I'm thinking about a new monitor (I'm thinking flat screen). Any suggestions on what to get. The monitor will primarily be used for game playing (RPG, Strategy, and kids games, no FPS), web surfing, and watching downloaded movies. I keep on hearing that flat screens have problems with ghosting images. Will this be a problem for me?

I can recommend Sony, as I've been using Sony monitors for over 10 years now, and I've been happy with all of them. No modern monitor should have any problems with ghosting. None of the Trinitrons I've used ever had.

I have an 19" Sony HMD-A420 (Trinitron), about 4 years old, and the picture quality is still excellent, though the top left corner of the screen has faded somewhat for some reason. Could be because I have a speaker near there. Otherwise, no problems. My working resolution is 1024x768 @ 100Hz.

Sony is a solid choise for a regular monitor, but they do not have that Trinitron tech helping them with TFT's, so you cannot rely on that. Since they have become cheap enough and sorted out the problems, TFT is really the only way to go: sleek, sharp, and the best refresh rates you can hope for. ;)

So yeah; I'm happy with my monitor. Bought Hitachi's 17" TFT year ago, after reading several reviews. I'm sure there are better models out by now, so start googling. ;) www.tomshardware.com (http://www.tomshardware.com) is also good place to start.

As to ghosting, just remember the time-delay the monitor-matrix has; modern flat-screens should be below 20, and after that you won't notice anything, or at least I haven't -had something like 14 ms (?) and no problems. Well, just one; the viewing angle is too narrow and causes slight colour changes to the image if I'm not right in front of the screen...

I also like going to tom's. However, I've never been satisfied with his reviews of flat-screens. He never seems to be happy with the gaming qualities of a flat screen. He also always uses Unreal Tournament as his test game, and I'm thinking BG wouldn't have quite the same problems as UT would?

PS I've been using the same Sony Trinitron 200ES for so long I can't even remember when I bought it.

I bought a used Viewsonic 22" flatscreen monitor online over a year ago. It still works great! I haven't had any problems with it, and I think I only spent $200.00 including shipping. I'm always on the lookout for good buys, and I think I did pretty well with this one!

I'm going to be getting a Samsung 191T (19")plasma screen. PC World magazine gave the 17" model a best buy award iirc. Either one would a great monitor. :rolling:

I have a 21' inch monitor, a year and a half old, bought it for 100 euros, very big, but not too big.

When you cruise down there to pickup a monitor, take a gander at the horizontal refresh.

For a 17" monitor, you want the absolute minimum of 90khz. For a 19" monitor, you want 95khz.

1024x768@85hz (17"), 1280x1024@85hz (19").

The "flat screen" aspect of the monitor is a bit subjective these days. I used a sony 17" for a number of years, and it had a 95khz refresh. But I moved up to a non-flat Envision 980e, and the curvature is barely noticable. It was a really good buy, and I'd recommend them to anyone who wants a cheap, GOOD monitor.

I have Samsung, SyncMaster 192N and love it. The graphics look great. I can't play BG II but I have IWD I and it looks really good.

:edit: Not being able to play BG has nothing to do with the monitor.

I picked up a Samsung Syncmaster 173T earlier this year and have no complaints about the picture or ghosting. When I game, I play NWN. I also use it for viewing digital photos and it seems to show off the pictures very nicely.

Also, I really enjoy the extra space that I now have available on my desk after replacing my 17" CRT.

Oh! If you are going to be getting a Plasma or LCD screen, don't forget to make sure your video card has a DVI output. VGA is great for CRT monitors because they are both analog, but since Plasma and LCD are digital, DVI output is the only way to go. :rolling: