MonitorsFollow

My monitor is getting flippy and I suspect it may be on its way out. It's a 19" CRT donated to me by Frakkor (thanks again, Frak!) a couple years ago now but, from my quick look-over, it seems that CRTs are a dying breed.

So, in a flat screen, what do I need to be aware of? I see various millisecond refresh times listed in product descriptions -- how fast do I realistically need it to be for an enjoyable experience? My gaming is largely limited to MMORPGs and some games like the Total War series -- no ultra-fast FPS gunfire twitch play. But I don't want my gameplay to be gimped either. I keep my resolution at 1024x728.

For that matter, does anyone know a good source. I'm keeping it fairly cheap and have time to shop around. This ole girl still has life in her yet and I can always dust off my ancient 15" as a web-browsing tool if it really comes down to it.

Edited, May 16th 2007 5:28pm by Jophiel

Only flat panel monitors I know about are the ones we buy for work. You probably don't want to pay that much though...

I bought one of these recently when I made the leap from CRT. I'd recommend it for that price, although I paid only $130.00 for mine off Craigslist, and the guy delivered it fifty miles to my house. It's way sharper than my old CRT monitor was, but that's about as technical as I can get, I suppose. It just looks way better.

I agree. The Dell's are pretty slick. Another benefit is CRT's put off a lot of heat, flat panels not so much.

Also, with an LCD, there's less chance that a leaky cup will short out your monitor, triggering an explosing that embeds a shard of glass into your neck, causing you to stagger to the kitchen and accidentally get a knife lodged in your chest.

It can rarely happen, particularly if a large amount of dust/lint builds up in the cooling ports, or if you leave a sheet of paper on top it or something.

Not that I'd make it a reason to switch or anything.



Edited, May 16th 2007 9:43pm by trickybeck

That's due to the massive shielding in a typical CRT monitor (one of the two reasons CRTs are so damn heavy, the other being the leaded glass). The heated components of the CRT run in excess of 800 degrees. Plenty enough to light your home on fire should you say drop it for some reason while it's running. Of course, you'll have other problems as well due to the variety of toxic materials present. Faulty heatsinks in CRTs have caused them to literally melt down and can cause fires (CRTs *can* explode, maybe not as spectacularly as in the movies, but they can).

Another way to look at it is this: You'd never leave your home with the oven on, right? The CRT is over twice as hot as your oven typically gets. And it's also vulnerable to power surges in the electrical components as well. Certainly, the probability of some disaster is relatively low, but so are a lot of other things that can cause problems around the home. No reason not to eliminate one of them if you can.

I don't know how you use your computer...

The best things about LCD screens have been mentioned already....Saving space and power especially.

My favorite thing about them is the image is so much 'brighter'. Much more pleasing to look at in general. And seeing as how you are gonna be in Middle Earth for some time yet, LCD will make the world even more 'real' and 'vivid' than it already is. Wich has got to be a good thing.

Another huge benefit of LCD over CRT is the LCD doesn't 'flicker'. I find that those prolonged sessions dont get as wearing on the eyes as they used to.

Also worth taking into account is the emissions that emanate from a CRT. I'm not sure how much research into CRT emissions has been done, but they do consist of a device that emits radiation (small amounts of x-rays) onto the screen that your sat in front of. this may be fine if your 10 feet from the front of your tv, but may be more problematic over time if your sat 18 inches from yur comp. screen all day. There is also more electro magnetic radiation emmited wich some people (including me) feel is harmful to the bodies cellular structure.

All that aside, when you get around to a really pukka grafix card, and you've got all your settings on ultra hi, then you'll be glad you invested in a LCD, and not some poxy CRT. (I was! /feels smug)

Just my thoughts....

Oh yeah....size matters. Go LARGE as you can afford.

if your also in the market for a tv you could kill 2 birds with one stone and get a new lcd tv and use it as a monitor as well. I use this http://hhgregg.com/ProductDetail.asp?SID=B67812C015984FC6ABB71B12E35CDD8F&ProductID=17179
Can't use it much as a monitor because its not going to fit on my desk ;(


Edited, May 17th 2007 12:38am by Araxius

That's a big reason why I bought it. I'm so computer savvy I bought a new PC and the video card in it was DVI only. Seeing as how I'd never heard of DVI before, I figured it must be good.

Honestly, the thought that my old monitor could have cremated me while I look for **** never crossed my mind. Now that I know, though, I'll sleep even better tonight.

too bad I wasted like $70 on a dvi to hdmi cable for my tv and sony tv's apparently don't support anything but rgb -.-

I have a ViewSonic VA1912wb I really like the monitor, I'm sure there are better monitors out in the world, but it serves my purpose.