External monitor

Hi,
I am about to buy a macbook 13" and this will be my first mac.
I would like to use a 19" or 21" external monitor for use at home.

I understand this is easily possible. I would also like to run my xbox through this monitor. (component or hdmi????)

Can anyone advise or recommend a suitable monitor for both of these applications.

Any help will be greatly appreciated

phitt

Apple Cinema displays, plus a few from either Dell (I advise against that one) or AOC (my Dad bought one for my Power Mac since the old monitor I had on it quit working). AOC has pretty good color quality, but for better looks, the Apple Cinema display is better suited for a Mac..but I don't know if it'll hook up to an XBOX.

No doubt, go with an ACD if you can afford one. I have two (a 30in and the 24in LED) and they both look absolutely incredible. But, they are expensive, i got them refurbished for like $1200 and $600... so they aren't cheap. My only other gripe about ACDs are that they only have one input, this can be fixed with a KVM switch of sorts, but i haven't had experience with that. And the 24in has a mini-displayport connector, so it's not going to be possible to hook up your xbox at this point.

If your price range is more around $100-$200 i'd look at brands like acer and asus. Dell isn't bad either, but they seem slightly overpriced for what you get. Acer monitors are actually fairly high quality and have a great value. Color and gamma isn't wonderful or anything... but they're still good. Personally I have one 22in acer thats connected to my older plastic macbook. It runs flawlessly and i got it for $150, i believe. Another good thing is it comes with multiple inputs (DVI + VGA). The newer acers are even better. I think they have an HDMI input added, as well as a better panel for the same price. Definitely worth looking into those.

this one looks pretty good:
21.5in 1080p Acer Monitor