dabs.com monitors

[Halo]

Hello Techies. :cheesy:

I was wondering...

Has anyone bought any of the Dabs own brand hardware?
I noticed that their price for a 17" flat panel is about the same as more prestigous brands 15"....
I would, obviously prefer 17" compared to 15" but am worried about the quality of the Dabs own kit (ancient Halo doctrine - you get what u pay for).

Any experience/words of wisdom out there?

Thanks

 

[oatman]

Don't know anything about their own gear but I ordered a Sony CD-RW late Monday afternoon and it arrived Tuesday.

 

[jpwone]

Dabs is one of the more reputable online suppliers. I use them reasonably regularly. However, a number of online traders have started using a slightly underhand way of dealing with warranty complaints/failures. Instead of dealing with it themselves and then returning the faulty unit to the manufacturer they insist that you deal with the manufacturer yourself as this will be quicker. Which, in fairness it usually is. The big but here is that once you contact the manufacturer and accept a replacement from them your contract is now with the manufacturer and not with the supplier. What this means is that if you are still disatisfied you no longer have a legal recourse against the supplier. Which leaves you hung out to dry if the replacement unit is faulty as you now can only deal with the manufacturer and cannot demand return of monies etc. from the supplier. This is the bit they don't tell you when they insist you use the manufacturer.

Flat screens themselves are still being sold with an unacceptable level of tolerated pixel failure. Unless you purchase a Class 1 screen then the tolerances (which vary from manufacturer to manufacturer) can have as many as 8 faulty pixels on the screen and still be within specification. They will not replace a faulty screen if it is within specification if the fault is defective pixels.

At least one manufacturer warrants that their panels will be free from pixel defects for at least the first 3 months. It is worth paying the extra for this peace of mind.

Check out
http://www.tomshardware.com/display/20030319/index.html
for a very good article on manufacturers attitude to defective pixels.

HTH

JPWone

PS. I now tend to use Tekheads www.tekheads.co.uk for my PC supplies in preference to others. They have a very good reputation and actually answer email and the phone.

 

[relaxed]

Halo,

Firstly, I must say that over the years I have bought a lot of stuff from Dabs, and found them to be an excellent company.

However, when it comes to things where you depend on the quality, and screens I feel is one of those, I believe your 'get what you pay for' adage is correct.

I would strongly suggest you look at the big magazine LCD tests, as they will have reviewed many screens and given a (hopefully) unbiased account.

I use "PC Pro" mag, and I think their reviews are on-line. I think they did a test recently, and from my memory the 'own brand' LCD's, from the likes of Dabs, Watford, etc. were rated poor.

All comes down to money though doesn't it !

If you can wait until November, I think the prices will have come down more due to the pre-Christmas push ... a long while to wait though ! Alternatively, try the auction sites like ebay or qxl, you may get some joy there ... but be wary to buy from a reputable place/person.

Hope this helps!

Cheers.

 

[ChartMan]

A dropped pixel here and there will not detract from the superb quality of LCD's.

 

[RogerM]

I recently bought a pair of NEC LCD 1760NX 17" tft screens from Technoworld.com for £397 each, inc delivery - cheaper than Dabs by about £20 ea. Ordered online 2pm one day and they arrived 10 a.m. the next. Even more impressive, one of them was missing the power cable. A quick email to Technoworld and a spare cable arrived 48 hrs later. Now that is service! I have used Dabs without trouble several times, but Technoworld have keener prices for some branded products. I have also heard that Dabs are impossible to deal with if anything is wrong with your order, although I have never had cause to put this to the test. My experience with technoworld shows that they really do care for their customers.

http://www.technoworld.com/productdisplay.asp?ProductID=415-430-1761

I am completely blown away by the quality of the image from these screens. Bright, vibrant colours, and pin-prick sharp image right up to the corners. And that is in analogue mode. Still haven't got a digital cable to try it in this even higher quality mode. No more flicker - no more headaches, no more tired eyes at the end of the day.

The bezel is very slim, which is great if you are using multiple monitors. OK - so they are £100 more than the dabs value product, which may be very good. But you won't be disappointed with these NEC's.

Having read many reviews, most peeps said that they were pleased with their 15" screens but subsequently regretted not buying 17" screens. Look at 15" and 17" side-by-side and there is no comparison.

So, go on - treat yourself. You won't regret it.

 

[Halo]

Thanks all!!!

I like the sound of the NEC 17" and I'll get onto Technoworld's site this weekend..

Help/advice is all much appreciated.

:cheesy: :cheesy:

 

[nautical]

When considering a different size LCD screen make sure you have a decent graphics card.

LCDs don't seem to like displaying the range of screen resolutions available with a decent CRT with the same clarity. They are instead much more optimised for specific resolutiions e.g. 15" TFTs usually run at 1024x768 and 17" TFTs run at 1280x1024. It seems their ability to display clearly at lower resolutions is much more dependant on the abilities of the graphics card. So, if you wind a 17" TFT down to 800x600 (if that's what you prefer) it can look cr@p with some graphics cards.

Just my own experience to date.

Chris

 

[RogerM]

I think that's a good point nautical. LCD's like to be set up for their specified resolution, and the image will be sigificantly poorer if set up for anything else. I use 1 x dual head Matrox G550 atp and 1 x dual head Appian Geronimo - the latter cost me £20 on Ebay. Both give excellent results.