Hi,

How much can i sacrifice when shopping for a "cheap" flat panel monitor? I am moving and I just decided to say "screw moving this clunky monitor" but now i need a new one. I was just going to go to K-mart or something and try to get a no name one until after a lot of the dust has settled, but what brand will give me the best bang for my buck? Or should I just suck it up and shell out for a good one now?
-M

suck it up and get a good one now.

no point in throwing good money after bad product....

then help by defining "good".

I'm pretty tech savvy, and I prefer apple products to all others, but I don't know what to look for when i'm shopping for a "regular" thing like this. I just moved, just went on several trips, am trying to save for a car, and comic con is 2 weeks away...so $$$ is a bit tighter than usual.

I need it to function well enough to look at websites, and view pictures/video. I don't do any graphic design, or in depth work at my computer. Thoughts?

if it is only for everyday computer use, then i would recommend going somewhere like best buy where they have monitors on display. just look at the screens and see what looks best to you.

look at the shape of the stand and stuff like that too....

then choose on price from there

i have an LG that was fairly inexpensive as far as flat screens go without sacrificing quality. it's a 19" and was between 200 and 300.

i would not recommend getting an off brand just because monitors get used quite a bit and you will pay in the long run with cheaper quality that will not last as long.

also you might want to look at newegg - you might get a better deal on something there

on one hand you cant look at it yourself really, but on the other hand you are afforded the luxury of tons of customer reviews telling you all about the products

http://www.newegg.com/Store/SubCategory.aspx?SubCategory=20&name=LCD-Monitors

Newegg is great. And I think you're off the hook for sales tax outside of California.

I prefer apple stuff too, but I have been really impressed with the 27" (?) dell lcd I got for my dad last year. Great screen, great value, pretty design, tons o' features. Samsung also has nice lcd's at solid prices.

I buy dells on the refurb site. I have bought like 10 for me and other things. all work great.

Word.

At work (right now, actually) I am using 2x refurb Dell 21" flat monitors. Definitely not bad at all, although I've noticed that one monitor has a slightly different color profile so everything looks a tiny bit different, although I am sure that I can mess with that.

But yea, highly recommended.