17" monitors are being phased out. 19" and 19" widescreen monitors are hot in demand AND thus their price is just about as cheap as the 17" monitors. One of the best 19" widescreen monitors are available for 200$, samsung 941bw. (Check buy.com)

I agree with tdevil. You should probably skip out on the 17" since they are now older generation screens. All the news ones are usually 19" and up. If you have a $250 budget I would recommend the Dell 20" monitor over the 19" since the added resolution is nice. If you're in a hurry there's a slight discount for the E207WFP right now for $229 (which should come out to about $250 with tax) but the prices do get a little cheaper than that. I own one of those right now and I like it except for the fact that it's non-height adjusting. The height adjustable one (2007WFP) is a bit more expensive since there's no discount at $399.00. I like it better though because of the height adjusting (I could just be picky though) and the color is a bit more vibrant. You can probably get it as low as $350 on sale.