Simple: there are 3 basic technologies involved and each has a good and cheap flavors. 1. Color resolution. Pick 8bits instead of 6. This is the most important

Simple: there are 3 basic technologies involved and each has a good and cheap flavors. 1. Color resolution. Pick 8bits instead of 6. This is the most important spec. Oftentimes it is not published precisely because it's important, but 8-bit displays are always marked as having 16.7 millions of colors, whereas 6-bit panels are often marked as simply "millions" (in reality they can display only 262K colors) 2. LCD pixel tech: pick IPS or PVA instead of cheaper TN. This very important spec is also intentionally left out of the official specsheet, but good IPS panels have 178/178 viewing angle, i.e. the same number vertically/horizontally. TN-based junk does not - you can tell even visually by tilting it left/right and up/down. 3. Backlight tech. Pick LED instead of CCFL. LEDs are brighter, they don't add yellowish cast and consume far less energy. Bottom line, look for a panel which is advertised as 16.7 million colors LED LCD with 178/178 viewing angle.