Monitor or flat screen?

[Englan Girl]

I'm thinking of changing to a flat screen for reasons of space and saving my remaining eyesight.

What are the pros and cons?

mind you, my young niece has a flat screen and I have to say it looks impressive so maybe I'm a tad red yeye?

[Soul Hunter]

Re: Monitor or flat screen?

i can't think of a single con. better use of space, and in my experiences less strain on the eyes (get something at least 17"). Prices have dropped significantly so even at 17" they should be affordable. The only real cons is if you are a gamer. Apparently, depending on the refresh rates on the flat screen, you can have some ghosting where the images seem to trail across the screen whenever something moves. I have a Dell flat screen and have never experienced this problem. Get the flat screen - you won't go back to CRT ever!

[djrosen1]

Re: Monitor or flat screen?

The reviewers I have come to trust seem to like the monitors made by Samsung and ViewSonic the best (we're talking the retail-level ones, not the high-end ones made for graphics folks).

I have to wonder about the good reviews given to the ViewSonic monitors. In a bid to save money about four years ago or so, my company started buying ViewSonic monitors instead of the previously-favored IBMs. Everyone was just thrilled at the picture quality out of the box, and people were initially very happy. It turned out that within a year or two, the picture quality had deteriorated so much on the ViewSonics that it became a problem; the company switched back to IBMs, and now people are happy for a lot longer.

These are CRTs I'm talking about now, so this may not apply; I'm just explaining why I am a little leery of the ViewSonic brand and would probably go in the Samsung direction myself.

The companies have worked very hard on the "ghosting" problem mentioned by Soul Hunter, because they know that gamers love the bleeding-edge stuff and will adopt wholesale once they get the performance they need. My understanding is that things have gotten a lot better, and that the ghosting sholdn't be much of a problem unless you're trying to achieve absolutely screaming refresh rates for very fast-twitch type titles. In other words, a gamer who's into The Sims shouldn't shy away; if Doom III is what you love, maybe you better stick with CRTs for at least one more generation of LCDs.

[j-kid]

Re: Monitor or flat screen?

The affordable flat panels are not at the level where I wan to spend the majority of the day staring at an LCD screen. My eye sight is much too valuable to screw around with. In my PC set-up the monitor is the second most, if not the most, important piece of equipment to me. As I said, they not at the quality level where I wan to spend the majority of the day staring at those screens. I and many other people have had eye issues with these new screens, where sometimes at the end of the day your eyes can not focus and your sight starts to deteriorate. I still prefer the CRT type screen especially for the fact that I can see it from any angle without much distortion, unlike a lot of the low end, flat panel monitors out there. I don't experience eye fatigue or those issues I mentioned earlier when using a CRT. These eyes are my window to the world, and I will not screw around with them for all the money in the world or any cost savings, if I can help it. My personal choice to do serious work on, is a 20 to 21 inch CRT monitor.

[dahjah]

Re: Monitor or flat screen?

J-kid yuh yeye dem mussee use tuh de level of radiation de CRT give off dere fore it a mek yuh believe seh... [img]/forums/images/graemlins/704555_dwl.gif[/img]

[Englan Girl]

Re: Monitor or flat screen?

Well I'm not a gamer by any means and couldn't see that changing any time soon. I now use a laptop at work and don't spend a lot of time on my home pc anyway, so maybe a good quality flat screen is worth checking out.

J Kid 20/21 inch CRT monitor? I think only the staff in our DTP unit have that size. The rest of us use 15 inch screens.

I'll check out the 17" ones - thanks SH.

[Rebycman]

Re: Monitor or flat screen?

The flat panel monitors are so much easier on my eyes. Just make sure to properly adjust them to your eye height to avoid neck strain. I would suggest getting a 19 inch if you can swing it. The 17's are nice but bigger is always better (don't go there, shame on you). [img]/forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

The 20/21 inch CRT's are nice to work on but they are much harder on my eyes. Still its nice to have miles of landscape to design on. [img]/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

Regards,

-Reby

[dahjah]

Re: Monitor or flat screen?

could always get one of those 46" LCD tv's [img]/forums/images/graemlins/704555_dwl.gif[/img]

[Jah_Mamma]

Re: Monitor or flat screen?

Slowly but surely CRTs will be obsolete. There are some companies that have stopped manufacturing them. For my clients I recommend Samsung.

[Englan Girl]

Re: Monitor or flat screen?

Jah_Mamma, I've seen another post somewhere that also recommended Samsung. I'm taking time with my research but definitely getting a flat screen by christmas.

Rebycman, I was sooo tempted and I do agree!!! [img]/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/graemlins/70365-flirt.gif[/img]

[j-kid]

Re: Monitor or flat screen?

The GOOD the BAD and the UGLY of LCD monitors (for those who want to have one):

http://techreport.com/reviews/2004q1/lcds/index.x?pg=1

"Due to a difference in the way lcd monitor "pixels" differ from CRT "pixels", if one wants the sharpest text, one MUST have the lcd monitor set at either the resolution it was manufactured for OR a multiple/fraction of the resolution it was manufactured for. This is NOT a factor with a CRT monitor.

For instance, if you buy a 1600x1200 lcd, the text will be equally sharp at 800x600. However, any resolution between those two would result in less sharp text. So it's best to buy an lcd displaying either the resolution you prefer OR a multiple of the resolution you prefer.

keep in mind that with lcd's, color reproduction isn't always accurate when doing graphics. For example, a very light peach skin tone on an lcd that looked perfect on say a NEC 19" lcd may look muddy brown on 21" CRT. The angle at which you view the lcd can either make colors brighter or lower."

[j-kid]

Re: Monitor or flat screen?

Now this is a sweet display!


Go here to see more variations:
Multi-Screen-display

[Englan Girl]

Re: Monitor or flat screen?

J-Kid why would anyone outside of the finance industry want more than one screen?

[j-kid]

Re: Monitor or flat screen?

Many reasons. Some are:

1)More desktop space.

2) You can open numerous items at the same time without toggling back and forth between visible and non-visible items.

3) Don't have to make everything smaller to see all at the same time on one screen, thereby avoiding eye strain.

4) Each work-task/group can have its own screen.

5) If doing presentation, your notes can be on one screen that only you can see, and the presented material on another screen that everyone sees.

6) Watch a video on one while working on the other.

7) Teleconference on one while searching on the web, or finishing a report to meet my deadline.

8) Great for very long spreadsheets, without scrolling back and forth.

9) Using AIM on one while doing homework on the other.

10) Higle pan JA.com, while doing serious work on another. [img]/forums/images/graemlins/704555_dwl.gif[/img]

I think you get the drift. [img]/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

[godfreymclean]

Re: Monitor or flat screen?

I have had a Samsung syncmaster713 at home and i bought one for the office for over one year and am glad i made the switch . space, easy on the eye and the colors are vibrant. Also the price was quite good.