Affordable Acer LCDs have nice price edge over Viewsonic

GOOD NEWS for cheapskates in this month's Cheap Basket: first, an inexpensive 20-inch widescreen LCD monitor from Acer, for those of us with no DVI, then, an inexpensive Tivo, and finally, some cheap storage.

Acer's attractive 20-inch LCD on the cheap
My notebooks are not "ancient" by any standard, both have Athlon 64 CPUs and 64MB ATI video, enough for decent desktop apps performance -since I'm not a gamer, I don't mind much about 3D-. My desktops average ATI video as well, yet none of these systems have DVI outputs. Must be because I'm a cheap b*stard.

Acer's affordable 20-inch widescreen LCD

So when I started looking at 20-inch LCD monitors I immediately looked at Viewsonic, yet to my surprise I found all Viewsonic monitors -at least those offered on Amazon.com- came in dual "DVI plus analogue RGB" flavour, with its associated price increase. I wanted a simple LCD monitor with analogue RGB input only, yet I couldn't find one, and the near $100 price difference just to have DVI input was hardly justified to my cheapskate mind. Fortunately for me, Acer is offering the attractive AL2016W for $259 - just click on the Tiger Direct listing on the Amazon screen as it's $20 cheaper and Amazon doesn't provide free shipping for these bulky monitors. In contrast, the only 20 inch wide-screen LCD by Viewsonic listed on Amazon.com runs between $350 and $365. So I plan to save $100 by not buying DVI inputs I don't need. Yes, I'm a cheap b*stard.

Paying $100 more to get a DVI input?. No thanks. I'm a cheap b*stard

Before some Viewsonic fan decides to flame me, I admit that DVI probably would give me a slightly better image quality, but since I plan to run 1280x800 WXGA resolution, not the monitor's maximum 1680x1050, my guess is I'll get an acceptable image. If you compare the Viewsonic and the Acer, you'll see that both have roughly the same features: 1680x1060 maximum resolution, 8ms response time on both, 300 cd/m2 on both, and only slightly better contrast ratio on the Viewsonic (800:1 vs 600:1 for the Acer). In short: I'm not happy to pay $100 more for such a slight difference and again, I don't need DVI because none of my systems have DVI outputs. Cheapskates will probably agree with me. Those who do not agree, please don't send your flames, you shouldn't be reading The Cheap Basket in the first place.

Even if you're looking for a LCD monitor with DVI, I suggest you look at Acer's offerings before handing over your hard earned dollars -or pounds sterling-. Web retailer Buy.com recently had an offer for an Acer 20" -not wide screen- with both DVI and analogue inputs for $239. Sadly the deal was so good that it sold out in a matter of days.

A cheap TiVo for cheapskates

A cheap series 1 Tivo, ideal for the hardware hacker

While a Series 2 TiVo will set you back around $250, Cheapskates can get a factory refurbished TiVo of the original series for $60 with free shipping, from a seller at uBid.com. Find the deal over here. And if you are a cheapskate a good companion for this deal is joining the O'Reilly "Safary Bookshelf" trial and read the "TiVo Hacks" book for free, over there.

Tivo Hacks - read it online

And some cheap storage for it

250GB for $68, if you don´t mind risking your telly recordings to a refurbished part

In case you want some cheap storage to test your TIVO hacking skills, Geeks.com is offering some 250 GB refurbished Maxtor ATA drives for $68 each. Running cool at 5400 rpm, these drives are a good fit for use inside enclosures with poor air flow like the Tivo.

As always, I'm open to suggestions and comments for next month's Cheap Basket, so keep those e-mails coming, specially if you spot good deals in the first weeks of August.µ