I'm looking for the best sub-$300 (cheaper=better) 22" monitor. I'd like a history of no dead pixels, good color, depth, everything. I use photoshop, illustrator, etc, all the time and watch movies - no games.

Thanks

hello? anybody home?

It's hard to find a good LCD for that kind of price. The ones in that price range are fine for gaming and average use, but because they use TN panels, they exhibit rather large gamma and color shifts with a relatively small shift in viewing angle, and are incapable of delivering truly accurate colors.

As a graphics designer, if you are serious about color accuracy in a 22" LCD monitor, then I recommend nothing less than an Eizo.

They start at around $650 and uses a S-PVA:

http://www.superwarehouse.com/EIZO [...] series.htm

I just don't have that type of budget, I'm still in school. I just picked up a Samsung 2232BW at Best Buy. It retailed for $320 but it was on sale for $197-- a crazy good deal. There is bleeding on the edges of the screen, but once vista loads up, the color clarity, brightness, and everything is amazing. The display model had a red tint, but mine doesnt appear to have, I haven't calibrated it, nor do I think I will. It looks amazing out of the box. What is the best/most accurate way to calibrate a monitor besides purchasing something like a Spyder2Express (I'm getting one in a couple of months)?

Okay no prob regarding cash.

The best way I know of to manually calibrate the monitor is to use the following site.

http://www.lagom.nl/lcd-test/

Thats a nice Monitor keep it there is nothing wrong with it.