livefree: Where did you buy it? futureshop doesn't sell dell products and I have a few hundred dollar on their gift card.
Unfortunately, I think I bought direct from Dell. Just checking Dell's site, they have a huge selection of IPS and VA panel monitors, while Future Shop's selection quite limited, and expensive.
Future Shop sells the
LG IPS235V, which seems ok at first glance. IPS, LED, sub-$300. Might be worth to do research on this one.
You can easily tell from the specs what monitor is VA/IPS and what is TN. A IPS/VA panel will be spec'd at 178/178 degree viewing angle while a TN panel monitor will only be spec'd at 170/160 degrees (which is an exaggeration).
I jsut noticed in the OP, you asked about calibration. Calibration is the adjustment of a display's
gamma for accuracy, which is different from adjusting brightness and contrast. You adjust gamma in Catalyst control centre or Nvidia equivalent.
These are the websites I found most useful info and images for adjusting gamma:
http://www.lagom.nl/lcd-test/
http://www.lcdreviewz.com/GammaCorrection This is the picture I found most useful for adjusting gamma (especially gamma of each colour channel):
http://www.lcdreviewz.com/graphics/ColorGammaGradient.png The main reason I adjusted gamma was because of my amateur photography. You might not find this to be worth doing, but I guess it depends on how inaccurate your monitor is.
There are also specialized software and hardware for gamma measurement and adjustment, but they're only worth the expense if you are a serious photographer or graphic designer.