24 inch LCD monitors

As the evolution of computer monitors dictates an increase of the most commonly used LCD monitor diagonal, we still can’t tell when and how much it will grow. For a long time 15” CRTs were the most widespread, followed by 17” CRTs, 15” LCDs, 17” LCDs, 19” LCDs, and now 21.5” LCDs seem to be the norm because these are the smallest and cheapest monitors with FullHD resolution (1920 x 1080, aka. 1080p).

That being said, 24 inch LCD monitors may still not spread for many years to come, because of manufacturing costs and to be honest the big majority of users don’t need such big screens yet. There’s also a darker, marketing side to this. When 24” widescreen LCDs first appeared they had 16:10 aspect ratio and 1920 x 1200 resolution, which was very impressive and definitely appropriate for 24” diagonal screens. Today however the industry is moving towards the smaller, 16:9 aspect ratio that results in 1366 x 768, 1600 x 900 and 1920 x 1080 resolutions instead of 1440 x 900, 1680 x 1050 and 1920 x 1200.

This is roughly a 20% resolution decrease from 16:10 standards to 16:9, without any significant price reduction. Personally I still use an 5:4 aspect ratio 17” LCD (1280 x 1024) which is very good for most applications, but catastrophic when watching HD movies. If we eliminate the two black bands from the top and bottom of the screen, we’re left with a 15” diagonal image, which is worse than the cheapest 15.6” 1366 x 768 laptop screens.

Let’s look at newegg.com, the on-line store that sells 24” LCD monitors for prices as low as $200. The LG W2453V-PF has one of the best designs I have ever seen.

While newegg.com usually has the facts straight, it’s unclear whether this LG monitor has a DVI or HDMI port. The official LG website says that it has S-Video, HDMI, D-sub and 3.5mm audio inputs, while according to newegg.com it has D-sub + DVI + HDMI. Newegg.com says nothing about S-video and it ships the monitor in retail packaging with only a D-sub (VGA analog) cable for input.

Anyway, the other specifications seem correct. The 1920 x 1080 resolution is the most important aspect alongside the 50.000:1 contrast ratio which is almost the maximum a fluorescent tube backlighting can ensure. 2Ms response time (gray to gray) is impressive, but let’s not forget that a full pixel cycle (turning the pixel completely off and on again) lasts around 4-6ms on a monitor like this, probably because of its size.

All in all it’s a good monitor with many features for such a low price, but be sure to clarify the exact type of inputs before purchase. There’s one more thing that comes with this modern design: transparent touch sensitive LED buttons that don’t ever ware out (theoretically). Please note that these may cause some discomfort with their slow reaction time.

There are many 24 inch LCD monitors available between $200 and $250, but I will point out only the cheapest one with additional features, more specifically LED backlighting.

Its design is a little strange, because the foot stand isn’t in the middle, but otherwise it’s much thinner than the LG and image quality is also superior.

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