BS remember that the 15" LCD has approximately a viewing area of a 17" normal monitor, and the 17.4" LCD is approx a 19" monitor - the 18" is not a 21" but a 20" monitor
Hope that helps - I've got a 15" here at home and a 17.4 in the office. They are both NP Sexy's which is an HK brand that equates about 101% to Compaq's old LCD's (late 2001).
It seems that most come from 1 of 4 or max. 5 factories - and the 4 things to look out for are:
Resolution (space between pixels) - the smaller the better (0.26 is better than 0.28) - 0.28 is the upper limit you should be thinking of.
Resolution 1024 x 768 they can all do - 12xx x 1024 is good more is better (but the picture and fonts get smaller so its a bit of a payoff - for games and pictures the more the better (sharper)
Contrast as in the light ration 1:250 is poor 1:400 is average 1:500 is good and they are moving up scale every new model that comes out
Angle of viewing is also important - for a laptop the narrower the better (so the chap in row 34 can't see hat you are writing) but at home or in the office the wider the better.
That's about it I think - throwing money at the problem is well worth while - eyesight deteriorates slower. Also a Monitor generates radiation (very little now but still some) LCD's don't. So if you sit there for more than 1 - 2 hours a day ... invest.
