Jon_Are

Flat Panel monitors

As it turns out, I find myself in the market for a new monitor.

Aside from the obvious (appearance & price), what are the differences between the new LCD flat panel monitors and the older, television-sized ones?

I'd like to hear some comparisons with regard to durability, quality of image, and repair/replacement expectations.

Thanks!

Jon

DaveKahler

One major thing to look for is the dead pixel replacement policy (dead pixels are "locked-in" to either a pink or black color), dead pixels are considered "acceptable" by pretty much all manufacturers, and most won't take returns due to less than 7 or 8 dead pixels.

Another thing is the pixel response time (I think that's what it's called). 25-35ms is the norm, lower is better. Anything over 35ms and you'll see significant "ghosting", or an old image not clearing as quickly as the new one is drawn - it can be quite distracting.

I'm sure others will chime in with other recommendations! BTW - samsung seems to be the best for monitors.

Jon_Are

Dave, a Samsung is what crapped out on me after just two years.

Jon

DaveKahler

Yeah.. I had a horrible experience with samsung's RMA department, but whenever you get a samsung that's NOT a lemon, it's fantastic

Scott L

Another Samsung here (755df). Bought new in 2000 and has always had geometry probs. Now I have to turn the brightness + contrast all the way up to get a decent picture. Thankfully LCDs won't suffer the same longevity issues that CRTs do...

If you go for an LCD get at least a 17" (comparable to 19" CRT). I'd recommend Viewsonic, bought one with zero dead/stuck pixels and it still works just like it did when I bought it new last Xmas, stays bright, detailed, and colorful. Even after a couple cases of abuse when it was dropped on the floor.

Check out their product line to see what levels of quality they offer per series. Take a trip to Best Buy/CompUSA, and also read the customer reviews at Newegg and see what they have to say...

Jon_Are

Do LCDs truly last longer than CRTs?? Is this commonly accepted as fact?

I'm actually leaning toward a CRT now - desk space is not an issue, but price is.

Thanks for the input,

Jon

Parker Clack

Jon:

We have been running 17 inch LCD monitors at work for about 2 years now and they are just as bright, etc. as when we took them out of the box. They are on 24/7.

I just posted a great deal that Amazon has on the Cornea 17 monitor with 20ms response time. See this thread for details.

Personally I love my Dell 18 inch LCD monitor and my wife loves her 18 inch Viewsonic LCD. I wouldn't go back to a CRT type of monitor any time soon. The LCD monitors just keep getting better and better.

Parker

Max Leung

LCD monitors are nice, but unfortunately you pretty much have to run them at their native resolutions all the time, otherwise the monitor has to scale the image, and most don't do a very good job.

So, if you get a 1280x1024 LCD monitor, and wish to play a game in 800x600, you either scale it to fit the monitor (usually get a somewhat blurry image), or tell it to NOT scale it, and go for 1-to-1 pixel mapping -- which means you get an image that fits in a smaller area of the screen with a black border all around.

I wish LCD monitor reviewers would comment on the quality of scaling to non-native resolutions -- very few do.

Another thing to watch for: If you're doing any professional graphics work, LCD monitors are less than ideal because color accuracy tends to be off (too green). Calibrating LCD monitors is a pain, because most of them don't have the cuts and gains needed for accurate color calibration. And if they do, you'd need a special colorimeter that can handle LCD monitors -- because their color gamut (ie. color range) are completely different from CRT monitors.

Mahatma Gandhi, as you know, walked barefoot most of the time, which produced an impressive set of calluses on his feet. He also ate very little, which made him rather frail and with his odd diet, he suffered from bad breath. This made him...a super-callused fragile mystic hexed by halitosis.

Gameshow host: "Is taking Viagra kosher during Passover dinner?"
Whoopee Goldberg: "Not if it leads to pork."
Kermit the Frog: "Hey, that's my line!"

Scott L

Yea I agree with the color accuracy on LCDs, you can see the limited range they display when you adjust the contrast. If I had the space for my main computer I'd be using a 19" CRT right now.

Scaling is not really an issue for most because users tend to need the highest resolution available. The game res argument is kinda iffy because LCDs aren't the best to play games on in the first place. If watching a movie it can easily be scaled on the computer to the native res of the LCD.