisp text, excellent color saturation and image quality and decent performance for gaming or viewing videos. Consumer Depot offers returned versions of this same monitor (not refurbished, but “like new”) for another $10 less ($119) for those on really tight budgets.

Acer X223WBD 22” LCD Monitor

$130 at Office Depot

This Acer model offers higher resolution (1680 x 1050), the same pixel refresh rate (5 ms), higher contrast (2500: 1) and identical brightness (300 cd/m2) as the 19” Dell SE198WFP. The big difference is size: a 22” monitor offers about 34% more viewing than a 19” model does. For the same price, you can go bigger with this older but still attractive Acer model (it’s no longer listed on the Acer website as a current product offering, however). Those looking for a good deal on a bigger monitor probably won’t care. You’ll want to check the Office Depot Website on Friday, November 28, to see if the X223WBD pops up there (right now, the only 22” Acer model on the site is the AL2216WBD, which is Acer’s current product and goes for $220). If not, you’ll have to head to the store and hope you can lay hands on one. Leave early!

Dell S2409W 24” Widescreen Flat Panel Monitor

$299 at Dell.com

If bigger is better, this 24” Dell model comes out ahead in this year’s listings. If full HD support at 1920x1080 resolution is desirable, kick this monitor up another notch in the standings. If a price under $300 for a bright, capable, full-size display doesn’t get your attention, then maybe its HDMI, DVI-D with HDCP, and VGA ports will help you wake up. The older Dell 24” monitors cost hundreds more, but Dell shaved off all the peripherals (no USB ports or memory card readers on this model) and cut the cost to the bone. For the holidays, it dropped the price another $50 (from $349 to $299) to create what has to be a killer monitor deal that is available today, as well as on this coming Black Friday.

Samsung 2343BWX 23” Widescreen LCD

$260 at Costco

Manuals

Samsung introduced some new nomenclature with this monitor, along with an interesting and unique display resolution of 2048x1152 resolution. Though the WQXGA resolution of 2560x1600 has been around for some time, it’s generally restricted to 30” or bigger monitors. The 2048x1152 resolution gets a QWXGA moniker, and a 16:9 aspect ratio that’s generally well-suited for viewing high-definition content, along with plenty of room for overscan from 1920x1080. This unit offers higher resolution than the Dell S2409W but with 9% less viewing area on-screen, along with a couple of USB ports on the stand plus DVI and VGA connectors to the monitor itself (no HDMI). Buyers seeking to spend a little less than the $300 the Dell model costs might do very well to race to Costco on Black Friday to see if they can pick one of these up for about $40 less.