Your Questions: Can you compare older tests with more recent ones?

Here's an e-mail we received:

Subject: How can you compare 'new' LCD screens with 'old' ones? Hello, Your tests are great, and I always come to your site before I buy anything high tech. There is one thing that I can't work out that's really useful to people thinking about making a purchase: how do you rate recent products compared to older ranges? Take me for example.  I have a 19'' Belinea LCD, the 10 19 20, with an 8 ms response time.  It's absolutely perfect for me, even for gaming as I don't play too often. I'm looking for a bigger screen, so I've been reading your tests.  I came across the Samsung SyncMaster 2494HM, where you mention there's a small problem with responsiveness.  I imagine that you were comparing this fault against the best monitors available at the moment? How does it compare to older models though?  I would have thought it's still better, despite this responsiveness problem, but am I right?

Hello,

Questions like this show why our Product Face-Offs are great.  They put old products and new products right next to one another, monitors included.  Sometimes, it's not so simple because our tests have evolved over time to become more accurate and more demanding as the quality of the products themselves has improved.

In your case, you can compare the Samsung 2394HM with the Belinea 101920:

• Responsiveness: the test card has changed, but you can still make use of it.  On the right, the Belinea, clearly has much more remanance than the Samsung on the left.  It's particularly obvious in the tests that show the 'best result', but it's also there in the test that shows the 'worst result'.

• The next thing to look at is the colour handling: some of the tests in between were too old for the Belinea 10 19 20.  So off to the 'Colours with factory settings' tests it is, and again, Samsung clearly wins out.

• And you can carry on yourself … I'm sure you get the idea!

Our next bit of advice: even though it only got four stars, take a look at the Samsung F2380.  It seems particularly well-suited to replacing a Belina 10 19 20 ...

Best wishes,