Hi All, About this time last year I updated my system. It is now nicely optimised, thanks mainly to the advice and help of these forums; I am really pleased with it. However, due to limited physical space on my desk I kept my 15" monitor. It is running at 1028 X 748 70hz. which gives a good visual representation and is satisfactory other than the size of the viewing area.My system has a MSI K7N2 Main board; AMD Athlon 2700+ Mg Hz processor; 1 Gig Hz Ram; An nVidia FX5600 128Mg hz Graphics card. (Hope this makes sense - I'm not much at understanding the jargon:-) )I believe now that I may be able to fit in at least a 17" monitor. I wonder if any of you would be good enough to give me some advice on the spec. I should look for in a monitor used mainly for Flight Sim. duties.I am not a computer whizz so a short explanation as to any techincal jargon would also be useful; As would Make, model advice if you have a system similar to mine.Thanks. Regards Blue

If your desktop space is limited, you might consider purchasing an LCD vice CRT monitor. It will be more expensive but a smaller footprint.W. Sieffert

You should take a look at monitoroutlet.com, they have just about every kind of monitor you could think of, and good prices, too. I would recommend that you get a 17 inch CRT flatscreen monitor. This looks like a regular monitor (CRT) except it has no curvature in the screen. NEC makes good ones, from what I've heard. I'd think twice before getting a slim LCD monitor to use for Flight Simulator. They cost about twice as much as a regular monitor of the same size, and the color can sometimes be misrepresented, making the simulator look less realistic. If you want a real treat, go for a 19 inch flatscreen CRT, it will look awesome.Hope this helps-Scott

Sorry, could you please explain what a "LCD vice CRT Monitor" is? Regards Blue

I think he meant LCD verses a CRT monitor. They are two different things.-Scott

Thanks gents......... much apprciated. I'll certainly look at the monitoroutlet.com Scott. Thanks Blue

I just bought myself a 17inch LCD Monitor (Samsung 172x) after reading some good reviews about it. I upgraded from a 15inch 1024*768 CRT monitor. Here are my comments after 3 days of having it:ProsNo dead pixels on my monitorNo objectionable ghosting. FS2004, LOMAC and Rainbow 6 are all perfectly playable and very crisp.The 1280*1024 resolution is fantastic - like having a new simulator!Looks really sleek************************ConsOut of the box, you need sunglasses when viewing this screen. Lots of calibration is needed to get the colours/brightness/contrast spot on.Due to a limited viewing angle, a single colour (e.g. white) across the whole screen looks slightly darker on one side of the screen and lighter on the other.Text is sharp, but there's no smoothing of edges like you get with CRTs (rather jagged). I think that 0.297mm dot pitch has something to do with it.If you want a lower resolution, forget it! This LCD is designed for the native 1280*1024 resolution, other resolutions look ghastly due the the mismatch between signal and monitor pixels.***************************Overall I like it for games, but if you are wanting a monitor where you are looking at text all day long, another monitor might be easier on the eyes.Currently the monitor is plugged into a Radeon 9800 pro video card via an analogue vga cable. One of the things I noticed was that the brightness/contrast/gamma settings can be set in the video card control panel. These are much better than the controls on the front of the monitor.Hope this helpsAnthony Dyer

Anthony, Many thanks...... I'm leaning towards a CRT still at presentas although timewise I use the set mainly for Flt sim. other family members use text programs a fair amount :-) Regards Blue

monitoroutlet.com is a rip off.....You can buy the Samsung 193P for 699.00 at Newegg! (My favorite 19' LCD monitor...on the wish list)Monitoroutlet's price is 790.00 for the same product!A saving of $91.00 (Big difference)...same type of pricing applies on other monitors...Just a fact jack...and no, I don't work for Newegg

Just to add:Newegg is a great company to deal with.Also, a 17" LCD is 17", whereas a 17" CRT is 16"David

Thanks all - for those that like a conclusion I went for a 19" CRT LG Flatron T910BU in the end - It really is very nice and a great improvement on the old 15" (increase of resolution to boot) As someone said - "Like a new sim"Thank you for taking the time and trouble to help me out. Regards Blue