monitor question

[Michael Hanel]

For those of you that do a lot of reading on the computer whether its stuff in BW, Ebooks, Logos or whatever, I'm curious as to what type of monitors you use. Specifically I'm curious whether there's a break or not between old CRT type monitors vs. LCD. Most of the comparisons between the two have in mind gaming and while I do some of that, the biggest thing I like out of my monitor is whether it's easy to read text or not, so I'm wondering what do people use and what do you find better or worse for reading purposes?

personally i have a 15 inch Dell monitor that came w the computer. I run the monitor at 1024 x 768 because i find anything smaller than that a bit too restrictive, but larger than that a little too small for my liking...

[Ben Spackman]

18" Dell, 1280x1024, and I wish it were sharper. I've read that LCD's are easier on your eyes, but something about LCD's makes them look vaguely glittery.

[ingosorke]

19" LCD Sharp at home. Good text, incl. Hebrew and Greek, richer contrast.

19" CRT Samsung at work. Sharper text, but not as dark.

Saving for a 19"-20" LCD for the extra screen real estate. My eyes will thank me later . . .

[Joshua Luna]

I am using two 19 inch Hyundai L90D+ LCDs. They are affordable, for the size, and have excellent brightness and color. I have found 2 monitors is great for extra workspace in using BibleWorks or web development tools. Once you go dual monitor you will never go back

As for LCDs/CRTs, do not overlook your input. Having 2 LCDs side by side, one with DVI and the other with D-sub 15pin (VGA), you can tell the difference. DVI is crisper although neither are bad.

The biggest negatives, in my book, with LCDs is viewing angle and color. Most LCDs with fast response times (e.g. sub 16ms or 8ms) sacrifice viewing angle and/or color fidelity. In regards to color this means you may get some small hardware dithering. This is due to the fact that most quicker response LCDs are 18bit panels and not 24bit. This is not noticable if you are looking for it, and in most cases (outside graphic design) is usually irrelevant. The viewing angle issues can be a pain if you wish to flip your monitor out of landscape into portrait mode. Every monitor varies and you would need to check this out yourself or read some reviews.

One big thing on LCDs and CRTs is go take a look at some and see what models are best on your eyes. While this may be hard in the unnaturatal lighting environments in a store you may find some monitors have a glare of anti-reflective coating that is annoying.

Personally I switched from a 21" Sony Trinitron CRT to the Hyundia LCDs. The LCDs are a lot crisper and my eyes REALLY have had a lot less eye strain. CRTs, with refresh rates, glare, etc, seemed to really strain my eyes after a while. Moving to the LCDs helped a lot. Not to mention the extra work space!

Other things you may want to keep in mind are Widescreen LCDs (DELL and Apple offer a couple varieties, and more companies are making solid offerings in this market). Another thing is inputs. If you are considering media now or in the future DVI+HDCP or HDMI would be a perk for when high definition optical media (BR / HD DVD) appear. DVI is a must IMO, and Component cannot hurt (especially if you play some games and are thinking of maybe hooking up a gaming device and using your LCD as an HD device).

If you can go to a store and look at a couple models. Read some reviews (like you have been) and find out what is important for you. And importantly: check the screen for dead OR stuck pixels before you buy. Most policies on pixels is weak, so if you tell them, "I will walk out of the store with a monitor as long as I can check it here and make sure it has no dead or stuck pixels". The worse they can say is "no" but getting an $$$ LCD with bad pixels is no fun.