Im about to embark on a journey to pick myself a monitor. I had a quick scout about and I have a few questions somebody with more experience might be able to answer.

Are Dell monitors still the best?

What are the multi touch screen monitors like?

What kind of price should a decent 20+ inch monitor cost me now?

Thanks for the help guys.

http://www.tekforum.co.uk/posts/list/30/15686.page

4 Dell monitors in 1 week.

Was I simply unlucky? Dunno tbh.

Pros:
If there is an issue the warranty service is top notch.

Cons:
1/4 monitors had a dead pixel within 1 week of turning on
1/4 monitors had a power issue which resulted in random flickering and colours going on
1/4 monitors were dropped in transit or at the factory resulting in a cracked screen case with bits rattling around

Sure I can discount the final one as its not really Dells fault if some numpty dropped it when loading the van up. The other two though? dunno.

I guess I should end on a positive, Monitor #4 has been going strong with no issues whatsoever. It even fell screen first onto my keyboard and then chair when I got up fast to answer the phone, and is going strong still. Mind you the LG I got 5 years ago is going strong without any dead pixels either. Thats the only monitor that has been fine since buying (17") - the two 15" monitors we got first 7 years ago or so both have dead pixels, but are generic brands.

Deffo glad I bit the bullet and got a 24" widescreen monitor though, Id been worried about the widescreenness, only downer is when writing emails I dont realise just how long theyre getting!

Trust me, Dell sorted it faster than another company would.

PCBuyit is still the best company to buy Dell products from as well because of their Zero Pixel Defect policy on the specified monitors.

If colour accuracy matters to you (photography or any art type use) be careful of the panel type. TN panels are fast and cheap so the manufacturers love them, but their colour accuracy and viewing angles are terrible. Also a lot of them are only 6 bit/channel instead of 8.

PVA or SIPS panels are much better, but companies (including but not limited to Dell) have an irritating habit of changing which one they use mid run and not telling anyone.

The easiest way to spot a TN panel if you can view the monitor running is to look up at it from below. A PVA or SIPS panel will not change much, a TN will go almost completely black very quickly as their vertical viewing angles are diabolical.

I take it the PVA and SIPS panels are more expensive?

Anyone have a rough price estimate? Im not entirely sure what kind of price i should be looking at.

Quote from: BaconTrust me, Dell sorted it faster than another company would.

PCBuyit is still the best company to buy Dell products from as well because of their Zero Pixel Defect policy on the specified monitors.

Im not questionning that, Id agree. Its the first time Ive had a warranty/return wher I phone up and then the next day a replacement arrived.

This wouldnt have been a problem if I didnt have to shift my office days around to repeat this 3 more times!

Quote from: zpyder

Quote from: BaconTrust me, Dell sorted it faster than another company would.

PCBuyit is still the best company to buy Dell products from as well because of their Zero Pixel Defect policy on the specified monitors.

Im not questionning that, Id agree. Its the first time Ive had a warranty/return wher I phone up and then the next day a replacement arrived.

This wouldnt have been a problem if I didnt have to shift my office days around to repeat this 3 more times!

It might have been an issue with 24" monitors, a manufacturing defect or bad batch perhaps, i bought the 22" and only returned it once so far, the replacement has worked flawlessly

20" £80+vat >
22/23" £140+vat >

They come with the pixel perfect warranty though, seriously thats what you should be worried about, ive bought monitors from other companies and they dont offer this, which means you would need to reject under DSR and go through the process of getting your cash back.

I also use the E-IPS panel, they say its crap for games, ive had zero ghosting and i play fps and rpg, COD4, COD5, COD MW2, WoW, Guild Wars, Fallout 3, GTA4 etc no issues.

After 4 years Im still incredibly happy with my Dell 24" Ultrasharp so gets my vote

i got a "Dell UltraSharp 2209WA 22"" about a month ago its on i would guess 16hours a day. since then. no issues what so ever.
also got it for £199 + del, sadly they are now 249 on the same site.

and depending what size you want lots of people told me go 24" glad i didnt due to space were it is 24 would just be to big. and also glad i got a good 22 rather than a cheap 24

Ive got a Dell "20 and a iiyama "20 at work and I much prefer the iiyama - its far superior. That said I have a "23 Dell at home and thats superb.

Seems like Dell are the Xbox360 of the Monitor world.

Quote from: soopahflySeems like Dell are the Xbox360 of the Monitor world.

The more popular a brand is, the overall amount of failures will increase, what counts overall is the initial failure rate %, i bet Dell sells something like 4 units for every single unit sold by a competitor.

And not forgetting these cheapsh*t store special monitors, having worked within the warranty repair trade i can tell you that those monitors tend to have a higher failure rate %.

In the instance of purchasing LCD-TVs (for instance) the budget/lesser brands are seriously hard to get parts for, with most manufacturers opting for a deal on failures i.e if a company purchases 1000 units they get 30% knocked off the price to counter doa/faulty units.

What the above can mean is, if you buy a cheaper brand and it fails a few months after purchase, you are then relying on your Reseller to have a solid RMA/Warranty procedure as some of the budget manufacturers will point you back to the Reseller, the disadvantages being longer waiting times for replacements etc.

Going back to my original point, i buy monitors these days based on the warranty offered, if the warranty is sh*t i dont buy the product.

Quote from: soopahflySeems like Dell are the Xbox360 of the Monitor world.

True, but depending on which way you swing in the console wars, this could be seen as a good thing.

For instance when I got the RROD on my 360, MS repaired the unit FOC, having extended the warranty by a further year. This is pretty good service imo.

Also factor in that yes I was unfortunate with my dell monitor(s), but at the same time, look at it this way...I got sent out 4 replacement monitors which were all swapped at the door, in the time it would take some other companies to even assign an RMA number!

Also factor in that I got the cheap 24" monitor, rather than going for a more expensive model or a smaller one, so Id agree that there would be more chances of things going wrong with it with cheap parts etc.

If I had the money, Id probably go Dell, or perhaps Samsung - my housemate got a very nice TV/Monitor hybrid a couple of months ago by Samsung.

Ive got one Dell 23", thinking of getting a 24" to go with it.