Everyday monitors

[Mercutio]

Granted that the collective membership of SF probably sits around Dell Ultrasharps and 50" TVs for the most part, but does anybody have any strongly held preferences about all around decent monitors at this point? I need to buy about 60 of them.

Amazon has been selling Asus VS247Ps for $150, which looks like it's just about the best deal going on paper, but paradoxically that might be too much screen for my classrooms just because they would block lines of sight due to the ridiculous amount of surface area involved.

What are y'all buying for office systems right now?

 

[ddrueding]

That is the monitor I buy when I'm not buying U24xx

 

[CougTek]

I've used LG 23in IPS monitors often in the past year. Other than poor black uniformity, they show a decent picture quality. They are not very expensive either.

LG sells 21.5in IPS monitors too, IIRC.

 

[Bozo]

I have been buying the smaller low priced Dells. I think you can still get 17" models.

 

[Howell]

Monoprice has monitors but I am not informed enough to evaluate them

 

[Mercutio]

I'm going to start with one of those Asus displays. The price is certainly right.

 

[mubs]

I thought you hated Asus as much as you did WD?

 

[Mercutio]

No. I've just never successfully convinced Asus to actually honor a warranty. I'm kind of OK with that for monitors because they're functionally disposable anyway; less expensive models typically only have one year warranties.

 

[LiamC]

I recently purchased a Philips 238C4QHSN, with specs that seem on par with the Asus, and I'm quite happy with it, But neither Amazon or the 'egg seem to stock them.

 

[Mercutio]

The Asus screen is pretty nice. It's brighter and sharper than new Acer and HP cheapo screens I have here. The unit I have doesn't appear to have working speakers, which is kind of a drag since I don't really want to box it back up and ship it back for that, but the panel itself is very comparable to a five year old Ultrasharp that cost five times as much.

Of course that just means I'm going to be told it's too tall. I already know that will happen even though it's not as tall as 19" CRTs were.

 

[Newtun]

The unit I have doesn't appear to have working speakers.

Asus VS247Ps? VS series - no speakers at all? But it does have that slim design.

ASUS Monitor Series

		VB	VK	VW	VE	VH	VS	PA	VG
Panel Sizes	17" - 22"	X		X	X	X	X
	23" - 25"			X	X	X	X	X	X
	27"		X		X				X
Built-in Speakers		X	X	X*	X*	X*
Slim Design							X

 

[Mercutio]

It has a speaker jack. Why have the port if there aren't any actual speakers?

 

[sdbardwick]

Headphone jack?

 

[Mercutio]

It's not labelled, but since it's on the bottom of the monitor next to the VGA, DVI and HDMI ports, it's more logical to think it's a line-in and given that configuration of ports if it WERE a headphone jack it would only be for HDMI users. The bezel design also suggests that there are speakers present.

 

[sdbardwick]

Manual (pdf version, at least) lists it as "Earphone-Out"

 

[ddrueding]

I have run into that before, headphone out from HDMI in.

 

[Mercutio]

Weird.

 

[sedrosken]

Hm...

I don't know if you can still buy these direct, but the HP vs15 is pretty good. I don't think HP manufactured this one, or any monitor for that matter... It has built in speakers too. It is only 15", it's max res is only 1024 x 768, and it only has a VGA output, but it isn't like office machines need that much screen anyway, and I don't like wide-screen monitors because they need special resolutions... standard resolutions look stretched! Also, they make VGA-to-DVI converters for a reason.

Windows 8 and 8.1 were apparently designed to use 1024 x 768 as it's rock bottom res...

 

[CougTek]

For the few of us who aren't near-sighted, XGA seems quite limitative.

 

[sedrosken]

Yeah, I'm terribly nearsighted...

But I must say, I agree on the ASUS monitors. My dad got one a couple months back, and though his HDMI sound quit working mysteriously shortly afterward (I think his computer being an old-ish eMachines vomit box that he barely upgraded the graphics and RAM in might have something to do with it), I envy him. It's a 23 incher. I would KILL to have that. Though I must confess I have no idea what I'd do with all that screen.

 

[ddrueding]

Yeah, I'm terribly nearsighted...

But I must say, I agree on the ASUS monitors. My dad got one a couple months back, and though his HDMI sound quit working mysteriously shortly afterward (I think his computer being an old-ish eMachines vomit box that he barely upgraded the graphics and RAM in might have something to do with it), I envy him. It's a 23 incher. I would KILL to have that. Though I must confess I have no idea what I'd do with all that screen.

If the sound quit when you hooked up the HDMI monitor, check your default audio device. It may have switched to the HDMI...

 

[Mercutio]

As I suspected, the first thing I was told was "too tall." But I bought a dozen of them anyway and I'm going to fight to keep them. My students are 60ish men who refuse to wear their reading glasses. The largest monitors possible are the only ones that make any damned sense.

 

[LiamC]

I got an email from Amazon saying the Asus Merc listed at the top was on sale...