jb,
I recently faced the question of CRT vs. LCD vs. money vs. weight and size vs. longevity vs. dead pixels vs. uneven backlighting vs. native resolution - etc., etc., etc.
I followed various reviews and shoot-outs and bulletin board discussions - and looked at a lot of monitors - and talked to friends - and salesmen (the poorest source of information of all, oddly enough) for some time before making a decision.
In my case, I use a monitor largely for print and I do not use it for gaming, watching DVD's, or for colour-critical work - so an LCD would have been a most appropriate choice.
Print is where LCDs excell.
Balancing everything I read over a period of time, however, I chose the 19"
Samsung Synchmaster 957MB CRT monitor.
My choice was based on going with the best of a mature technology over choosing an exciting but immature technology.
Of course, the decision could easily have gone the other way.
Things that influenced me:
One thing that I was seeing that struck me - no one was complaining about CRTs on the various boards I frequented. But I read lotsa complaints - dead pixels and such - some complaints quite bitter - often unresolved by the reseller or manufacturer - about LCDs.
While others were pleased as punch.
Another common complaint in regard to some LCDs is of the small print at native resolutions - I suspect that it may be wise to get the largest LCD that supports a particular resolution (i.,e., buy the 18" LCD, not the 17", if they both support the same resolution - that sort of thing).
The people who are really big on largest possible resolution (smallest print) seem to be the gamers.
Also - digital input apparently beats out analogue considerably, though more so with some LCDs than with others. But digital costs more, both for the LCD and the digital-capable video card. Does your computer support digital output, or would you have to upgrade? Or would you compromise?
Note also that if you are interested in running a KVM switch, that digital KVM switches are a lot more expensive than analogue switches.
Back to the CRT:
Samsung had probably taken Shadow Mask technology farther than anyone else. I went with the
Synchmaster 957MB. The best Samsung Shadow Mask monitors have a horizontal dot pitch of .20 (diagonal .24) vs. a horizontal dot pitch of .22 (diagonal .25) of much of the competition. Makes a significant differentce in print clarity. If you want print on a CRT, this is probably one of the best ways to go. If you are a serious graphics person or gamer or a DVD person, the conventional wisdom is that you should go Aperture Grille, instead.
If you do go with a CRT, I suggest you go with one labeled TCO-99 - not TCO-95, TCO-92 or (yech!) MPR-II. TCO-99 is the most stringent of these standards as far as radiation output and energy consumption are concerned. The cheapest CRTs will not be TCO-99 certified - that is one reason that they are the cheapest.
Oh - LCD technology is moving ahead by leaps and bounds and LCDs continue to come down in price - and will continue to do so. I do plan to buy an LCD in a few years. The time, for me, is just not quite yet.
Happy decision-making,
Epaminondas
Samsung LCD review Hitachi LCD LCD shootout X 6 [ 02-05-2003, 12:44 AM: Message edited by: Epaminondas ]
