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Shopping for a New Monitor?
Cecil asks: "Well, I've looked through the reviews and found several good displays. The problem is that quality can vary drastically from unit to unit. Just because the reviewer got a good screen doesn't mean you will. A lot of people say that it's a bad idea to buy a display device sight-unseen and from experience I have to agree. There are the big chain stores that will have monitors on display, but they will typically only have the 'value' models. So, what is your monitor buying process? What do you do to make sure you get the sort of high-quality display that'll last you through the next couple hardware upgrades?"
Ok, it might not be a good general solution, but that's where I saw the totally boss Samsung 171P, and thus that was the next monitor I bought.
And yes, I did just use the phrase "totally boss". Deal with it.
Well you didn't really mention your price range but if you're looking for a good monitor that will last, expect to pay atleast $250. I made the mistake of buying a monitor (KDS) from a major nationwide retailer (Wal-Mart) only to have it crap out on me 7 months later, one month after the warranty expired.
That brings me to another good point, make sure the monitor has a good warranty so that if something does happen to it, you can get it fixed for next to nothing.
Being a programmer I spend a lot of time staring at the screen. As a
result I spend a lot of time making sure I have the proper setup.
The monitor is typically the most expensive single component on any
computer setup I get. However it also has the most longevity, so
it's very imporant to get it right.
My favorite monitors are the View Sonic series. It's possible there
are better monitors out there, but I am incredibly hesitant to switch
from a brand that I know very well and trust implicitly. I now own
my seventh ViewSonic (multiple computers) and I've had a good
experience every time except once. On the most recent setup I have
two computers on a monitor switch, on one of the computers the
letters were slightly blurry. It was very apparent because the
letters were crisp on the other computer. Getting a new video card
fixed the problem.
In short here is my advice:
- Buy a brand well known for quality
- Buy from a store with a good reputation
- Go for good resolution and high refresh rate
- Pick a video card that is compatible with your monitor
- Talk extensively with people who have experience with the brand
you are considering.
Doug Tolton
"The destruction of a value which is, will not bring value to that which isn't." -John Galt
I do a lot of internet research first then I goto the store. Unfortunately, the store's don't do a good job of showing you the real quality of the monitors. My current monitor (Viewsonic VX900), which I bought sight-unseen, is incredible. The same one at stores doesnt look as good. Know your specs, read user reviews, and then goto the store.
I shop at a local clone/junk store that sells tons of refurbished monitors. They are hooked up so you can look at them. Generally the large brand name (like NEC) monitors seem to hold up well.
Maybe not as sharp or flat as some newer monitors, but they seem to last forever and are relatively cheap (less than a new noname piece of junk).
My buddy has a flat panel that is huge (from Gateway) -- but the text/fonts look like an Atari 2600. Look for a wicked dot pitch, and if you're store shopping, crack open a word processor or command prompt, and look at the quality of the plain text fonts. With monitors, you always get what you pay for. And I agree -- you have to see it in person. And lastly, from this non-expert, I recommend that you look for dead pixels when you take it home. Download a shareware dead pixel detector, and look for those dead pixels on the LCD. (assuming you're picking up an LCD/flat-panel) If there are a lot, take it back for another.
Get a Trinitron. They're pricey, but you won't regret it. They're brighter than regular monitors, as sharp as LCD screens, have excellent color and long life. The new ones have a special screen that is externally flat, but internally concave. This reduces glare but prevents the annoying edge distortion of normal flat CRT monitors.
Sony has an interesting description of Trinitron technology here.
If you're not adverse to looking on eBay, you can find some good deals there. Remember that many Dell, Sun, IBM, and SGI monitors are actually relabelled Trinitrons, so don't forget to check on them as well.
These guys have been churning out great value for CRT and LCD monitors for many years now--why bother going elsewhere? They supply a vast range of sizes, prices and features, so you can easily pick the one that fits your (analog|DVI|flat|CRT|15|17|19|20|21) profile.
I used to be a big Viewsonic fan. One of the best for the money but I had to replace one recently and got what should have been the new model of my previous monitor which I loved. It's the A90f. The first one I brought home I assumed was defective. The bottom of the screen has a nasty upward curve on the sides, no way to adjust that on the monitor. The other annoying problem is the image drifts. At times the toolbar would completely disappears. I've had to shrink the size of the screen to allow for that. I returned the first one and found I had exactly the same problems on the new one. Personally the next time around I will go flat screen. The color depth is much better now and I would assume they are more problem free. Not sure who to recommend for CRT monitors. Seems like everyone got so obsessed with making them cheaper the quality has suffered.
Explain to the sales droid that LCD displays can have dead [or permanently alive] pixels. It probably won't know that knackered pixels are expected, but the vast majority of displays are perfect, so there's no harm in making sure you get a perfect one.
Unpack the display and plug it into a PC in the store. Now you need to check both a completely white screen and a completely black screen - because knackered pixels can be knackered either always on or always off.
To check always off, fire up Internet Explorer, go to "about:blank" and press F11 (full screen). This will give you a page full of white. Scan the page closely looking for "always off" dead pixels.
Then, to test for always on pixels, right click on the desktop and go to screen saver. Select "Blank" and then "Preview". Again, scan the blank screen and this time look for "always on" pixels - although these are much easier to spot!
Keep in mind that stores often use a splitter of some kind to display the same image on many monitors from one computer. This just has the effect that they all look bad, and you can't tell much about any of them.
I buy sight unseen, but then I'm picky. If you can't buy from a local store that is easy to return to, then go with a brand that stands behind their quality claims. I currently own an NEC FE950+. The first one I got (via a web order) had bad geometry. NEC cross-shipped me a new monitor and sent me a voucher for the return shipment of the rejected unit. Pretty hard to beat that kind of service. Good luck!
Oh, I also love ViewSonic and was loathe to switch, just like an above poster. I thought the NEC would be better quality... I'm not disappointed with it -- it's a great monitor -- but it's no better, and was a bit pricier. Next time I will probably return to a ViewSonic.
Look at Fatwallet's or Anandtech's Hot Deals Forums for LCD's...
I always find Screamin deals on LCD's there, I bought 3 Dell 1900FP's Just before X-mas for $1300, Dell was running a Buy 2 get one free deal, and I couldnt pass it up the LCD's are GREAT
moo.
Buy from a small local shop. Call around. Tell them that you're particular about monitors, particularly fuzzy ones, and you'll buy from them if they'll let you connect the very unit you want to buy to your computer and video card right in the store. All of the small shops will say "no problem."
Signed
--Also Very Picky About Monitors
Investors?
Both I and a coworker have kept an eye on devsdeals.com and waited for an opportunity to pick up a top-quality Dell LCD display for $500. You can get a 17" (1702FP) or 18.1" (1800FP) for about $480, both 1280x1024 with a 500:1 contrast on the 17" and 300:1 on the 18". DVI and VGA.
Since then I've run into several other people who have had early deaths of MAG monitors, one good friend lost three before he learned. He did send in two for rapairs, paid more than they were worth for shipping, and still ended up with dead monitors shortly after the end of the warranty period.
I switched to Viewsonic and haven't regretted it.
You can't judge quality just by how much you pay.
I'm an American. I love this country and the freedoms that we used to have.
The only way to purchase a monitor:
1) Find a store that has a policy that will allow you to bring it back.
2) Pick up what you're salivating over in the store.
3) Take home: word process, hack, frag, or whatever floats your boat.
4) Repeat as necessary for n - 5 days (where n is the length of time you have to return it). I say minus five since I always miss the date by a day or two.
5) If you are in love with the monitor, keep it. Otherwise, take it back, chose another monitor.
6) Lather, rinse, repeat.
I did that at Fry's when I was looking for a new LCD monitor. I purchased something that looked great (and the salesperson said rocked) at the store, but when I brought it home- ugh.
I took it back and picked up a 16" Sony LCD. Zero defective pixels. Excellent res and definition. Zero regrets.
Aren't those the ones with those massively annoying black lines across the picture? Advocates say you stop noticing the lines after a while, but this is definitely wrong if you deal a lot with small details or even single pixels, e.g. if you use Photoshop/Gimp, design web sites, or something like that. You keep noticing the lines, they get in your way and annoy you. Ironically, most of these applications really benefit from a superior sharpness, which Trinitron monitors allegedly have. In situations in which you'll really forget about the lines, like playing games or casual web browsing, cheaper solutions are just as acceptable.
Personally, I buy a little more expensive, higher-quality monitors (I need at least 1600x1200 pixels and stare at them 10 hours a day on average), and there are very nice non-Trinitron ones (I'm very happy with my Iiyama).
but what do i know, i'm just a model.
1. Find a video production studio.
2. Make sure they use relatively old SGI workstations.
3. Wait.
4. Go dumpster diving.
5. ??????
6. Four 23" SGI-branded trinitron monitors!
I will now redundantly add my name to the end of my post. You know, in case you forgot me or something.
The parent poster is right - look out for dead pixels. And before you buy - look out for the monitor with the right warranty.
Recently I bought 15" Philips 150B3T panel, with 3 yrs warranty. After I asked for this model, the shop assistant tried to peddle to me an Philips 150F4 or something like this, claiming the same technical parameters. Fortunately I refused and insisten on the one I have seen on display. At home it turned out that the one they wanted to sell me had a warrany that kicks in only if the monitor has at least 5 bright pixels or 10 black pixes. OTherwise it;s considered OK. On the other hand The one I got (for the same price) is guaranteed to have 0 bright pixels and less than 5 black ones (mine has 0/0, luckily).
A pixel is 'turned off' (goes clear) and lets the white backlight through it to display white.
This is why LCD's are not as good at displaying black as CRT's. The backlight is always on, and the pixels can have varying degrees of opaqueness when turned on. This makes black more of an uneven very dark gray (well, uneven on my LCD anyway..newer ones might be better at it)
Also, they won't necessarily be black or white. I have some green dead pixels.
-
... if you like giving up half a square kilometer of desk space and the output of a small nuclear powerplant, the Mitsubisihi 2070U is just amazing, with the 2060U a close second.
I work with a lot of quality 21" monitors (newspaper , so we have layout staff) and the new mitsubishi monitors take the cake. Sony might compare (haven't worked with them) but Philips can't even touch them.
Our new machine is a G4/2x866 with a Mitsubishi 2060U - nice, too bad its an (os9) mac. My housemate liked the quality so much he went and bought a 2070U and a Radeon 9700 card - the results are incredible. I've never seen colour like it, and its so crisp its incredible. Almost matches a mid-range LCD for sharpness, but is better than the colour quality of the very best. BLACK IS BLACK WHEN WHITE IS WHITE. Wow.
Seriously, who tints their monitor? Why would thoy do that? Doing something like that have never even crossed my mind. Is he of the same crowd that puts the super-spoilers on Hondas? Or is he of the same crowd that uses the CD drive to hold his drink? Did he simply not know of the brightness control? Curious minds wish to know.
They are very important!!! Get quality cables.Get monitor cables with ferrite filters.Otherwise you might get a ghosty picture.
Careful there! You've just disturbed the cheap monitor racket!
Buy monitor, tint poorly, return, have a friend buy it, sell on black market, buy guns and drugs. I'd watch my back if I were you.
...
Nokia Monitor Test is the best free tool I have found for testing monitors.
Get it from Major Geeks
If you get a LCD, make sure to get one with a DVI (or ADC for Mac) connection. The digital connection affords a much sharper image than what you'd get from an analog VGA cable.
In my experience, Apple's LCD's are clearly the best, though you have to buy a $150 converter to use 'em with a PC because of the proprietary ADC connector that carries power, video, and USB.
Dell's digital UltraSharp models are pretty good, too.
I was impressed enough with the look and reliability of the LCD monitor built into my laptop (CPU and bus speed just too slow for my needs) and elected to go LCD for the desktop. I was set on an NEC 1700 or some sort, but after reading a few reviews I switched to a Samsung SyncMaster 172t. I like it, although it's very very bright and that could be toned down a bit (current graphics card driver can do that for me, yay!) Since I spend a lot of time using the hardware I bought, I probably won't upgrade for a couple years (depending, of course, on the Hammer rollout, but even that may queue up after a few other priorities, like a new vehicle or new bicycle) I can run DV-I or Analog, so I'm pretty sure I've got compatibility covered. I figured I'd spend the money once on a new monitor, so choose your form factor as well as your supplier. This comes with a bracket to attach to the wall, too, which I might do later.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
You might think 9 megapixel is overkill, but I find the visual quality more than adequate.
.sigs are for post^Hers.
Trinitrons use the horid aperture grill instead of a shadow mask. The aperture grill causes the annoying lines that we just love to hate.
Here's the quick breakdown:
Shadow mask: The shadow mask in a CRT monitor is a metal screen filled with holes that sits just behind the phosphor layer. Red, green and blue electron guns each send a beam through a hole in the shadow mask to a single pixel triad of the tube's phosphor layer. Although this method keeps the image sharp, it diminishes the potential brightness of the screen.
Aperture grill: Instead of a metal screen, the aperture grill consists of tiny vertical wires. The pixels on the phosphor layer are arranged in vertical stripes instead of triangular groups. When the electron guns scan across a row, the wires isolate the pixels that the individual beams focus on. This approach has a couple of advantages over conventional shadow masking. First, the use of wires instead of a screen allows more of the energy from the electron gun through, which makes for a brighter image. Second, the potential vertical resolution of a display can be greater, since the aperture grill does not rely on the vertical spacing of pinholes as a shadow mask does.
I don't know if I agree completely. I did a fair amount of internet research and decided upon Viewsonic since they had a good reputation. I ordered (online ) a black P95f+ because it had good specs and reviews. Visually, I have no complaints, but it emits a quiet though obnoxious high frequency ticking or buzz as I have heard in other lower quality monitors. This ticking/buzz corresponds to the frequency of the monitor. I could have avoided this sound if I would have bought or at least examined one at a store, unless I just got a bad apple...
Word of wisdom: look at your candidates in person, at a store, and listen to them too.
A common refrain is to "trust your eyes," however your eyes can be very deceiving.
Every monitor displays colors differently. Even different monitors that are the same model! Color perception depends greatly on ambient lighting, the signal being put out by the video card, to say nothing of the monitor's controls. This is why the row of monitors at Fry's all look different--it has nothing to do with the actual quality of the monitor! Trusting your eyes may result in you buying an inferior model.
Spec out the monitor you want in terms of size and dot pitch, then go out and buy the model with those specs that also gives you fine-grained control over the color settings. Don't worry too much about what the display model looks like--it's almost guaranteed to be calibrated incorrectly.
Of course, the fun part is calibrating it when you get home. Use a utility such as Adobe ColorSync to do a quick-n-dirty calibration.
Unless you're working in graphic design, you probably won't do anything else with color management.
Nathan
The only time I've ever seen an LCD with text that looks "like an Atari 2600" is if the LCD is not in the proper resolution.
Only? Not even when you run Stella, a VCS emulator?
Will I retire or break 10K?
It depends on the monitor and your own tastes. If you look around, you can find monitors that are ok on response time--definitely better than typical laptop displays. The monitor I mentioned has a 25ms response time, and there are already monitors that beat it. In practical terms, you can definitely tell the difference between this monitor and a good CRT, if you're looking for it. But I think my brain interprets the blur as a slight "motion blur", because when I'm in the midst of a game, I never notice it. :)
Additionally, the monitor is nice in a lot of other ways that I wouldn't want to give up for a CRT. Of course, you get what you pay for. Viewing angle, contrast, brightness, and response time vary wildly from the low end to the high end, so you have to shop around.
Anantech reviewed a Hitatchi monitor that advertises 16ms response time, which should be quite excellent. Unfortunately, it sounds like the reviewer still noticed some blurring. The monitor sounds pretty nice in spite of that, though.
If you're thinking that LCD monitors won't be common at lan parties, it appears not to be the case. People have all sorts of equipment and computer accessories that you can peruse, some of it of a rather dubious quality. As it looks "cool", it gets purchased.
Research was the first step, so I checked out the stock at my local Fry's - pretty much everything was a flat panel, and what wasn't was garbage. I have a dual 21" setup at work, so I wanted at least 21" at home - plasma display was not an option for me. Local compter shops didn't have much better to offer - some Viewsonic or Optiquest models that I found were relatively inexpensive, and had good specs. Most of the monitors in the 21"+ range in my local shops were either too expensive or had crappy specs.
Out of all of my local research, I made a couple of brand decisions, and went to the net to get more info. I spent some time comparing between manufacturer's sites to get a good idea of what was 'state of the shelf' at that time. Using pricewatch, I was able to find a feature/price point. Then, I hit epinions.com and consumer reports online to get some further information on the brands.
At this point, I had found the monitor that I wanted - 22" NEC MultiSync FE1250+. I then began to shop around for the best price I could find. There were several retailers that were (relatively) highly rated on pricegrabber that had decent prices for this item. I picked one and followed their order process to see how much I would pay in shipping. The total seemed acceptable (~600USD) so I confirmed the order and moved into the buyer's guilt stage of the purchase.
Here's the big D'oh. As most people do, I went searching to see if I could find a better deal after the fact. I went to some of the larger computer retailers like Gateway and Dell, and wow! they had huge sales and free shipping deals. Not only that, but Dell's price on the same NEC monitor with no shipping charge was nearly 200USD cheaper than the retailer from pricegrabber. I promptly cancelled my order with the smaller retailer and placed an order with Dell. The next week I was bathing in the glow of my new 22" monitor!
So I guess the moral of the story is to research, research, research. Get info, then reinforce it with opinion and testimonials. You don't necessarily have to see it to get a good deal. Oh, and don't rule out the big guys - they often can beat out everyone else, even on stuff they don't normally sell individually!
That's really not a good way to pick a monitor. These stores typically have a single computer hooked up to 20 monitors via splitters. The results are generally unflattering even on good monitors.
I do like ViewSonic, though.
I work at a university and we have numerous brands and models of LCDs and CRTs. From sheer volume I can tell you that the Apple brand monitors are the best out there. They have the crispest display, best white balancing, and longest life expectancy of anything we have. Our faculty, who use Dells, all request Apple LCDs. We use the 17" ones which run around 500 to 600. In a side by side comparison with the NEC monitors I have to say Apple shines once again.
Buying a monitor.
.3 is thick, .26 is good, .25 is fine, clear, precise, and .24 beautiful, unavailable and expensive.)
If you're worried about unit to unit variance, discuss, and if you feel it's necessary, get in writing, that your shop will let you bring the unit back if you're not happy. Don't buy from the elcheapo that is on the TV, buy from somewhere you or your friends have done good business before.
I like the reviews (and the classifieds) from this magazine: australian pc magazine. They have good list of what to look for and why.
Benq TFT review
I bought a Sony 17" LCD SDM S71R. It has no speakers or usb port. Sony wanted nearly $1500 aus for it, my local pc shop wanted $1395 for it, but I got it at mates rates from the same people that supply most of my friends and my work for $1329. The shop I think likely to be most difficult with the returns would have been the sony shop, parking for starters, a complete nightmare, but they're also very inflexible, and couldn't budge on the price even though they were the most expensive.
Of course I found several other brands at better prices later, but not so sure about their specs. And the main pain is about a month after you buy, all better specs come out anyway.
Need to pay attention to the
refresh rate (the higher the better 75 and up...)
native resolution (on 17" should be able to do 1280 x 1024 and still be able to read it)
pixel pitch (this comes under a lot of different names, the smaller the better eg
Lots of LCDs on test
I also like Mitsubishi CRT monitors. My first one used to deguass by itself, but I got it replaced. My Mum has never had any problems with hers.
I like the LCDs better, because I don't need a crane to lift one and I can fit more on to the screen and my desk. The Sony unit is brilliant. I got it out of the box sight unseen (although I did look at one similar in the sony shop). Not a single dead pixel anywhere. The main problem was finding drivers to work it with win98 and my graphics card. But it is happy now.
-- it must be true, it's on the internet.
Previously I'd used a few shitty el-cheapo monitors and I must say that you really do get what you pay for when it comes to monitors.
My 1st was a Commodore 1084S for my C64 (it's still working and sitting next to me =] ) - it's got S-Video (before it was called that) and composite. It has a huge curve and is only 13 or 14" but works great as a TV or PlayStation display. Overall, excellent quality.
Next was another Commodore monitor - a PC one. 14" (long since buried at the dump) but still, very good image quality despite the enormous curve in the glass.
Next was a 15" KTX monitor - had good high-end image controls, but it had this habit of not working at 1 year intervals. The OSD chip or something kept frying. Fortunately, the 3-year warranty enabled me to get it replaced, then on the 4th year when it fritzed I ditched it.
LiteOn came next, 15" - acceptable curve but a very blurry display. I still use it for LAN-parties as crispness doesn't matter much when you're fragging. =]
For the last 16 months I've been using this wonderful Sony 21" FD Trinitron (CPD-G520). For the amount of time I spend in front of a computer, it was definately worth the $2000 I paid for it. It's got great colour, brightness, contrast, sharpness and geometry. In fact, I prefer it over a LCD screen. 2048x1536 @ 75Hz, dual inputs, colour matching and a USB hub - yeah baby!
But, here is the most important thing! A top-notch monitor like this doesn't count for squat unless you have a HIGH QUALITY cable and video card! I can't stress this point enough! Until last month I had been using a Matrox G400 with it and at this insane resolution the image was as crisp and sharp as a LCD. Unfortunately, I needed a 'better' (in terms of polygon-pushing power and features) video card, so in an interim upgrade I bought a Radeon 9000. One word... UGHH!!! Though I don't notice it AS MUCH now, the image suffers from poor colour definition and 'bleeding' on high contrast areas (like word processing) as well as just being generally blury. If I didn't need a more powerful 3D card I'd go back to the Matrox until I have more money for a better quality card (mmm... Parhelia).
Oh yeah... how did I come to my decision about buying the monitor? Well, I'm a stickler for quality, so like with everything I buy, I make sure I do my homework first. This usually involves looking for user reviews online, reading reviews both online and in print. Finally though, you have to decide for yourself. So when you've narrowed it down to a few models, go and demo them - any store that won't let you demo them if they have them in stock is definately not worth your custom. (I demo'd this one at Sony Central, which was the most expensive place to buy it - even with cash, then when I fell in love with it I hunted around for the best price.) =P
Yup, I'll add my vote for Viewsonic. They're not the best available, but seem to be at the sweet spot for quality/price. I'm using a pair of G90Fs right now (about $240 on Pricewatch, or $10 more for the .21mm FB version) and am very happy with them.
Another tip: SparcStation IPCs make excellent monitor stands and cost less (mine were $5 or so each) than the flimsy plastic junk that is normally sold for that purpose.
What would Lemmy do?
I will disagree about KDS monitors. I've had a Visual Sensations 19SN for two years that I bought for $180. It has worked brilliantly, has crisp lettering, and looks good at high resolutions. I recommend to everyone that they check their options. Cheap doesn't mean shit.
Decide what size and resolution you want. I go for insane pixel counts (at least 1920x1440) and use Mozilla zoom and app font settings to make things visible, but if your apps are stuck at fixed pixel sizes and can't zoom (or you're too stupid to make the adjustments), it may be more trouble than it's worth and you'll be happier at 1024x768.
Then if you want higher res, figure out what refresh rate your video card can do at that resolution. Anything less than 72Hz is going to be miserable, and 85Hz is nicer. If you're willing to go with 16-bit color instead of 24-bit (thousands of colors instead of millions), you can get a higher refresh rate. Some video cards say they can do 2048x1536 at 85 Hz, but you find it's only in 8-bit color mode, which is useless these days.
Unless you have thousands to spend, your resolution quest takes you beyond LCD's, and you have to get a CRT.
All modern CRT monitors will claim they can do 2048x1536, but check the refresh rate as above. And then, check the dot pitch. Tiny pixels and big phosphor dots don't mix.
Buy your monitor, plug it in, screw in the cables to avoid interference, position your monitor away from stray electromagnetic fields. Go for the massive resolution, make sure you've got the plug'n'pray correctly identifying your monitor and letting you max out the refresh rate. Then spend quality time with all the setup controls. You need zone convergence to align the colors in each area of the screen, and full geometry controls to compensate for tilt, skew, barrel, etc. Displaymate has some nice test patterns, or you can create your own in a paint program.
Realize your video card is crap and at midnight unscrew a PHB's PC and swap your card with her 300+MHz RAMDAC 32MB model, then find you have to recalibrate all your settings.
Eventually give up on 2048x1536 because GIF images are just too damn tiny, and go for 1856x1392.
If you're going for high resolution, you have to go Sony GDM-F500R or the newer 520. To my knowledge nobody else has 0.22 mm dot pitch across the screen. I have that at work plus the GDM-F400 at home at 1600x1200. They're both fantastic and have been perfect for over three years. But again if you're happy at 1024x768 the extra money isn't worth it. The Sony E and G series are nearly as good and a lot less. You may find a PHB with a GDM series that's wasted running at 1024x768, so do the midnight monitor swap, she'll never notice. Yes occasionally the two wires on the Trinitron are right where you're looking, but it's not a big deal for me.
An LCD monitor with a DVI connection to your display card should let you bypass all the messing around with geometry and convergence, but you need to be careful. As I understand it, unless the DVI connector and your video card are engineered right with dual TMDS transmitters, you can't do super-high resolutions through the digital interface.
=S
Things to note:
m /index.htm
If you're into 3D action gaming and not just work/slower gaming you need a good switching speed which almost allways means CRT. There are some iiyama LCD panels that have fast switching and don't blur in fast 3D action (tested by powergamers too!), but they're still not common. Double check before buying.
If you're going to get a CRT instead of a LCD consider a high contrast, brilliant color 'Triniton' class. Be carefull though, those've got 2 thin horizontal lines between the 1st and second and 2nd and 3rd part of the screen (stabilization wires). Some find them extremely disturbing. You won't want that to be so! I personally am just sitting in Front of one (Sony E400 Triniton Flatscreen Tube) and I can see the wires if I look for them, but I've got used to it and find the benefits outway the wirelines.
Otherwise, if you're not into fast/3D gaming, it's easyer: Get an LCD!
iiyama have a good price for top range quality, otherwise I recommend Eizo if you want to be on the safe side. Both are good at CRT and LCD, Eizo being a tad pricier (and better, imho). Allthough the last time I checked (looong time ago), their LCDs where good but had a little yellowish touch to their background light.
BTW: You'll also want an digital conection for your brand new LCD screen - maybe consider a digital grafics output GFX adapter. Converting analog VGA back and forth degrades gfx quality in a noticable manner!
Here are the URLs:
http://www.iiyama.com/
http://www.eizo.co
Another advice: Do not buy cheap junk LCD! It's not just about broken pixels but also the background lighting on bad LCDs that can be unbalanced and screw up the best panel with uneven brightness or darker patches across the screen. Very anoying!
We suffer more in our imagination than in reality. - Seneca
Dig in dumpsters until I find a monitor that somewhat works, and dosent have coffee grounds on it. Us this one until I spill beer on it. Repeat process.
I deleted my sig years ago.
A high resolution/high lumen projection LCD is so much better than any traditional monitor it will stun you.
My screen is 6' by 5' but only takes up the volume of a toaster and can be carried around with one finger.
This is not your old-fashioned dim projector either; I project on an off-color wall but the brightness is as high as a CRT.
Yes, it is more expensive; but this is not a minor quality difference--it's shock and awe.
Sorry, I was not clear: it's *advertised* for Macs only, and the box reads "Requires Powermac G4 with such Geforce, MacOSX or 9 bla bla", which is obviously false, since, as I said above, it runs perfectly (with the ADC-DVI adaptor, of course) on my PC with an ATI Radeon 9700pro, and should work with any OS and any graphics card with DVI output.
:-P
;-)
This LCD is actually the best price/value ratio around, I guess because it doesn't have the extra analog inputs that all other generic LCDs have. Unless I've missed some?...
As for MacOS/Windows real estate, I guess that's my personal taste, and my colleague's. In Windows and other OSes, you can pretty much change any object size (borders, menu and bar fonts, window buttons, etc.), while it's way too limited on Mac. AFAIK, if Steve Jobs wants it this way, it's this way for everyone!
Fuzzy characters: we've tried every antialiazing and smoothing option on my colleague's PowerBook 15", and nothing looks as good as Windows'. Maybe taste again...
Sub-pixel antialiasing: have you ever seen Windows XP running on a LCD? You can really notice the difference with italic text. It just looks like normal text, no pixels, no fuzziness. Really impressive, try it! (Probably taste again, my colleague doesn't like it)
Anyway, back to topic: If you can afford a $2000 DVI-only screen, get the Apple 23"! Even if you don't have a Mac
I have a Cornerstone monitor. It's designed for professional imaging. It's the best monitor on the market. 21" monitor with crisp images, that I have ever seen. We use them with the IBM Image Plus system at work. DVI, RGB and VGA. Refresh rates in 150 to 200+. Anyone else have a Cornerstone monitor?
I couldn't agree more. I was thinking about upgrading several major parts of my system. Instead, I bought a 19-inch LCD (ViewSonic VG191). It was the best upgrade I have ever done. More than anything else, it has changed my mindset towards my system (went from "love" to "worship"). A good and large LCD monitor, coupled with a nice video card that does DVI, is beautiful and will enhance everything you do. My subsequent upgrade, going from an AMD T-bird 1200 to a XP 2100+ was disappointing when compared to the monitor.
P.S. Compaq sucks, too.
When I recently (within the last year) upgraded to a nice Samsung PerfectFlat 19"er, I went to several large discount stores to try to buy a good chunk of illuminated glass. Although I had read that buying a monitor is best in person, I have to offer this one caution -- know the limitations of the store's displays.
Why in the hades must stores insist on hooking up 55 monitors to the same damn video signal? The guy even admitted it was awful...static, etc. STATIC?!?!? On a monitor!? Incredible. Yet I picked my monitor out from all those and got lucky. I asked if I could pull some off the shelf and have them hooked up independently, but the guy conveniently pointed out the 20lb. log chain attached to each, and I gave up on it.
The point is: Put the displays through the best you can give them at the store. Ask if you can control the signalling computer. (I was able to do *anything* in one store, and I amused the staff and customers for awhile with my antics as a 10x10 monitor wall started doing my bidding. Most entertaining.) Give them the best shot, try to burn them out on site...give them refresh rates that would make your mother scream in pain.
But at the end of the day, it's a lot of luck. Good luck!
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It's getting pretty stupid now, with the quarter-vga palmtop displays. I'm not sure why they don't just use the pixel resolution.
Anyway, here is the breakdown:
VGA 640x480
SVGA 800x600
XGA 1024x768
SXGA 1280x1024
UXGA 1600x1200
The physical dimensions of the screen allow a higher resolution to be usable. I'm using UXGA on a ~20" CRT. I also have some Dell 2000FP's, which are 20" LCDs whose native resolution is also UXGA. the LCDs are much nicer because they have much more visible screen area. They also don't flicker at all. They cost about a grand, though.