Monitor help?

Ok, I'm buying a new system. So now I am thinking of buying a new monitor as well. I am looking at LCD flat panels, but have never bought one. I am not sure what to look for, and any advice or tips would be appreciated.

The first thing to look for is resolution. LCD monitors that max out at 1024 x 768 resolution are going to have trouble producing crisp, clear letters. Also keep in mind price is a major factor as well. You can buy a 21" CRT for less than a 17" LCD, you could buy two 21" monitors for the price of one 19" LCD.

LCD monitors have their advantages but in actual use they tend not to be worth the price you pay. Yes, they are thinner and take less space but few people who have had computers a while don't already have space for a CRT plus you can't use the space behind an LCD for much anyway.

If you happen to have a surplus computer place nearby you can sometimes pick up 19" and 21" CRT monitors for $150 or less, monitors that cost $1000 only 5 years ago and produce gorgious pictures no LCD can hope to match.

Just some things to think about. I paid $400 for my 15" LCD a few years ago and it worked well for what I needed it for back then but now I wish I had the money and / or another 19" CRT instead. That's just me though.

If budgeting is a concern, Kat made some good points about LCD vs. CRT. However, if you'v got the money to spend on a flat panel (or two), they're wonderful. Once you make the switch you won't go back. Besides just being space savers, flat panels use less power than CRT's, produce no flicker (meaning you can stare at them all day without your eyes getting tired), and if you get good ones they can rotate between portrait and lanscape orientation (something no CRT can do).

I use dual 19" Samsung Syncmaster 191Tplus flat panels, and I absolutely love them. I paid about $700 US each for them, and in my opinion they are worth every penny. I really can't praise them highly enough. They are incredibly bright, crisp, and clear, producing wondefully vibrant, lifelike images. There are zero dead pixels on either one (dead pixels are not an uncommon problem with flat panels). They have a true 180-degree viewing angle, so you can look at them from anywhere and see 100% picture quality (cheaper flat panels tend to force you to sit right in front of them or the picture fades). The resolution is 1280 x 1024 (standard for a 19" LCD). I have them mounted on a Humanscale M7 dual link armset, so they hover above my desk, and can be rotated and moved easily to any angle or position.

I've had them for about a year now, and the only drawback I've found is that certain older games that can't support 1280x1024 resolution and can't be played in a windowed mode to compensate don't look so hot, but who the heck wants to play 3+ year old games anyway? (I finally had to give up Starcraft, but oh well.) Other than that, these monitors have been a dream come true.

So, to answer your question about advice, here's my top seven tips for you:

1. Go high end or don't go at all. You get what you pay for. Cheap flat panels tend to have dead pixels, small viewing angles, and problematic color match. Good ones work flawlessly.

2. Go as big as you can. My first flat panel was a 15" freebie from Dell. I thought it was great at first, but 15 inches becomes very small very quickly if you're into digital arts (which being an SL'er you may be). Unlike CRT's, LCD monitors operate in only one native resolution. If you want more pixels on the screen, you need a bigger screen.

3. Make sure the base is detachable. Some flat panels are fixed to their bases, making it impossible to expand to a mounting arm system.

4. Get a mounting arm if you can afford it. The Humanscale M7 is awesome. It's pricy, but it's rock solid and extremely versitile. Trust me, getting the thing off your desk so you have unlimited flexibility in positioning is well worth the trouble.

5. If your not using a mounting arm, make sure the monitor's base allows for portrait to lanscape swivel. It's great to be able to work in landscape mode in Photoshop, SL, etc., and then swivel to portrait for word processing, web browsing, etc. In portrait mode, you can view entire Word documents and many web pages without scrolling.

6. Get two if you can. It's so great to be able to stretch SL across 2 screens. I keep it so that it takes up the entire left screen and about 1/3 of thr right screen. I keep the minimap, stats bar, inventory, and editor open all the time on the right without them getting in the way of anything. Also for Photoshop, the extra space is SOOOO useful. And for multitasking, well that's obvious.

7. I highly recommend Samsung. Like anyone else, I see all the flat panels (along with everything else) every time I go to the computer store. I've seen very few that look as good as the two Samsungs I have, and the ones that do are usually other Samsungs.

Wow, thank you for the insight to both points of view

While budget is a concern, I do have the money to spend on a flat panel. From the looks of pricing, I think a 17" is in my comfort zone. Now though, I am wondering if 17" is gonna cut it, lol.

Here's a link to one that I've been looking at. I don't think I'll make a decision today, but if anyone cares to take a look, any feedback is always helpful

17" LCD Flat Panel

My biggest piece of advice is go somewhere where there are several brands plugged in and showing the same images. I had one all picked out and ready to buy & when I got to the store and looked at them, I changed my mind. Specs *will* tell you one very important part of your decision, your eyes will tell you the other part. That being said, I chose MAG monitors. Given the same advice I have friends who picked Viewsonic. What you want & expect is going to be different that someone else.

A point missed by both the above posters. CRTs are measured across the glass tube, LCDs are measured across the actuall picture size.. so a 15"LCD equates to a 17"CRT. Likewise a 17"LCD equates to a 19"CRT, take this into consideration when compairing prices.

Also, the phosphor coating inside a CRT degrades with use, and the high end, high spec CRTs designed for CAD use are often factory set for best picture with no user adjustment. This is fine when new, but a 5 year old 21"CRT can look dull and out of focus when compaired to a new one.




The whole point is that you free up desk space in FRONT of the monitor... not behind it. A 21"CRT is a massive box, however you look at it.

And if you can try them in motion too - move windows, play some animation (animations with sharp edges, e.g. flash ones are very good to see if there's a blur) or video. Not all LCDs are equally fast - this is a concern when you want to run games or watch movies

One thing I forgot to mention, DVI. If your video card has a DVI output (or 2), be sure to use it. DVI connectivity is superior to analog VGA. High end flat panels typically have both types of inputs.

The monitor in your link sounds like it has good features for the price they are charging, but it's impossible to say without seeing it in person. It's not digital, which is a concern. I'd highly recommend looking at it before you buy it. As a couple other people said, go to a store where they have many of them on display and play around with them. You'll find there are huge difference in quality between different makes and models.

By the way, when you're ready to purchase, I like to do business with www.the3dshop.com. They are very knowledgeable and friendly, and their prices are usually very good. The first time I spoke with them on the phone, I could tell right away that they were worthy of my business. The guy made a few recommendations and then advised me to go to local stores to look at the models he'd recommended, and then to call back. I said to myself, "Now that's a sales person with nothing to fear and nothing to hide if he's not trying to keep me out of other stores". I made the decision to listen to this guy's advice, and I've never regretted it. He talked me out of the more expensive MassMultiples that I had been thinking about in favor of the Samsungs with the Humanscale arm. As I said before, I couldn't be more pleased with them. The3dshop's website is not always up to date, but from what I've seen, their people usually are, so give them a call.

That is a quasi marketing gimmick. Most all fairly modern CRT's are able to run with the screen image stretched to the edges with minimal distortion. That means my 19" monitor is actually a 20" . My 15" LCD has less screen area as my 15" CRT with the screen stretched to the edges. Haven't had any trouble doing this with CRT's made since 1995 or so, esp the expensive ones. You have to look at the monitor to make sure it can be run out to the edges though as some look like crap.




That is true, that is why you look at it before you buy it to make sure it is in good shape. Also a 5 year old Viewsonic will still look better than a newer cheapo. Also keep in mind most CRT's don't see all that much use as they spend most of their time in stand by mode. They are made with the same technology as that 20 year old TV in your grandmother's house so they tend to be pretty reliable.




Can't argure there, they are massive boxes. And yes, an LCD does free up desk space in front of the monitor; if you move it back. The comfortable veiwing distance doesn't change between an LCD or a CRT so in real world usage you aren't going to gain all that much. My 15" LCD still has to be less than 2 ft away from my eyes so I can read the text on it and I can't use the area behind it for much of anything. I'm not saying CRT's are perfect , just that they shouldn't be dismissed out of hand just yet. A lot of expensive LCD monitors look like crap with fast moving video and even have blurry, headache inducing text. A $100 used CRT may serve you just as well as a $700 LCD or it may not, I am only suggesting you keep an open mind.

You sure of that? The visible glass surface on my 15" CRT measures 14" corner to corner. The visible surface on the 15" LCD screen of my laptop measures 15" from corner to corner.