Without getting into the details, I'll just do a quick whirlwind tour of the basic types. Basically there are three on the market today. The TN type which is the typical LCD's that we see everywhere. They probably comprise 75% or better of the marketplace because they are cheap to make, and cheap to buy, but they have MUCH narrower view angles (both horizontally and vertically), and their depth of color isn't very good making them look washed out when compared to the other types. The best and the most expensive is IPS, they are rarely seen in the marketplace because they are expensive, making them a niche market product that is typically special ordered by demanding users such as graphic artists and photographers. More toward the IPS end of the market in performance, is the S-PVA which is similar, but somewhat less expensive.
To give you an idea, you'll find random LCD displays from various manufactures (big and small) that will be amazingly inexpensive. For something like $125-150 you can often get a brand new monitor 20-22" in size. This is pretty amazing, and the American consumer who is a huge believer in "bigger is better", has those factories in China cranking them out 24/7. And you know what? Compared to their old tube monitor that took up a lot of space, but had very small screen sizes, these things look pretty good. Then, what's the problem? The problem is that, it could be SO MUCH BETTER!
If you've ever worked on an IPS or S-PVA screen, you'd know what I'm talking about. They aren't just typically brighter (although that's the first thing you notice), because they usually are, but they also seem brighter too, because there is very little if any drop-off regardless of your angle all the way down to some VERY severe off-axis viewing. On top of that, its not just the brightness, but the color saturation make the images just pop. It's one of those things that next to impossible to describe; you just have to see it.
OK, let's assume that you are convinced...what does that mean to the frugal amongst us? We are living in the golden age of used computer monitors....that's what! Years ago, when I was working in IT and wanted to try out some of those "new-fangled" LCD flat panels, my boss didn't say "NO". What he said, was: " show me why its a good idea and I'll let you give them a try", so off I went to do research. This was 1999, so there just wasn't that much info out there and they were way expensive to buy. What I did find wast a research project done by the Los Angeles Water and Power Board that showed that not only did LCDs drawn something like a quarter of the energy of a CRT monitor, but that they had a life-expectancy of 2 to 3 times as well.
Which brings me to my previous assertion about it being the golden age of used monitors. You see, large corporations and such have IT departments who use a concept called "replacement cycle" to determine their schedules for upgrading. Typically, for computers, that comes to 2-3, at the most 4 years. And this is just fine for computers, given the changes in software, hard drive and power supply failures being what they are, plus given Moore's Law meaning that computing power has at least doubled and doubled again in that amount of time. However, monitors no longer fit this model with the advent of the LCD screens, soooooo you have a bunch of these things hitting the used market at half or less of their product life expended! AND on the used market, all products are pretty much equal. Those resalers couldn't care less whether that particular LCD is a TN (which they almost all are), IPS, S-PVA, or ET technology. So largely they sell for the same price which is completely based on screen size, cosmetic condition and whether or not it powers on.
So, at long last I get to the specifics of the topic! I have lusted after a big high-end monitor for a long time. I had previously delved into the used market to pick up my Acer AL2032w (1680 x 1050 resolution) which at the time was considered big. It was a very nice monitor, not sold in the United States since Acer sold it as the Acer/Ferrari F20 (red paint instead of silver) here for a lot more money. But recently I've been lusting for a replacement....really ever since I lucked into a 20" IBM L200p for $21 on the local Craig's List and have been using it as my "side" monitor. It has an IPS screen and has 1600 x 1200 resolution although it's not wide-screen. This may sound weird, but having your secondary monitor have a higher vertical resolution than your primary monitor was very annoying to me since I move things back and forth all the time. And for those of you who know me, you're probably aware that I'm a high resolution junkie. The higher the better: I love all those tiny packed in pixels!
Of course I started researching used monitors on eBay. I found that IPS/S-PVA displays are hard to identify, BUT can be incredible deals when you do spot them. The trick is to figure out which ones had the nice panels, and of course, there's no manufacturer who's easier to find out things about than IBM/Lenovo since they make all their specs readily available online. I also learned that although a 24" screen sure sounds sexy, that even the high-end ones only had 1920 x 1200 resolution and that if you look carefully, there are 22" models with the exact same resolution, BUT they are harder to find. You see; they weren't very popular with most people since the density was so high it made fonts look small and most people didn't like that very much. However, it's awesome for me since I don't have a lot of space and if I can get the same real estate in a smaller physical size, all the better.
Which brings me to the current love of my life, the Lenovo ThinkVision L220x: 22", Samsung S-PVA panel, 1920 x 1200 res., 4 USB ports, vertically and horizontally adjustable stand, landscape/portrait rotatable, $550 MSRP (pre-Obama $s), eBay $70 shipped! Of course its used, and has some scratches, but the screen has no defects and its the brightest thing I've ever used. In fact I have the brightness setting down to 65%! Now I just have to stave off L2440x lust.....you know those do have LED back-lighting......
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