Matt Murray Wrote:
>Anybody research one of these lately or gone through a few? Things
>to look out for or avoid? TYIA, Matt Murray
I bought a 17" Flat Panel TFT Monitor about 14 months ago for daily home use.
I spent a lot of time running around to various stores but Fry's electronics
had the largest selection all grouped together and all sharing the same display
so it was easy to compare them all in one sitting. The economy models didn't
look as clear as the more expensive name brand models which is to be expected,
and the middle of the road brands and models seemed to be the best value vs
cost.
One big deciding factor should be the warranty - some are 3 months while others
are 3 years.
After a lot of comparing i chose the 17" GEM GL-821A made by Scanport which
can be
found today as low as $300 after rebates, or - $400 straight out. The picture
looks every
bit as good as the NECs and Philips 17 inchers that cost at least a few hundred
$$ more.
It was a great deal 14 months ago when i bought it, and even today it's still
a great deal
even though prices for all brands have come down. And Gem has a pretty good
warranty
too (3 years limited parts and labor).
http://www.gemca.com/gl821a.html
http://www.gemca.com/lcd.html
My boss overheard me talking about it's space saving attributes and decided to
get
flat panels for some of the employees who needed to free up some desk space, but
he bought a bargain basement 15" for one gal as an experiment and it wasn't so
great.
Next he spent a little more for a 15" Kogi and it looked a little better but
after 6 months
it started stinking and smoking then we all watched as the display faded to
black :-)
Then the final insult was that the warranty was only 3 months. Since then he
did his
own research and decided it's best to spend the extra money and got brands like
Sharp
and NEC 15 inchers and so far we haven't had any problems with em. Then for
himself
he also compared a lot of 17 inchers and came to the same conclusion as i did
and bought
the same GEM GL-821A that i have and he's extremely happy with it. He couldn't
see any
real difference between it and other brands that cost $200-$300 more, or at
least not enough
to warrant the extra cost. NEC and Philips and Sony all make very nice flat
panels, but i still
think the GEM lineup is great for the money.
Rebates - all these monitors had rebates but i tell ya i'm not so sure the
hassle is worth
the extra savings. They all seemed to use an independent rebate company and in
every
case (including my own) we had to make phonecalls to the various agencies when
our
rebate checks never showed up. Mine was first confirmed, then they suddenly
had no
record of it and would no longer discuss it. I called Scanport/GEM directly
and they
were great - the gal checked into it and was able to get the rebate center to
send me
my check. We never got the rebate check for one of our Kogi 15 incher and he
finally
gave up after a half dozen phone calls. Another check came like 8 months later
- after
we'd thrown that monitor out (a no-name el-cheapo brand). My boss also had
problems
with the rebate agency so like me he called GEM directly and they intervened on
his behalf
and got him a check. Even if i hadn't ever recieved my check, the actual buy
price of the
GEM was still a good deal compared to the bigger name brands that were priced
at $200
more and offered no rebates. Rebates are a pain in the ass though.
If you don't mind spending bigger money the name brands are nice, but the GEM
lineup
seems to be the best bargain out there without sacrificing quality, and they
have a good
warranty.
Randy
89 325is
45 STX
So Calif
/// unsubscribe/change address requests to majordomo@autox.team.net or try
/// http://www.team.net/mailman/listinfo
/// Partial archives at http://www.team.net/archive
|