Want 2560x1600 or 2560x1440 via VGA output? These two monitors are for you

[pianowizard]

As you may recall, I recently got excited about finding a monitor that allows 2560x1440 (QHD) via VGA input; that's the QNIX QHD2410R in my signature. I am happy to report that I have now found a 30" monitor that permits even 2560x1600 over VGA: the Monoprice 10734. I confirmed this capability using my HP 8300 Elite minitower (with Intel HD Graphics 4000) and someone's Thinkpad X201 (with Intel GMA HD Graphics). The VGA output from my Panasonic Let's Note CF-Y9 (with Intel GS45 Express) can also achieve 2560x1440 on the QNIX, though only 2048x1152 on the Monoprice.

Most if not all other 2560x1440 and 2560x1600 monitors cripple their VGA input to 2048x1152, 1920x1200, or even 1920x1080.

[Puppy]

What is the refresh rate ? Also the picture quality (sharpness and ghosting) must be terrible unless you have an old Matrox card with high quality analog low pass filters for VGA output.

[pianowizard]

What is the refresh rate ?

60 Hz. I actually would prefer 30 Hz but Windows 10 allows only 60 Hz.

Also the picture quality (sharpness and ghosting) must be terrible unless you have an old Matrox card with high quality analog low pass filters for VGA output.

"Must be terrible"? Not at all! I am quite picky as I'm used to digitally driven IPS and VA panels, yet I still find this VGA-driven 2560x1600 very usable. There is ghosting around certain kinds of edges, and sharpness is suboptimal, but both imperfections are far less than expected. Also helpful is the fact that this large, low-DPI monitor (100.6 DPI) is meant to be used at a long viewing distance, at which the ghosting and relatively low sharpness aren't very noticeable. When answering your question, I looked for ghosting and reduced sharpness only several inches away from the screen, but normal viewing distance is >2 ft.

[automobus]

That is nice to know. Thank you for sharing your discovery. And you too, Puppy! I appreciate your every update about leNOvo faults, especially LCD flicker. Niche computer displays and Lenovo's mediocrity are two subjects which I find interesting. You two people are good contributors to this community, I am glad you are here.

[Puppy]

I looked for ghosting and reduced sharpness only several inches away from the screen, but normal viewing distance is >2 ft.

Interesting, the A-D converter probably can handle it. I remember it wasn't easy to get a video card with properly designed VGA output and low-pass filter in CRT monitors era. I was able to detect all cheap video cards including all laptop VGA outputs because of terrible blurry picture on 19" Sony G400 flat trinitron monitor (the thing had almost 30 kg ). Matrox used to be the only serious company able to deliver 1600x1200 85 Hz with clean analog output.

[pianowizard]

You two people are good contributors to this community, I am glad you are here.

Thanks for the compliment. In recent years I have been posting mostly about non-Thinkpad stuff because I haven't owned Thinkpads in ages, and sometimes I feel bad about that (i.e. being off-topic). So it's good to know that some of what I post may actually be informative. Well, I now have a Thinkpad 8 tablet, but there isn't much to say about it.

Oh yeah, I love to play with monitors. I just sold a 27.5" 1920x1200 Hannspree HF298H monitor on Craigslist. 27.5" is way too big for 1920x1200. Even 24" is too big. For a few years I had four 24" Dell 1920x1200 UltraSharp monitors and loved them, but eventually found 1920x1200 too low for 24". It's crazy that quite a few 24" monitors with this low resolution are still being made, in 2016. I highly recommend 2560x1440 for 24-inchers, such as the QNIX QHD2410r I mentioned earlier. This QNIX has built-in speakers too, as I just discovered by watching some videos via HDMI! Things may look kind of small on this monitor but its DPI of 123.7 is actually lower than most laptops', e.g. 14.1" 1400x1050 is 124.1 DPI. You just have to view it slightly closer than for the typical desktop monitor. For under $200, the QHD2410r is an excellent bargain.

There aren't many interesting monitors that I still haven't tried, but I'll get to them eventually, and will probably say something about them on this forum.

Matrox used to be the only serious company able to deliver 1600x1200 85 Hz with clean analog output.

Video cards are getting better all the time, even their VGA output. I just hooked up this Monoprice 2560x1600 monitor to the VGA output of a Pentium III Dell Dimension tower, which uses a 15-year-old Radeon 7500 video card. I was pleasantly surprised that it managed to drive it at the full native resolution, but quickly noticed an issue when I started opening windows: the text in the title bar often got scrambled. And again, the VGA output of my 8-year-old Panasonic CF-Y9 (from the late Core2 Duo era) can't even give me 2560x1600. Newer video cards don't seem to have these issues, yet.