Athos 108589 Report post Posted August 13, 2012 O.k. So here is the context. Television is not that important to me. My current set is about 6 years old, and is a hulking monster. 23 inch screen. Not interested in a giant screen. 27 - 32 inches maximum. We've decided to get rid of cable. Most of our viewing is through stuff downloaded, Netflix, or streamed from the Internet. So, given that, does it make sense to get a flat screen, that I can either hook my laptop to directly, or stream to it. Or, just get a nice 27 inch monitor and hook the computer up to it directly. Advice, alternatives, options will be gratefully received. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
backrubman 64800 Report post Posted August 13, 2012 So, given that, does it make sense to get a flat screen, that I can either hook my laptop to directly, or stream to it. Or, just get a nice 27 inch monitor and hook the computer up to it directly. Advice, alternatives, options will be gratefully received. Well I sit in front of an array of 6 wide screen monitors most of my life these days (a better than most view of the battle field in the financial markets gives me an edge) and sometimes do watch a movie on one of them but we also have a 50" TV in the living room connected to an HTPC (Home Theater PC) that gets a lot more use for that kind of purpose. So for family use you might want to consider a conventional big screen TV (with an HDMI input) and and HTPC with an HDMI output (not at all expensive) dedicated to that purpose. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
antlerman 17064 Report post Posted August 14, 2012 Samsung has some of the most versitile and compatable thin screens out there. If you can go the LED route as they are incredible pictures Posted via Mobile Device Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Athos 108589 Report post Posted August 15, 2012 Thanks guys .... Appreciate the advice Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
peiguy555 194 Report post Posted August 15, 2012 Just depends if you're going for bottom dollar or a premium screen, most computers now have HDMI out and most tv's have vga in so it just comes down to the features you need, if you dont need tv tuner really now with most cable companies using set top boxes to decode HDTV so that too might be moot. 3d is also worth considering if you are into that as well. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
backrubman 64800 Report post Posted August 15, 2012 We have some PCs (with 27" and larger) monitors at one office and they make terrible computers as the screen is really too big to sit in front of and use it as a computer so that's why I suggested the dedicated HTPC approach. Even with an array of 6 wide screen monitors I am always working on one screen and the others are displaying real time data for use at a "glance" or I may be working on multiple tasks but then switch my focus to one. If it was one big screen I'd loose my mind (trying to use it as a computer) :) Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BigCountry1980 141 Report post Posted September 22, 2012 size is relevant to situation yes sitting 10 inches from 1 30 inch monitor could be annoying but at the same time i use a 60 inch plasma as my computer monitor but its mounted on the wall a good 6 feet away and i would not have it any other way. When buying tv and monitors you want to consider what is important to you but if all you wants is a good picture i dont think there is a tv out there today that dosent have a good picture from a 200.00 to a 2000.00 tv. It depends on how deep your pockets are and what bells and whistles you want. Myself im big sports fan so there is no choice but plasma. Tv or monitor Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
