OT: What to know before buying an LCD monitor??

TurinTurambar · #1 January 27th, 2006, 07:35 PM

Quote:

Imperator Fyron said:
Image quality is generally worse, unless you are buying newer $1000 LCDs. There is no flicker, if that is a concern of CRT to you, and they use about one third as much power, or less. And forget about high resolution...

I too was a skeptic, and for good reason, since early LCD's sucked ***. And I would assume, Fyron, that you don't have one.

I recently posted in another thread though, that both my CRT's crapped out ( I run a 2 monitor setup ) and I decided to do some research and "modernize." Fact: LCD's do have good resolution if you run them at their native resolution. Fact: They're nice and bright and use less power. Fact: With today's 8ms and 4ms refresh rates, the "ghosting factor" is becoming a non-issue.

I now have two Samsung 17" 740B's (black) with 0 dead pixels each. I spent less than 600 on the pair at Buy.com.
I'm happy with them and I have a crapload more room on my desk now.

T

EDIT: Just remembered about some news I heard concerning any LCD computer monitor over 17" not being a good idea. Something to do with the Native Resolution idea. I'll post a linky when I find it. ~T~

Fyron · #2 January 27th, 2006, 08:10 PM

I've seen a number of newer LCDs. The affordable ones aren't worth the money to me, since I do not like low resolutions. I can spend under $60 on a 19 inch CRT and comfortably run it at 1600x1200 or higher (maybe $80-100 for 21 inch CRT), or ~$300 on a low resolution 17 inch LCD. The $200 or so models are pretty crappy, not worth considering.

Captain Kwok · #3 January 27th, 2006, 08:28 PM

I'm starting to really want to get an LCD panel as well. My eyes are starting to bug more and more when working on computers with CRT monitors, and I could really use the space on my desk at home. One of the computer labs at school just underwent a renovation and is now nicely loaded with widescreen panels that I think are really good, which is no good considering I don't really have $ to spend at this time. Ugh.

rdouglass · #4 January 31st, 2006, 04:27 PM

Quote:

Imperator Fyron said:
I've seen a number of newer LCDs. The affordable ones aren't worth the money to me, since I do not like low resolutions. I can spend under $60 on a 19 inch CRT and comfortably run it at 1600x1200 or higher (maybe $80-100 for 21 inch CRT), or ~$300 on a low resolution 17 inch LCD. The $200 or so models are pretty crappy, not worth considering.

Fyron, have you ever actually compared them side-by-side? Again, I say I bought 19" LCD's that are far superior to the CRT displays out today. And in high rez too.

The price difference is not as drastic or dramatic as you indicate unless you're comparing a new LCD to a 19" CRT coming off a lease.

I think you've been reading 2 year old magazine reviews again.

Fyron · #5 January 31st, 2006, 06:22 PM

The price difference is certainly dramatic. There is no reason to throw money away on a new CRT when you can get perfectly working used CRTs that are just the same for dirt cheap from computer fairs or people looking to dump their old monitor after buying a LCD... Certainly you have to be careful not to buy a poorly refurbished monitor, but that is pretty easy to determine just by looking at it in action.

I haven't read any reviews on monitors, and wouldn't put much stock in them anyways. I have looked at CRTs and LCDs side by side. I have not seen a non-overly-expensive LCD that I could label as superior, much less to say far superior.

What resolution is your monitor supporting natively, and what was its price?

NullAshton · #6 January 31st, 2006, 06:33 PM

LCD monitors have perfect geometry, easy on your eyes, cool to look at, crisp color, good contrast, and the picture on one is very precise. For gaming, it's great, I don't think you can get a better picture.

Fyron · #7 January 31st, 2006, 06:49 PM

If you buy an expensive LCD, yes. The same can be said about much cheaper CRTs.

rdouglass · #8 February 2nd, 2006, 01:40 PM

Fyron, you seemed to have your mind made up. That's OK, some prefer Dodge, some prefer Ford, some prefer Honda, etc., etc.

Since you asked, here is a CNET review of the AL1914 LCD:

http://shopper.cnet.com/Acer_AL1914_...-31383600.html

It has a native of 1280x1024 and I bought it for $264 except I got the black bezel version (the specs are identical). I have 3 other 19" CRT's and none of them are on my desk - only the LCD and IMO it was worth the extra money.