Brian -
I just finished a TON of research before buying a new LCD. I ended up purchasing a Dell U2410. It's a fantastic monitor.
Some caveats/advice -
1 - Get a PVA or IPS panel. Most LCDs (especially the cheaper ones) have TN panel technology. The worst thing about this panel type is that the viewing angles are really poor. Unless you are looking dead center, there is considerable fade - both in color and brightness. This is VERY noticeable if you get a larger screen, say 22" or more. Since many cheaper monitors also lack height adjustment, this can be an annoying issue to deal with if you spend a fair bit of time staring at your monitor. IPS panels have the best color reproduction and tend to be the most expensive. PVA (or MVA) panels are somewhat in between and are an excellent choice as well, though they can be hard to find.
2 - The best 24" panel is probably the NEC 2490WUXi, however these are expensive (~$1K).
3 - The Dell U2410 is an IPS panel and is loaded with every option in terms of connections - from VGA to DisplayPort and everything in between. It is a wide gamut monitor, but more and more are anyway and it has two RGB modes if you want a smaller color space. If you don't know what this means, don't worry about it.
The picture quality and sharpness of text are both excellent.
4 - Definitely go for a 16:10. I'm not sure why so many manufacturers are pushing the 16:9 other than for movies, etc. but most people will have a flatscreen for TV viewing anyway. The extra vertical height is useful if you actually work on your PC...
The U2410 has a couple of known issues. One is a pink/green tint that some specimens seem to have (mine is fine) and there is some dithering in the RGB modes. Dithering is a slight pixelation effect noticeable when rendering grey shades. This dithering only effects the monitor's RGB modes - it has 5 other modes you can choose from anyway (dithering free).
Dell has apparently fixed the dithering issue via a firmware update and they are now apparently shipping the newest revision (though I would call to confirm before ordering).
The U2410 has been going on sale and you should be able to get it for $500 or less. I was able to negotiate a lower price than list (which is $750 CDN) by simply opening a small business account online with Dell and speaking with a rep. He gave me a substantial discount over the phone.
For $500, you'd be hard pressed to get a better 24" monitor IMO.
Good luck with whatever you decide.