How to choose a LCD display...

Hey all.

I've done this a few times already for friends, and I'm personally still a CRT fan... but for this christmas season I'm again being asked to choose a LCD display within a set price range for someone.

Usually, I go to newegg (which to me seems to have a large enough selection) to bring up a list of displays that fit the budget, then bring my friend over to choose which look good to them aesthetically (in each and every case I've lost the argument that aesthetics should not be the driving decision, but I guess it is important when it's what you look at for so long).

Once I have a working list of 15 to 20 visually acceptable monitors, I re-read up on all of the specs availiable to me, write up a list of importance, and begin eliminating the worst of the bunch starting at the top of the list.

Unfortunately, I always lose this list, which I am sure has changed each time I go through this process, before the next request to do research comes up.

I'm curious to learn the order of importance of all of LCD specs that fellow ocforumsers use.

if it helps to show what i'm requesting, here's the order of spec importance given by anandtech in this article written over a year ago: http://www.anandtech.com/displays/showdoc.aspx?i=2289&p=2

1. INPUT TYPE (DVI must be an option)
2. RESOLUTION
3. RESPONSE TIME
4. COLOR DEPTH
5. BRIGHTNESS
6. VIEWING ANGLE
7. CONTRAST RATIO

i understand one list won't fit all (the gamer and the photoshop master will want different things), but it would be nice to see a few lists to compare and see what things are generally the most important.

Anandtech's list has all of the right things, but as you observed, is arranged in a specific order, this one for gamers. As a Photoshop Pro, I'd order it like this:

1. INPUT TYPE
2. RESOLUTION
3. COLOR DEPTH
4. CONTRAST RATIO
5. BRIGHTNESS
6. VIEWING ANGLE
7. RESPONSE TIME

The other things I look for which is not listed are adjustability and bezel thickness. A monitor which allows tilt, pivot, height and rotation will always gravitate to the top of my list. Since I use multiple monitors, a thin bezel is also a selling point.

Keep in mind that resolution for an LCD is tied to the monitor's size.