Flat Screen Monitors

Do you "get what you pay for"

[Trish]

Can anyone give me advice on flat screen monitors. One I am looking at is AOC 17" Model LM720A at £349. There are much less expensive ones on the market, but are they as good quality?

[mivox]

From what I understand, it's very much the same as CRT monitors: There are a few companies that actually manufacture the screens themselves, but a lot of companies that slightly alter the electronics, and put them in different cases...

See if you can find out who manufactures the actual screens for that company, and you might find someone else selling the same screen in a different case at a much lower price.

Welcome to WebmasterWorld, trish! :)

[jeremy goodrich]

Just bought one (different brand) a few weeks ago. What I read when looking at the screens on the shelf was "refresh rate" in mhz and the contrast (something like 300 to 1 or what not).

Though I may have it wrong, those are the 2 ratios that determine 'quality'. I went with a generic, and am *very* happy with it, but - I would compare the 'stats' of what you're thinking about getting with the other ones on the shelf.

Mine was $580 for a 19" / 18" viewable (not sure how many quid that is), and I don't know what consumer electronics go for over there, so I have no idea if the price I'm thowing out helps or not, but hopefully something in this ramble does :)

And, welcome to WebmasterWorld, as well.

[Rumbas]

Hi Trish, welcome to WebmasterWorld :)

What about searching some of the search engines for info, reviews and information about that product or flat screens in general.

Imo yes, you get what you pay for.

[Mardi_Gras]

Do keep in mind in your searching that many manufacturers use "flat screen" to describe a particular type of conventional CRT display and "flat panel" to describe LCD and similar displays, which I am sure is what you are referring to.

The differences are obvious, of course, when looking at the monitors but not so obvious when looking at a page of monitor descriptions.

And welcome to WebmasterWorld :)

[Nick_W]

Does CRT mean 'normal' old style monitors? I guess so right?
Cathode Ray Tube?

The way I like to do things when I'm not so clued up on the product is check out specific reviews. They'll be tons of sites offereing reviews but I'd opt for the simple approach and head straight over to amazon.co.uk and see what the punters there think of specific models.

Welcome to WebmasterWorld!

Nick

[peterdaly]

Does CRT mean 'normal' old style monitors? I guess so right?
Cathode Ray Tube?

Yes, as opposed to LCD - Liquid Crystal Display

I agree with "you get what you pay for." I have a Dell laptop with a 15" 1600x1200 display. I have NEVER seen a sharper screen. I just got a viewsonic 19" flat panel at work that does 1260x1024, not sure about the other specs or how well I like it yet.

-Pete

[RossWal]

I'm shopping for a Dell desktop. Dell seems to have their share of "refurbished" flat panels. Whether they actually have a problem or were returned for other reasons, who knows. In any case, that makes me want one with a good waranty, like Dell.

[AAnnAArchy]

So far, at least at regular stores, I haven't seen a flat panel that I would want. They all have fuzzy looking text. We bought one once because the price was good and it's always nice to have extra desk space, but we took it back the next day. Better to suffer with a big bulky monitor with a good picture.

Does anyone know what a flat panel with crisp looking text would cost? I imagine it's well over $1000.

[DaveAtIFG]

I've had a KDS Rad-5x, a cheapie, $299 when purchased, for over a year now and I'll never go back. The text is more crisp than any CRT to my eyes. It IS different than text on a CRT and it took a few weeks to get used to.

I shopped for nearly two years, watching CNET and PCWorld reviews. When they agreed, and the feedback from users was good, I took the plunge.

"Dead pixels" is an issue with LCDs, they're permanent after all. Different companies have different QC standards, most will keep replacing an LCD until a customer quits complaining but that's a PITA. I suspect there are various quality grades an LCD maker can buy from panel makers and the number of dead pixels is probably a big factor in the grades. Customer comments at the review sites listed above will reveal this if it's a problem. I suspect many refurbished units may be returns for dead pixels.

There are some good intro articles at CNET about what good specs are and what things to look for. My experience is, select based on user feedback and based on specs within a broad "good" range. Specs and/or price alone are poor indicators of quality.

An LCD looks best at it's "native" resolution. All of them can display a range of resolutions by interpolating between pixels. If you do most of your work at a certain resolution, it's wise to select an LCD that has that resolution as it's matrix size, it's native resolution.

I almost invariably work at 1024 X 768 so I'm happy with my LCD but, if you change resolution frequently, a CRT is probably a better choice until LCD pixel sizes approach the "color dot" sizes of a CRT. That's still a few years away.

[Trish]

Hi
Thanks very much to everyone who replied to my question. I now have plenty to think about. Kind regards.

[Mardi_Gras]

They all have fuzzy looking text.

That is usually the fault of the store and not the display. When I was looking for a new laptop at CompUSA (with a 16" LCD) I commented to the salesperson that the display didn't look sharp. Of course, he stops, looks at the screen, and - you know this part - announces that it looks fine to him.

So he walks off, I jump into screen properties and discover they have the monitor set for 1024 x 768 rather than the 1280 x 1024 it is designed for. I change the resolution and - boom! - instant sharpness. I have never seen a CRT with sharper looking text.

[bcolflesh]

CRT and LCD Comparison chart:

displaymate.com/crtvslcd.html