LCD Monitors, Are They Worth It?

[cyberneticimplant]

One of my local stores is having a boxing day sale. Their stuff is usually ridiculously overpriced. However two items caught my eye, an ATI made X1950Pro, and SAMSUNG 941BW 19" 4 ms monitor will be on sale, each for $200 CAD.

I don't know if I should get the monitor or the video card. I currently have a 6600GT on a 3800+ X2, so I have somewhat of a video bottleneck, and I am using an old Acer 77e 17" CRT. A larger, and more modern screen would be nice, but a new video card would rock too.

I am leaning towards the video card as LCD monitors at first glance look unreliable, and fragile.

http://bravotech.us/info/crt-lcd.htm

[bubba]

I was a little leery if going from a 19"CRT to a 19"LCD at work due to the fact that the LCD wouldn't run the res (1600x1200) that I had been used to for 6 years. once I got used to the lower res I liked it. Brighter easier to read and you have more viewable space on an LCD than a CRT.

I still run a 19" trinitron at home, once I get a new mobo and ram a nice LCD is next. I'm thinking 21".

If your CRT is still good and you have no issue with it, then get the vid card.

[tonman23]

I have a dual lcd setup at home and love it. If you were to go with a LCD get a widescreen, they're awesome. However, I personally would go with the video card for right now. Anything to boost performance is priority in my opinion! LCD can come later, they get cheaper and cheaper by the day neways.

[JasonE4]

LCDs are much easier on my eyes, especially when reading text, so an LCD was worth it just for that fact alone (I don't do a whole lot of gaming). However, if you're very into gaming, you'll probably enjoy a new video card more.

[mongol05]

I would go with the LCD. I love the LCDs I have. Never go back to CRT

[coreyb18]

crt sucks that's all you need to no

[snowking03]

crt sucks that's all you need to no

Contrary to popular beliefs, CRT's are still superior in my opinion. I had an old sony 19" CRT that served me well for a few years, until I came to college and I decided that an LCD would serve my purposes better.

LCD technology is now starting to surpass CRT's though, so there is no reason to not get an LCD. If you're fine with your current monitor, go for it, but if you can't even support higher resolutions that your video card might allow, then I don't even see a reason in upgrading your card.

I say a minimum 19" LCD is required for higher end gaming.

[hq5]

If you're into gaming, video card upgrade would be great for you.

[DaIceMan]

hard for the me to say which would be better, since I did both at the same time (8800GTX and 22" Widescreen LCD), but I ABSOLUTELY love my new LCD. I can't hardly stand to look at my daily driver with the 19/17" CRT combo anymore.

[cyberneticimplant]

I got a 19 inch widescreen, but afterwards I got a new card too.

I think the monitor was the better purchase. It is so much easier on my eyes. Running at 1024 x 786 x 60 Hertz was a pain.

[Bigedmond]

I love my lcd. I went from a sony 21" trinitron to a sony 19" lcd last year and will never go back. Plus the room with my computer stays cooler. CRT's put off alot of heat.

[Toebot]

About the only metric an LCD exceeds a CRT is screen geometry (and power consumption - but low power consumption doesn't make the screen's image look any better) I've never seen any LCD that could do a reasonable approximation of black; they can do gray in spades but black eludes them. Color range, video quality, all better on a CRT. It's really sad that despite all the effort, modern screen technology still can't beat 100+ year old tube technology. I will be sad to see the CRT go, only to be replaced by a technology where it's considered fine and dandy to have a (varying) number of screen defects and still be a fully functional unit, i.e. the Dead Pixel.

[Bio-Hazard]

I'm still using both, got a 20" Samsung SW LCD as well as a Samsung 19" CRT connected to my system.............. Best of both worlds depending on what I'm doing at the time..............

[vrioux]

Color range, video quality, all better on a CRT. It's really sad that despite all the effort, modern screen technology still can't beat 100+ year old tube technology. I will be sad to see the CRT go, only to be replaced by a technology where it's considered fine and dandy to have a (varying) number of screen defects and still be a fully functional unit, i.e. the Dead Pixel.

You are so right... What's troubling is that there is currently NO replacement for CRTs that offer the same level of flexibility. CRTs were nice for their ability to display various resolutions natively (without pixel doubling / up or downscaling). Hell, it even allowed 3D stereoscopic display without red/blue glasses (shutter glasses instead). Try doing that on your LCD! It requires the screen to be fast enough to completely change the image every 1 Hz.

Anyways, digital panel displays have different advantages... Digital signal path - from video card to pixel on screen is very nice. Power savings also mean we still got a few years of "cool climate".

The thing of the future, tough, is Laser projection displays. It can be as slim as any LCD, offers digital precision, yet is based on scanning to make it flexible. The best of both worlds. Oh, and with a laser, you don't need phosphors / color filters (present in ALL current color displays) because the laser itself has the color (R + G + B). What that means is a pretty much infinite color range - much more like reality. Say hello to 64 / 128-bit precision color! ;-)

Can't wait to see that.

Vincent