Hi, I'm coming ever closer to finally buying my PC, and I had been set on a CRT monitor for a long time. However, I'm finding it difficult (in fact near impossible) to find a high res, 19 inch CRT monitor, as most places simply don't carry them. And when I do find them, they are more expensive than their 19inch LCD counterparts (but with higher resolution). My questions are mostly involving my the reasons that to this point have stopped me from seriously considering LCD. 1. Dead/stuck pixels: Me, I'm obsessive compulsive. If I was able to notice one pixel not working, I would probably be concentrated on it when I shouldn't. So my question is, how noticable are these (as in, how big and can you see them while playing games, or only on a dark or light background). How often do they occur? Has this changed in recent years? Is it still so that they can ship a monitor with a certain amount of dead pixels and there's nothing I can do about it? 2. Flimsy design-I've heard that LCD monitors are extremely weak, almost mushy. In their screens, and prone to scratching, cracking and dead pixelage caused by impact. Is this still the case, or is it a thing of the past/only on ghetto models. My family has a tendency to tap the glass, so would this lead to pixels getting stuck or dieing? 3. Widescreen-Though I doubt I'd get widescreen, I just have a few questions: A) What games support it and B) What about games that don't? I think I heard it just adds black bars to the side? And if that's the case, you can do that on every game right? And is it annoying? 4. I guess this question is: What kind of monitor would you people recommend. I guess I'm looking for 19inch, 1280x1024 kind of resolution. Edit-One more thing: What cable do you need in order to use your TV as a monitor? Not that I'm planning it on a regular basis, but how do you go about it? Thanks.
1. Ive had five LCD monitors and not one has had a dead pixel. Like I said... ive had five and only ever owned about 3 CRT monitors. So in my experience they dont last as long. 2.Ive never damaged one due to having a plastic screen.... besides you can get glass ones which are going to be stronger and probably clearer but obviously more brittle. You'd probably have to work pretty hard to break one by accidental impact.... like dropping it on the floor or down the stairs! 3. Widescreen is up to you. 4. I would get a 19" LCD. As for hooking your TV up... At the end of the day use s-video. If your telly hasnt got s-video an s-video-->composite will cost pennies (yellow from red, white and yellow AV) If you have an ATI card which supports component out and your tv supports component in use that. If you havent got s-video out or an ATI card then you'll have to buy a card which does. No matter what you do the picture will be crap. HD TVs will be better especially if it supports a progressive scan. If your TV has DVI or HDMI use that.
1. i've owned 4 so far, haven't found one yet. and you're right, you'll see them when it's a white background, like when you're surfing the web. if you want to see some, just go to best buy and i'm sure you'll find one of their display models with a dead pixel or two. looks like a speck of dust on the screen. this is something that can't be avoided from what i understand. and is part of the gamble of buying one. 2. you should avoid touching an LCD screen. i mean, it won't take away your birthday if you do, but there's a risk of screwing the display up that way. if you have handsy children or something, i'd advise a glare cover. meant to block out glare, but easily used as a shield for pokey fingers. 3. a) most recent games have the option to switch between resolutions that are in widescreen format. oblivion will even indicate in the options screen: 1280 x 768 (widescreen). b) what you have to watch out for is buying an LCD TV that has trouble displaying widescreen resolutions (my current problem). and yes. it is kind of annoying to see the black bars on the side. i'm currently sitting here thinking, i payed $x for this amount of real estate and i'm just cutting myself off with these bars! 4. i agree with zeus. 19inch sounds good. check out reviews before you buy. some manufacturers have excellent 17inch screens, and when they go to 19, they don't seem to do well. a friend of mine had a dell 19 and noticed significant ghosting, went to review sites and found that the 17 and 24 performed fine. the only advice i have is google the specific model you want to buy. the more 'budget' model you get, the less reviews you'll see. good luck with your purchase!
I'm on my first LCD monitor, and it has 1 dead pixel. It can't be seen on a white background, but on other colours it's clearly visible (a red dot). Before I had a 19" CRT and although it was good, the picture wasn't as clear as my 19" LCD. My laptop has a widescreen display, and I've found a few games don't support widescreen resolutions, which I find annoying.
FYI: Most 17" - 20" LCD monitors are NATIVE @ 1280x1024. So if you're wanting an LCD at that size with a "high resolution", no worries there.
CRT, CRT, CRT. Im with the old skool on this one and also for financial reasons. There is absolutely nothing wrong with 19" CRT's and i find they perform just as well and even better in some cases without fetching the same sort of price. It is becoming increasingly difficult to find quality CRT's with good res and some of my usual outlets have stopped getting them. Though i just found my local pc repair shop does a nice back catalogue of unwanted and unloved CRT's CRT is prob best for me personally as my equipment does sometimes take a battering whilst playing WoW, Pro evo and an LCD monitor just doesnt have the same durability.
Since getting a TFT for my old desktop I've realised just how good they are, they used to be dull, washed out and ghost a lot - but modern screens are excellent, not to mention they take up less space and consume a fraction of the energy that a CRT does! I've got a 15"TFT on my desktop and it's still going strong after 3 years - it's probably duller and slightly more washed out than when I first bought it but it still works fine! I've also got a laptop which has a great panel - 1280 x 800 and it's clear, bright and has that shiney coating on it which makes it look clearer and more crisp. [ot]I'm thinking of buying a 22" LCD panel to go on my desk next to my laptop - for playing movies on etc... Belinea 2225S1W 22" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Black/Silver ^^ That one I've gotta get the money first, I could buy it now but there's no guarantee I'll have money for my rent afterwards [/ot]
I have 2 LCD's, an Acer 19" Widescreen (5MS, 1440x 900), and a 17" LCD (12MS 1280x1024) and both seem to be very good except the 17" has this wierd flickering and lines appearing at left of the screen, but the acer is brilliant, first thing i noticed was it is more sharp than any CRT i have owned aswell. I dont seem to notice any problems with LCD's not been able to display black correctly, both of mine are able to display black colours just as good as my old 15" CRT. Both my LCD's dont have dead pixels yet too, and my 17" is 1.5 years old now and still works fine exept for the wierd lines at the top left on certain colours.
CRT's are great and probably the best part of it for me is the resolution flexability. They can handle anything under the sun up to their top res which is often plenty high at the 19" level and there is naturally no loss in visual fidelity. LCD's are way better than they used to be and while they do best at their native res they still look great at lower ones. As far as widescreen goes I'd say forget it. When a game supports it you'll be very amazed and probably fall in love with your screen. However very few games do. It's becoming more a trend these days and patches and whatnot are slowing floating in but anything more than a couple years old has no chance of supporting widescreen and you'll be left with a cramped image. As far as dead pixels go, from what I've seen it's not that big a deal, different companies have different replacement policies and sometimes you can get a deal but generally it's very hard to notice, especially when it's in a corner, I think we all know how small a pixel is after all. As for construction I wouldn't say there's a flimsy issue at all. Granted not all LCD's are created equal but on a whole we're talking about some well concieved, sturdy, and functional designs. In fact while CRT's are the old tanks of the past that seem to just endure all the punishment you can give them, they do have to tendency to crack at the bases and make popping noises as the houseing expands and contracts with temp changes and you won't reallly find LCD's doing that. What cables you use with you TV depends on what you TV and video card support. You can pretty much rest assured that S-video will work out but you won't get very good quality from that for the most part, though the color is improved over composite. Component and VGA are the way to go but you'll likely need an adaptor as you'll be hard pressed to find a TV that supports VGA natively. HDMI and VGA are interchangable so you'lll have an option there with a simple adaptor I do believe. As far as size, yeah, like others have said 19" is still the sweet spot. For some reason 20"+ are still often far more expensive and 1 extra inch makes little difference. 19" makes the most sense for a happy medium between price, resolution, and screen realestate. A quality one from Samsung, LG, Hitachi, Viewsonic, Dell, or Acer will range from about $200-300 so it's not too bad. Just look for a high contrast ratio, preferably 500 or above, a brightness rating of at least 300, and a pixel responce time of 12ms or lower. 6 or 8 seems to be pretty much the norm today so you'll have no problem finding on like that.
I believe the reason 20" is far more expensive than 19" is because 19" LCD's often have the same 1280 x 1024 resolution that 17" LCD's do, whereas 20" often then go up to 1600 x 1200.
Another good, solid name to look out for is BenQ as tehy are very inexpensive and have good specs. I am firmly rooted in the LCD camp as they free up so much space on the desktop and the clear bright images are beautiful.
