Last Friday CompUSA had Midnight Madness Sale. I couldn't resist buying this

BenQ 17" LCD Monitor

for only USD $179.99 + taxes after USD $100 rebate ($30 manufacturer, $70 CompUSA). I haven't yet used it and I can return it for refund within 21 days. If you think it's worth the money, should i first uninstall the drivers for my Samsung SyncMaster 793MB?

i_XpUser

I recently did a similar thing - but I bought an Acer screen. I didn't bother to remove the previous files and it has worked perfectly. The screen appears much brighter - you may find you turn down the brightness a tad!!

Installing the LCD is easy. What I'd like you to do for me is take a look at the MONITOR SPEC. Is there anything in particular that is not good enough for my use (in which case I would return it). TIA

i_XpUser

Hi Ray -

Thanks...I noticed the brightness at CompUSA :-)

i_XpUser

Have you considered going with dual monitors?

Hi ham, I have thought of it but ruled it out due to (1) confined space on this desk, and (2) my wife's fury if I have too many junks :-)

i_XpUser

My bad the LCD isn't BenQ FP731. It is BenQ 701. Specs are HERE

i_XpUser

I bought a 17" Benq monitor for my wife's computer a while back at Comp USA for $179. Had a Sony crt on it before, I connected the Benq and it worked fine, so I never bothered with the drivers. Her use is strictly internet and she has been happy with it.
The only negative, is that it runs much hotter than my Sony LCD. But for the price difference...

We use Benq's at work (17" but don't ask me the model as I'm at home right now) and they work very well and have a nice sharp clear display. The helpdesk people use them in dual monitor configuration and all seem happy with them as well. I can't see any reason not to use it unless you require a higher resolution setting than the LCD can handle. I don't remember offhand what res I have my monitor at work set at but I know it's 1280 X something...

Thanks for your inputs, ray, rhawk & curt. i went ahead and installed this BenQ. The resolution looks great but a little too bright. a CD came with it. I guess I will be looking into this media to see what I want copied to the HD. One thing I'll be looking for is the manual.

i_XpUser

I forgot to add one disadvantage. The signal cable is a bit too short - nevertheless I managed to use it for the time being. I think I can get a longer one at CompUSA or Best Buy. Any specific brand I should look for?

i_XpUser

Got it...signal cable is VGA.

i_XpUser

Don't want to rain on your parade, but this must be an analog monitor, because it is not stated. If you want future, you really should have dvi and analog...I don't buy strictly analog, because they will soon be dinosaurs.
That said, when I bought my first Lcd, I didn't hook up dvi right away as I wanted to get used to analog, so I would notice the difference. many say they see no difference, and to those many, I say you need to revisit optometrist because what I see is night and day....
Enjoy your new monitor. Once you get used to Lcd, you will never go back. The color vividness so blows away the space gained on your desk, I forgot instantly why I bought my first one.

Hi
my 10 pence worth to add, Benq have a good rep so no worries , & ditto with Rays post bin the crt.
i swapped out a iiyama 19" with a 17" digimate lcd ,and couldnt beleive the brightness & colour diff, had to fiddle with nvidea gamma & bri settings,
have seen some bother in some games at 25ms so spec'd a 12ms panel, didnt bother with DV cable just bog standard dsub ,, prices dropping like no tommorow maybe a 12ms??.
awesome
enjoy :)

the reponse time is a little high for gaming....you need 12 ms or less. I bought a nice fuji 19" lcd but i switched back to my old one cause it was too dark and the visual qaulity didn't compare to the crt. My ati 9800 pro looked like crap when i was using the lcd.