The new catalogs of many manufacturers are giving a starring role to 20-inch wide monitors. After 19-inch models became somewhat of a standard, the trend seems to be toward another increase in size. But are the new 16:10 aspect ratio panels really all that good? Here's our look at six LCD monitors, fresh from the factory.

Speak out in the Tom's Hardware reader survey!

That's what she said.

(sorry, I had to)

edit: beaten

I wish the Acer would have done better. I'm not one who cares about looks, but I'm looking to get an LCD panel and it'd be nice if it could also be my TV. Oh well, I'll probably just pick up a good 19"er and a TV tuner.

-mcg

I still prefer my Dell 2405FPW at 1920x1200 res... very minimal ghosting noticed... manufature spec 16ms, THG rated at 20ms tho

I agree we all know the dells are the best, why arnt they in the test..
maybe cause they dont charge $1K for a 20.1? you can get their 24 for that....

I actually own one of the monitors tested in that article (Great review, btw), the NEC 20WMGX2. I use it for office work and the occasional TV. (What?!? You dropped $700 for some office monitor? No, I actually won it!) This monitor looks gorgeous, even when it is off! I guess it is that "gloss" rendering. The color's are vivid and clear, and the speakers are pretty good, even though they are built-in. No distortion at high volume levels, and you can even tweak sound settings in the OSD! Bass, Treble, even a little thing to "balance" the sound between the two speakers. One slightly useless, albeit very cool, is that you can change the brightness of the little blue LED that tells the status of the monitor, whether stand-by, off, on.

Did TG use the Advance DV (Advanced Dynamic Video) mode to get to the 1600:1 contrast ratio? I believe that has to be turned on for it get to that ratio. Did you use the noise reduction? What about the Interlaced/Progessive Scan? Or was this all from a PC input? Just wondering!

~Ibrahim~

i really like that viewsonic- i just added it to my wish list. great spatial uniformity and decent response time. i can't stand dark corners and edges.

great review guys. thanks!

-mpjesse

I bought the BenQ they reviewed and I haven't noticed any of the problems they said. No ghosting in Halo or HL1, still have to test out UT (I'm using it on my notebook now, so no high-perfomance games 'til the end of the week). But I have seen no problems.

Already ordered the viewsonic as well as the stuff in my sig excluding the 1900XT (will be getting that when all of it arrives).

I have been looking at 20-inch screens for a while it was between the viewsonic VX2025 and the NEC multisync WGX2, I opted for the viewsonic as it was £100 cheaper and saw a good review of it.

The review makes me feel even better about ordering it .

Ive Been Using My Silicon Graphics 1600SW For 4 Years + (Yes I Know Its Only A 17.3" ) But I Will Not Upgrade To A New Wide-Screen Until These Monitors Can Look As Good, Produce Color As Good As My 1600SW And The Sad Part 1600SWs Have Been Around Since 1999! And The Responce Time Is 40ms!, But There Is RARELY Any Ghosting (About 5% Of The Time and Thats Only Black On White Or White On Black Transitions And You Only Notice It Unless Your Looking For It) Please Manufacturers Out There, Get Creative! Or Better Yet... SiliconGraphics How Bout A Revision2?

And Where Are All The LCD Monitors With A .23mm Dot Pitch? (Like Mine Has )

Why no tests on the Sceptre? They have a nice looking 20" widescreen for under $300($250 @newegg with rebates).

Why oh why could you not inlcude the dell 2007fpw!!!!

I have yet to find a professional review/comparison of both the dell 2007fpw and the vx2025wm!

i personaly use and love the viewsonic in the review.

I would recommend it as a multi-purpose monitor that won't completely break the bank.

Things i use it for

graphics
Video Editing
Gaming
Watching Movies

I am thinking about buying the Viewsonic monitor but have run into a problem...

I know that there is no option in the OSD to force the monitor aspect ratio to 4:3. I don't like the idea that the monitor will start to stretch the picture,
if the game does not support widescreen resolutions.
So the question is: Can I somehow force the aspect ratio to 4:3
by the means of software so that the edges will be left unused?
Or would it be possible to change the screen size and position in the video card driver settings(I have Nvidia 6600gt)? If not, how visible will the distortions be?

most games can be force to run at a 16:10/16:9 ratio and some even support it (HL2, SS2)

i used to run that monitor on the 6600GT at around 1280x1024 and it seemed fine. i could run the games at the screens native, but had to turn the detail down to get decent frame rates. Since my upgrade though i haven't needed to sacrifice detail to run at the native

But can I change the screen size and position in the nvidia control panel for this monitor?

i think so, but since i don't use an nvidia graphics card anymore i can't try it.

Hi.
Please tell me more about the 2405FPW.
I have a 2007FP which is "good" (no ghosting, high res, non reflective, etc)
My only complaint is it's not widescreen and the black is never "BLACK".
I had older notebook screens which actually looked better (also not as bright).
So,
How is the contrast ratio in the 2405FPW ? I can read the specs myself. But, I hope you can tell if you notice the black issue with a bright monitor which has a not high-enough contrast ratio.
Thanks.

Well, an LCD with today's technology will never show blacks as well as a CRT. The BenQ I have is plenty good. No ghosting an BF2, UT or Halo, and looks great on the DVI connector. If you haven't bought an LCD yet, I would suggest the BenQ. And it's only $300!

And how about the Gateway 21', FPD2185W? I own one and would certainly be interested in seeing how it compares with the others...