I used to play on a 19" CRT but recently swapped to 22" TFT. I havn't looked back since. I am a priest just as you and basically also looked at WoW from a tiny hole in the middle of the screen, while everything else was filled up with health bars from 40 players, emergeny - and ressurection monitor.
Now I even shrunk my viewport a little, so many mods and hotbars have a nice clean black background.
I highly recommend a large TFT for any WoW player.
 

I had my crt screen at work replaced by a 19" flat screen a few months ago. At first I didn't like it a bit, but now I will never go back to a crt.
No more staring at a goldfish bowl.
Sounds like your screen could do with a tweak to find the best viewing mode, and obviously for gaming, you need a screen with a high refresh/response rate.
It's the way forward.
 

Screensize and space can not solve the terrible status bars that is CTRaid. Switch to ACE addons Grid or (currently only beta yet) PerfectRaid. Both display all the important data with way less screen space usage. Grid even offers a very good EmergencyMonitor-like plugin.

http://www.coldheat.de/archiv/bilder/scrns/new-ui.jpg

This is my raiding screen-setup couple a weeks ago. With only 25ish raids coming soon, screen space will be even less a problem.

So for the actual TFT vs. CTR topic, again this is an individual question. I switched to TFTs for gaming/private use a year ago, never looked back since then.

Pricier TFTs offer wider viewing angles, maintaining equal contrast and brightness. When i bought my 2 TFTs i looked at a lot of models from different brands. But there is nothing like having those things lined up in front and see for yourself.

The Dell screens have a pretty good reputation as far as i know. Should be a no-brainer.
 

I have a Dell 24" flat screen. Its set on my desk so that the lower part of the screen is about level with my eyes. Thus I generally am looking up at it. I have no problems with colors, shading, etc. My recommendation is get the flat panel, you will be glad you did.
 

I used to own a 15" Phillip LCD Brillince 150p monitor that was bought in 2004. Have upgraded in Oct 06 to a 20" Dell Widescreen Ultrasharp LCD monitor. I like my Dell now because there's no whitish effect and the colors are more vibrant. Haven't seen the dual brightness display problem. Probably due to the Ultrasharp/Crystal display. That makes a lot of difference from the normal LCD monitor that this is the reason why most ppl still prefer CRT compared to normal LCD until they see the Ultrasharp ones.

The quality of the LCD that you buy would be dependant on the age of the monitor as well. Bargain units could be a few years old. The image quality is noticeable.

One mistake I did was not check the compatibility of the graphic card. I can't play WoW at 1680x1050 but am at 1280 x 1024.

Another thing is that not all games support Widescreen Gaming. Playing at a smaller resolution isn't that great. ( http://www.widescreengamingforum.com/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page )

20" Dell uses LG screen whereas the 24" Dell uses Samsung. The prices of those units are still more expensive than Dell.
 

Eye level should be one third of the distance from the top, not at the very top. Try that.
 

I definitely like the widescreen monitors better than the square ones. But it's not about size, it's about resolution.

The only thing that's stopping me from buying one is that I have a very, very nice CRT that does the max 2056 x 1536 resolution - so WoW looks very, very nice when I play it.

Right now the widescreen monitors that do the max resolution of 1920 x 1440 are still way to expensive. I'll wait for them to come down in price over the next year or two.
 

My Dell 24" wide screen (1920x1200 rez) does the job.

It has uniform brightness from my view angle (about middle of screen), the colours are bright and if you can run a game at the native rez, it's nice and sharp.

Colour reproduction is competent, but not perfect. LCDs suffer with their blank levels, with black looking more charcoal gray. Though after some adjustment I've got the colours looking good and reasonable accurate. For editing my photos in photoshop its awesome.

One thing to note about LCDs is that the geometry of the screen is never at fault (no pincushions here).

Another downside to LCD is motion blur. Some people find this more distracting than others. All LCDs have it to some degree or another, yes even the fast response time models. You might not notice it though. I sometimes see it on the leading edges of moving polygons, but after some time I've become a customed to it and am rarely bothered by it.

Until SED or oLED screens (or whatever the next tech will be), LCDs are a good compromise if you want a big screen without the obvious size and weight disadvantages of a CRT.

And well, I'd never get a 25" CRT on the desk!
 

I was a die hard CRT man, and my wife even more so. Now we dont understand why we waited so long...

2 24 inch dells and a 22 inch gateway here.
dell 2405 for me, bought the 2407 for my wife, and finally got the son a 22.

we love with the Dell monitors, it is the best entertainment purchase I have ever made.
neither of them have the problem you describe unless your a lot more sensitive to something like that than I am. I would not hesitate for a moment to recommend one, and frequently do!

The Gateway we bought our son also does not have any problem with viewing angle and might even have a better picture.

This site reviews a lot of LCD monitors with a great amount of detail including pictures of the screens from various angles.
http://www.behardware.com/
It is a UK site I believe so the availability of the monitors might be different, but after reading one or two of the reviews you will understand what to look for when shopping for your LCD.
Also the guys on the hardocp.com forums have a ton of info about Widescreens if you can sort through it all...

WOW looks outta site in 1920x1200 as does everything else. Get a good widescreen and you will never look back.
 

Tobold,

From what I've read you're right. Eye level should be at the top ofg the screen. Try tilting the bottom of the monitor slightly towards you to fix the viewing angle issue.
 

I have a Dell 24" LCD. If I put up a uniform grey background there is some brightness and color shift towards the edges. I only notice it when I put up a uniform background and I'm looking for it. It doesn't bother me in daily usage and I'm generally picky about these sorts of things.

If color accuracy is critical consider an Apple monitor. We have both Apple and Dell 24" LCD's at my office and the Apple's don't have the color/brightness shift from the primary user's viewing angle. (Since it's impossible to make a positive Apple comment anymore without getting flamed, someone is probably going to reply saying that Apple uses the same panels as Dell, etc. There's more to the monitor than just the panel. For one, the screen coating makes a difference in how the light is reflected which is the issue at hand. Put them next to each other like I did and decide for youself.)
 

There's a massive quality difference between the normal Dell LCD monitors and the Ultrasharp ones. Ther local megamall has a Dell kiosk up and I saw them side by side a few years back. I bought the ultrasharp one (this is ~2 years ago by now) and it was so much better than the CRT's I had around the house. On mine, even as 'old' as it is, has no issue with different parts being brighter/darker.

Strange but true fact - I can see the screen much better on my work laptop and home LCD screen than a CRT screen to the point that I don't have to wear my glasses when using an LCD screen.

I ditched CTraid for Xraid, which is less desktop intensive.
 

Dell does great LCD's... don't hesitate. But for a new rig? It's 2007 and you're a gamer. Time to roll your own!
 

I have a Dell 207wfp Ultrasharp and I HIGHLY recommend it. No problems with viewing angles. Another benefit of LCD over CRT: LCD's can not suffer from burn in. Great for games that have toolbars that don't frequently move.
 

I run dual monitors myself. If you get nice monitors, such as Samsung or Viewsonic with fast refresh rates you shouldn't have any problems. The refresh rate will be your main enemy. Cheap monitors can't post perfection and naturally the newer monitors are much better then any bought last year or previously (unless you really invested).
 

After reading the reviews at the site recommended by Michael: http://www.behardware.com/ specifically where they reviewed my 19" Viewsonic VX922 I now understand why my 6-year old son often doesn't see on-screen objects that I can see quite clearly.

Guess I need to have the screen tilted forward for him when he's playing WoW on my PC, and an LCD isnot necessarily a good purchase for him.
 

Apple uses only tier 1 lcd panels in their displays, Dell and LaCie are the only 2 other companies that do so. Apple also uses a combination of software and hardware techniques to make their displays of the highest quality and performance. A high-end Dell or LaCie is about on par with an Apple Display, except that Apple's software enhancements push it over the top to be the best out-of-the-box, something Dell or LaCie aren't until you use third-party screen calibration software like Spyder.