Monitor: IPS vs TN

So I'm looking to replace my 10 year old Dell CRT at home; I've gotten spoiled by my 20" iMac at work, and I just can't stand it anymore. My budget, unfortunately, is about $250 at the outside; I'd rather keep it to $200, and have enough left to buy a Spyder calibration tool.

Now, I found the recommendation for the Dell 2209wa, which would probably work for me.

My question, though, is this: My iMac, as far as I can tell, is one of the ones with a TN monitor. Even without calibration, it's excellent. Prints come back looking just about exactly the same as they do on the screen, which is NOT true of my home monitor. So: How important is it, really, to have an IPS monitor? For instance, why not buy a different 22" monitor for $50 less?


Further background: I do play some games, but they're usually older -- I'm not much into first person shooters or real time strategy, which pretty seriously limits me for any game made after about 2000. So super-high-speed video shouldn't be an issue, but the ability to display older formats (1024x768, 800x600) without badly distorting them is an issue. It looks as though the Dell can't do that, which is pretty much the only reason I'm seriously looking at other monitors.

IPS is better, both color wise and, perhaps more important, viewing angles.

I've bought a used Apple Cinema Display a while back as a secondary monitor, and when it's calibrated it's pretty close to my LaCie CRT (There's a visible gamut difference in blues and reds). Pretty good however for a few years old S-IPS screen.

IMO a TN screen shifts too much in color when you shift your head

Any LCD screen is best run at it's native resolution.

amckenzie4 wrote in post #7774054
Further background: I do play some games, but they're usually older -- I'm not much into first person shooters or real time strategy, which pretty seriously limits me for any game made after about 2000. So super-high-speed video shouldn't be an issue, but the ability to display older formats (1024x768, 800x600) without badly distorting them is an issue. It looks as though the Dell can't do that, which is pretty much the only reason I'm seriously looking at other monitors.

Sounds like you would be better of looking for a second hand flat screen CRT.
Better image quality than most LCD's, the ablity to display lots of different resolutions and cheap.
The down side is they are heavy and take up a lot more desk space.
However, I recently picked up a 21inch Dell Trinitron for US$10 and a Spyder 2 Express for US$80.
I can edit photos at 1900x1440, or play Diablo II at 800x600 and it looks fantastic in both.