Please share your experience re: LCD monitors

[ken]

I'm thinking of getting an LCD monitor, partly to save space, mostly because they look cool.

I'm loathe to spend over $500 total, which seems nigh impossible.

But while I'm thinking about it, anyone have any experience with having one? Regret getting a small LCD monitor when you could have gotten that 21" tube?

[hapoo]

The only experience i've had with them is on my sisters laptop. I was using it while I was away from home to make a web page and even though it did all the things i wanted to do the colors on the LCD did not match the colors on my or any other CRT monitor. The colors where very similar to the background colors on this page, they seemed washed out and barely visable.

[Bires]

I love LCD Monitors-the good ones look great in most lights (where as RGB's tend to pick up lots of glare). Unfortunately, the prices for good LCD's are still way too high. Maybe in a couple of years...

[baboo128]

LCDs are good for eyes since they don't give off none or any radiation... and yea they look cool

[Apex]

It matters. Some are very good, others are not so good. You also got to consider the interface (digital or analog). Some have both.

I just got the Compaq TFT8020 a few days ago:

http://www5.compaq.com/products/monitors/flatpanel/tft8020.html

18.1" viewable space, 1280x1024 resolution, 200 nits brightness, 160 degrees viewing, 37ms response time, 300:1 contrast, digital and analog imputs.

A few of the things you want to watch for:

1. Digital imputs are better, but only if you have the video card that can support it.

2. Resolution. In general, look at what kind of desktop space you need. Most likely, it'll be 1024x758 or 1280x1024. Widescreens may be 1600x1024 or so (like the SGI 17.3" one, which by the way was reduced to $1695!)

3. Brightness. 160 nits or above tend to be good. 200+ is generally what you're looking for (SGI is 235, Apple 22" is 180).

4. Contrast: 250 and up at least. (SGI is 350:1, apple 22" is 300:1)

[DoOLiE 11]

lcds are awesome but way too expensive for my taste maybe in a few years or two...i wonder if its possible to run dual lcds... :) ...i was lookin at the sgi 1600sw that is one bada** lcd screen...anyone actually own one of those?

[DoOLiE 11]

oh yeah i got another question about lcds...i was looking at the sgi 1600sw specs and it says it has a max resolution of 1600*1200 and i read somewhere that if u go from 1600*1200 to a lower resolution the picture wont be as crisp. same with the lcds that are 1280*1024 if u go up or down in resolutioni heard u lose picture quality is that true?

[Apex]

All LCD's have a set resolution they're designed for (each pixel is pre-defined). You must set it for that max resolution for a crisp display. Downscaling is always handled rather poorly in LCD's, with some being worse than others. Iiyama, for instance, is one of the better ones thanks to their Digital Linear Smoothing technology. Even then, there are limits.

[Apex]

Oooh. That SGI is now on sale for about half what it usually costs.

[ken]

Apex, you actually have one of those 18” LCDs??? I thought you were recently married. How did you justify that $2500 price tag? Even with a tax deduction, that’s still a lot of cash.
If you can, a few questions:
1) Have you ever seen Samsung’s 17” LCD? If so, any comments (its analog).
2) Will I regret getting a 15” LCD over a 17” LCD (both analog), a 15” analog LCD over a 15” digital LCD, any LCD vs. a 21” tube (for $500).
3) Is digital that important? I need 3d acceleration.
4) Is it even possible to play games with SGI’s 17” 1600x1024 display?

[Apex]

Well, I was kind of lucky with this purchase. I paid nowhere even remotely near that price.

1. I haven't seen the samsung 17" LCD's. They're supposed to be pretty good though:

http://computers.cnet.com/hardware/0-1051-405-1588135.html?tag=st.co.1051-404-1588135.dir.1051-405-1588135

Here's a review of the TFT8020 that I got:

http://www.pcworld.com/reviews/article.asp?aid=16875


2. Hmm. 15" is pretty small. You got to consider what kind of usable space you need. I'd suggest 17" and bigger, personally. A 21" CRT will be better for somethings.

3. Digital is nice to have if you plan to get a video card with digital video out. Basically computations are handled digitally within the video card. If you have a digital interface, it goes from digital (video card), to digital (interface between card & monitor), to digital (imput to monitor), to digital (inside monitor). If you're on analog, then it's digital (inside video card), to analog (interface), to analog (imput to monitor), to digital (inside monitor). 3D acceleration means you definitely want a CRT.

4. Nope. If you're playing 3d games, you need a variable refresh rate, not a fixed one like LCD's have.

[DoOLiE 11]

i have a geforce 2 mx with twinview if i hook up a sgi 1600sw to it...will the display still be as crisp and good? if it were used with the #9 card?

[DoOLiE 11]

http://www.us.buy.com/retail/searchresults.asp?qu=sgi+1600sw

they got it too...but is it the black or the clear one?

[Apex]

The 1600SW only has digital imputs. So you'd better have a Gf2 mx with digital out if you want to use it. The number 9 is suppoed to be pretty good.

All the $16xx ones are the clear and blue ones. The other ones aren't on special I believe.

[DoOLiE 11]

i was hoping the buy.com ones were the black ones...but my geforces comes witht the dvi out is that the same thing?

[sbp]

Originally posted by ken
Apex, you actually have one of those 18” LCDs??? I thought you were recently married. How did you justify that $2500 price tag? Even with a tax deduction, that’s still a lot of cash. Hey don't you all know Apex is rich? Apex sweet talked his sweat heart into letting him have the expen$ive LCD. All hail Apex! He's the man. http://www.geocities.com/sbp7777/files/wink2.gif

DoOLiE 11 if your asking whether the your geforce mx's dvi out is digital out the answer is yes.