Would appreciate some help from anyone regarding sourcing a good quality 20" LCD for $1500 or less. Preferably a lot less.

I am after a 20" becuase 19" displays only give you the same resolution as 17" (1280x1024), and it's screen real estate I need, not a bigger image. 20" displays give you 1600x1200, so that's what I need.

I find widescreen LCDs too expensive at the moment, so although Apple's looks fantastic, theirs and other manufacturers 20" and 23" widescreens are out of the question.

I've also garnered that 16ms response time is the maximum I should be considering, stay away from 25ms displays.

No-one wants cheap nasty speakers in their LCDs, they sound terrible and make the display bigger.

I'm also paranoid now about dead or stuck pixels - I see too many users complaining about spending thousands of dollars on a display, getting a few dead pixels and not being able to do anything about it becuase their warranty allows for up to 10 dead pixels or something like that.

So, please anyone - post the best deal you can find in Australia for 20" LCDs, 1600x1200, 16ms refresh or better, DVI, and 'no dead pixel' warranty (even if it's only for 7 days or something). Any brand will do! Just a link will do fine,

Thanks

Formac displays are quite good aparently:
http://www.formac.com/p_bin/?cid=solutions...gallery2010_buy

Not available in Australia, but i sent an email to them inquiring about shipping to oz:

Had a quick look and this is what turned up:

BenQ FP2091 & that can be had for a tad under $2k from http://auspcmarket.com.au

Having said that I don't really know what BenQ's return policy is and I don't know the quality of their product. I would however recommend Samsung monitors, I have had/recommended/used quite a few and none of them have been dodgy at all.

Yes the Formac displays look fantastic and the specs are second to none, and at US$899 (AU$1300?) they're excellent value for money, however I don't relish having to send the display back to the US if it needs fixing, also their zero dead pixel policy (extra US$100) still allows for 2 dead pixels to occur during shipping...I asked a few local stores for this, and apparently they call it the 'Raven Black' here, and it retails for over $2000!

I might do a bit of Googling myself and see what I turn up...am I asking too much for $1500? Perhaps...

You can get that Benq FP2091 the_argon mentioned from SecretNet for $1600
It also looks quite snazzy.

Thanks for the responses guys, here’s what some Googling of my own turned up. Apparently a good spec 20” CAN be had for around $1600, the amazing thing is that I found variations on price of up to $1000 for all three of these monitors, so it definitely pays to shop around! Don’t get me wrong, Apple’s 20” LCD is a fantastic display, but for $2300 with 1600x1050 resolution you get less real-estate than the ones below which have 1600x1200. Feel sorry for people who walk into a store and feel like they’re getting a good deal when the salesperson reduces a 20” LCD from $2,500 by $100 or so

The best I found is below:

Benq FP2091 – has the spec and looks good but they allow up to 5 dark and 5 bright (10 total) pixels on a 20” LCD, with no bright pixels in the centre of the screen. Best prices I could find:
$1580 – www.digitalcameras.com.au
$1599 – www.interwebonline.com.au
$1600 – www.secret.com.au
$1621 – www.tftmonitors.com.au

LG L2010P – again has the spec, but they allow up to 4 dead pixels, and over that they take into consideration the colour and placement of the little buggers, so no guarantees here…best prices:
$1480 – www.pcandt.com.au
$1568 – www.newcomputers.com.au
$1585 – www.dpi.com.au
$1597 – www.minidigital.com.au

Samsung 213T – this monitor looks perfect to go with a G5, only bad point is that is has 25ms response instead of the better 15/16ms response. REALLY good thing is that Samsung offer zero dead pixel warranty on 20” LCDs, will replace it within 7 days, and repair after that, for up to 3 years. More pricey though:
$1963 – www.centrecom.com.au
$1999 – www.cougar.com.au
$2025 – www.cysoftcomputers.com.au
$2099 – www.i-tech.com.au

I could take the risk and get the Benq or LG, but I think maybe waiting for Samsung to release a 16ms response 20” display (with their fantastic warranty) would be better. It may even come in cheaper. Or by that time maybe Benq or PG will improve their warranty policies.

Hope the above info helps others anyway

cheap + reliable + good quality?

hehehe your dreaming buddy, that's like asking for a fresh young graduate with 20 years experience in every programming language ever, including the 4 year old C# (as many employers do..)

it's worth forking out the extra dollars to get a better quality more reliable LCD IMHO..

you pay for quality

pick two of those

I agree with what you've said symean, hang around for a decent spec Samsung or perhaps go and have a look at one in a store that has them in stock. You might be surprised.

Their warranty is definately worth it.

I seem to remember the last nextbyte mail out catalogue having formac displays.

I've heard bad things about BenQ LCD's, better off going for samsung or LG.

Yeah I think waiting for a 16ms response 20" Samsung with the zero dead pixel warranty is the way to go, it looks like their current model has been out for a while...hopefully they will introduce one before Xmas.

Just can't bring myself to spend that much money on another brand and risk ending up with some bright dots!

Cheers

FORMAC DISPLAYS

www.power.com.au

They used to sell them right here in Melbourne. They were a little pricey back then - about the same price as Apple displays.

The new ones are supposed to be really good. I was thinking about getting one a while back but couldnt justyify the expense.

They have good comparison sheets on the formac website which show you what your dealing with. They also have a lower dead pixel -return warranty.

Alot of online resellers in the US stock them, though i think they would extort you for shipping an item like that.

Ask the above webiste if they still have them. they are in Ivanhoe Melb. <- they arent the cheapest reseller around but i think they are the only ones with the Formac LCD's

Yeah their lower-than-usual dead pixel warranty is good, but I don't really care if it's 10 dead pixels or 2...even two would annoy me as I do video & 3D. My sister used to have an iBook that had one bright pixel, and I couldn't stop staring at it when I used her machine :blink:

Samsung only offer the zero dead pixel policy on their large LCDs, not the 17" or 15" ones, I think all manufacturers should do this.

I would settle for a CRT but the other day I moved my Apple 17" CRT to clean the dust and realised just how heavy a 21/22" CRT would be

Cheers