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BenQ FP93G X+ 19-incher shines with 2ms response time
While certainly not the first 2ms monitor by any means, BenQ's just come out with a blazing new 2ms 19-incher, the FP93G X+ (not to be confused with the 2ms BenQ FP93G X), hot off the heels of last week's other BenQ display announcements. Deets are slim on this one, other than it's got a tiny 13mm bezel, 300cd/m2 brightness and an 800:1 contrast ratio. Also, it's loaded up with that Advanced Motion Accelerator stuff we've heard about for awhile now, and has VGA and DVI connectors. The X+ will hit the streets for an unspecified price starting in December -- hey, that's today. Where did November go?[Thanks, Steven]
Asus rocks out with PG191 19-inch gaming monitor
When it comes to gaming monitors, performance is everything, so Asus was off to a good start by endowing its new 19-inch PG191 LCD with a zippy 2-millisecond response time. However, we're not sure that it was also a good idea to build two speakers and a subwoofer into this unit; although they do lend the monitor a rather, um, distinctive look, it would seem that most consumers who are really into their gaming already own a set of dedicated speakers -- and probably a 5.1 or 6.1 setup -- which perform better than the ones Asus is offering here. Also, part of the package is a built-in 1.3 megapixel camera, which may indicate that the company is actually targeting wannabe-gamers with this model -- folks who envy the rockstar lifestyle portrayed by Fatal1ty and friends, but who have yet to begin accessorizing their own PCs. Rounding out the specs are your standard 1,280 x 1,024 resolution, 800:1 contrast ratio, and 320cd/m2 brightness, along with a DVI port, in-game video capture software, and special audio/video settings designed to enhance gameplay. No word yet on pricing or availability, but if the speakers and camera add too much loot to the bottom line, we can't imagine that many real gamers will be interested.
LG's 19-inch, 2ms Flatron L1970HR reviewed
So PCMag decided to run LG's 19-inch Flatron L1970HR LCD through their suite of tests to see if its 2-millisecond response time really performs as advertised, and the good news for gamers is that this display indeed delivers excellent motion performance with little ghosting and few artifacts. You're also getting good color reproduction and a contrast ratio of 1600:1 that sounds great on paper, but in reality you can expect some loss of shadow detail and noticeable compression at both ends of the greyscale. Another trade-off for that zippy response time is resolution, as the 1,280 x 1,024 pixel array may not be enough for hardcore gamers or folks working on documents and photos all day, with the biggest knock being the monitor's inability to render smaller-sized fonts. In the end, unless all that you're doing is watching movies and playing video games all day (in which case we'd like to hear more about your job), it sounds like super-smooth video may not be worth the sacrifices you're making in other departments.
Acer's AL1951D 2ms gamer monitor
Gamer display makers are shaving down like an Olympic swimmer to get those crazy pixel response times, and soon enough we'll be measuring in nanoseconds. But until we're there, we're still going to have to deal with millisecond measurements, as in Acer's new AL1951D gamer monitor, successor to their AL1951C. This one keeps the same 1280 x 1024 pixel count, cuts the pixel response in half to 2ms, drops the brightness from 400 cd/m2 to 300 cd/m2, and ups both the contrast ratio to 1,000:1 from 700:1 and the price to $379 from $359 (MSRP, of course). Certainly not worth it for everyone when you can have a decent and somewhat larger widescreen for about the same or even less, but these are the sacrifices gamers are expected to make for their art.[Via Bios]
Samsung's 19-inch CX919B boasts 2000:1 contrast ratio
With so much focus on response time these days, it's nice to see Samsung play up another aspect of its newest 19-inch LCD, namely the display's impressive 2000:1 contrast ratio. That's not to say the SyncMastermagic CX919B has a slow refresh rate -- to the contrary, it seems to employ the CX917B's "Response Time Accelerator" to go from gray to gray in a zippy 2-milliseconds -- rather, the highlight here just happens to be that "Dynamic Contrast" technology which promises to deliver truer blacks. Besides these two key details, however, not much else is known on the specs tip -- including our old favorites, pricing and availability.
