Monitors

[Calibre]

Right, I've finally had a chance to view my project thread on a new LCD monitor and was blown away by the difference in appearance of the screenshots. The saturation of the images is just not comparable to older monitors.

I have been using a pretty old CRT monitor and now have got to view them on a new widescreen LCD screen.

So now a new LCD monitor has jumped to the top of my wish lis I was wondering what monitors the rest of you use, be it CRT, LCD, laptop or anything else, how happy you are with them and how much they set you back. What are the most important specifications I should be looking for in getting a new one? So I can...

A)I can gauge how my project will be viewed in general with other users.

B)Have a good idea in what monitor will give me the best results for the best price, based on fellow RMXp'ers opinions.

 

[Mega Flare]

Why does it matter on what monitor you have? Ive seen many and i cant really tell a diffrence. RIght now the one im use is a 17' And the screen is flat but the rest isnt

 

[Calibre]

I wasn't really talking about the size of the screen, I was talking more about the display.

I've seen many monitors too, but put an old bulky CRT monitor (6 years old) next to a crisp, new LCD and the difference (to me at least) in saturation for example is immense.

Maybe it depends on what fields your involved in, but I'm a marketing and design student at university so maybe subtle differences to some people are more obvious to me.

If there was no difference in monitor display, then I don't see why price ranges would fluctuate from £70 to over a £1000 and there would be no need to introduce HD either.

 

[TofuMatt]

I've been using LCD monitors for computers for some time, and difference is pretty noticable, however, the real difference is in TV screens. A good, HD CRT isn't bad (my folks own a 47 inch Samsung widescreen HDTV and it's good), but LCD/Plasma TVs kick the shit out of CRTs. And the size thing is cool too.
I also love widescreen TVs/monitors. I just like the way I can manage things on them. I'll probably buy an Apple Display as my next TV/monitor in around a year and a half.

My laptop is a 15.4 inch widescreen LCD. It kicks the shit out of the Dell 17 inch LCD my folks own, which has nothing on the clarity that this has. Though they also run it in 1024x768 :P
My TV right now is just a 27 inch CRT, but as I said, that will change when I feel like buying a new TV.

 

[Prexus]

I use a TFT 15.5 LCD laptop monitor. I love it, much clearer than my old CRT.

 

[Rain]

I've been using my 42" HD tv as a monitor for a while, makes everything look either crystal clear, or horrible as hell lol.

 

[LegacyComplete]

BenQ V772 21" CRT monitor

im gonna break it to you this way man, in the long run, a CRT is better...
Pros of a CRT over LCD:
-pixels do not break
-You can look at a CRT from the side and still see it.......
-CRT's last longer, LCD's fade fast as time goes by.....
-You can touch the screen all you want without it BREAKING.....
-Better cooling, I've seen an LCD actually melt its black lights because it was on to long, good bye $500......
Cons of a CRT over a LCD:
-its big and heavy, so what?
-its not FLAT! OH NOES!

oh and a side note, a HD CRT kicks ass... every once in a while when im bored ill hook up my friends 52" HDTV CRT, and now thats fun to game on..... nothing says pwn like 2560x2048 res!

 

[Calibre]

Isn't that list dependant on the quality of monitor you buy though?
Also, what about the difference in display quality, you didn't mention them at all and thats the main reason I was hoping to find a new monitor, because I study Marketing with Graphics and for RMXP too.

 

[tensuke]

My monitor blew up... Smoke everywhere... *shudders*
But I have a new one now... It's still probably about 5 years old or so, CRT but it doesn't mess up at all...
My brother has a flatscreen 17" with 4 USB ports on it...!!
If you're going to get one, get one that has USB ports or something on it... Fun. :D

 

[LegacyComplete]

um yea... CRT all in all with HD, better quality.. the pixels in LCD's tend to "lag" aka sometimes they dont wanna "update" when the monitor requests a change in frameset.....

 

[Mega Flare]

Anything bigger then 17' is to big

 

[Afro Samurai]

I use a LG FLATRON L1917S 19"

Isn't it sweet?

http://geizhals.at/img/pix/161386.jpg

Much better then my old AIRIS LCD 15" with sound

 

[Sketch]

The reason for bigger monitors is the same for dual monitors in a way.

Bigger canvas space for either editing the item at hand (Generally it's used for graphics and movie editing) or more space for numerous tools. So it's not uncommon for a hardcore graphic designer to have a 21"+ monitor and then a smaller one to the side of it to host all the tools they use.

I personally have a POS :P...Compaq 17" CRT Flat Screen. One thing I've noticed about LCD's as opposed to most CRT's is the fact that you can tell the difference between similar colors more easily on an LCD monitor. Personally, I'm looking to get myself a flatpanel 17" to simply replace the bulkyness of the flat screen one I've got now.

And those who don't know: Flat Screen is where the screen itself is a flat sheet of glass/plexi instead of bubbling out. This reduces Glare. Flat Panel are the ones that about an inch thick, and are LCD or plasma, etc. With CRT monitors, you can generally get away without using the maximum screen resolution for that monitor size (17" is 1280x1024) but with LCD it looks even worse than on a CRT monitor, so you're almost forced to use the larger resolution even if you didn't want to (many websites are rarely formated properly for screens bigger than 1024x768 even)

**EDIT**
Oh, and the days of Flat Panel's 'ghosting' are coming to an end. It was 3 years ago when I was first told about that, but nowadays it's minimal to non-existant.