LCDs and games

[John]

Is everyone fairly satisfied with their LCD displays now?

I was thinking I would hold off and get a flat screen Viewsonic CRT
since I dont mind the bulkiness that much and its cheaper CRTs and
LCDs are falling - and overall I thought the CRT would still be better
- more accurate colors, it adjusts to different resolutions and no
problems with ghosting/response time etc. Especially at the bottom
end the price point Id be looking at if I went flat panel.

However I noticed last week which I missed there was an NEC 17"
selling for $370 or so LCD - something other than the noname LCDs
thats 17" and below $500. I have a $100 gift card from Xmas and some
cash from selling some old PC parts so it would only be around $200
out of pocket if I come across another deal again.

I started looking up articles again on LCD sales and of course
everyone has been predicting the disappearance of drastic shrinking of
CRT sales. Its been happening since last year -articles point out CRT
sales are flat and falling in recent months and flat panels really
growing - pretty obvious. But I noticed starting this year the local
Office Depot no longer displays any CRTs - only 5 different LCDs
though they list them on their website. The local COMPUSA - the CRT
selection is drastically shrinking too. Almost seems like in a year or
two itll be a special order item.


Can you live with ONLY a low end 17" NEC for games, web stuff ,
graphics? How long is the life of a LCD? Forever until its damaged
or out of date?

The early one a neighbor bought $800 Samsung I hated. It was rated by
the mags well but it was really too washed out looking and the colors
were weird etc. The recent one he bought for $500 a Samsung looks way
way better so Im more receptive to the idea.

 

[S.Heenan]

Is everyone fairly satisfied with their LCD displays now?
However I noticed last week which I missed there was an NEC 17"
selling for $370 or so LCD - something other than the noname LCDs
thats 17" and below $500. I have a $100 gift card from Xmas and some
cash from selling some old PC parts so it would only be around $200
out of pocket if I come across another deal again.


Can you live with ONLY a low end 17" NEC for games, web stuff ,
graphics? How long is the life of a LCD? Forever until its damaged
or out of date?

What constitutes a good monitor can be somewhat subjective. NEC sells the
LCD1760NXBK while has a 16ms response time, 450:1 contrast ratio, and
DVI/D-sub inputs.Hitachi has the CML174SXW with similar specs to the NEC for
around $395USD. Either model suits my needs at its native resolution.

Chances are good you can live happily with most good quality units. The cold
cathode backlight may eventually fail. It's not an expensive component.The
other thing to ask about is the dead pixel/always on pixel warranty. It
varies greatly from maker to maker.

 

[John]

"What constitutes a good monitor can be somewhat subjective.
NEC sells the LCD1760NXBK while has a 16ms response time,
450:1 contrast ratio, and >DVI/D-sub inputs.Hitachi has the
CML174SXW with similar specs to the NEC for >around
$395USD. Either model suits my needs at its native resolution.

Those are the two I was thinking of. I thought you wouldnt be able to
get a halfway decent 17" in the sub $500 range just a cheapo one with
fairly bad response times but I was surprised to see the NEC mentioned
in Toms Hardware as one of the best though the article was from the
early part of last year. - including a Samsung but Im not sure that
had short response times. The typical range is 25 -35 ms and longer
for the not so hot displays. I see some $400-500 deals with 40 ms much
slower than avg.

The NEC stands out with 16 ms response times which they say is good
enough for games. And its rated well getting really vibrant colors etc
the only rap is no DVI but the tests Ive read say thats no big deal
theoretically its better but in reality there isnt much difference
right now and the Hitachi which has both - a test at one site says the
DVI pic was much worse and the pic improved when the analog in was
used.

The Hitachi seems interesting because Tomshardware says its the same
screen as the NEC and its being discounted - not very popular. The
problem is you cant find it at any big places and I think they may be
phasing it out. The NEC is a killer deal the one to get it seems if
OfficeDepot or COmpusa or Amazon does a sale on it with a
coupon+rebate thing into the $300s.

Last weeks MLK sale - they did have a NEC 17" down to $360 rebate and
10% off at COMPUSa which totally went over my head since I wasnt
looking at flat panels - but it was the 1715 I think the model is -
similar to the NEC we are talking about but it was a 30-35 ms response
time. Since the NEC and Hitachi we ar talking about is actually
selling only slightly more avg street price to 1715 youd think a
clearance sale on the Hitachi or NEC 1760 in the near future with
prices falling like crazy on the flat panels would happen in the $370
range.


Thatll be the deal Im waiting for now.

I read last night a consumer says at one review site he read that flat
panels should last 5 years - similar to a CRT. I noticed many of the
makers seem to be copying Hard Disk manufacturers and trying to
compete in the low price arena by shortening Warranties. Many of the
really low deals have 1 yr warranties.

People with the NECs gush about them.

Samsungs are often mentioned but they cost a lot more and the models
that are close to the prices of the NEC and Hitachi are 35-40 ms , I
think they have a 16 ms but its more expensive.

other thing to ask about is the dead pixel/always on pixel warranty. It
varies greatly from maker to maker.

Thats the thing Im worried about toms hardware says it really varies
and the response they got was vague. One good thing about reviews at
Amazon about the NEC several of the posts say they got ZERO dead
pixels though thats no guarantee youll get zero. Still Ive seen lots
of posts where people complain about dead pixels so its possibly a
good sign.



In the current CPU magazine they had an interesting blurb about BTX
form factor motherboards possibly coming out this year.

And another graphics chip maker I think it was called XGI which they
claimed wanted to go head to head with NVDIA and ATI.

 

[DaveW]

The screen lag time for most LCD's monitors is still 25 msec, which is very
slow for gaming. If you seriously game you're still better off with a CRT
while you can still get them. The stores carry mostly LCD's because they
take up less space on the sales floor and have higher markup margins.

 

[Michael Enzweiler]

This is very true. Just a few years ago I wouldn't have even considered
an LCD monitor because of the persistance of vision problem - most
visible when you moved the cursor and it left a slowly fading trail
behind it. Back then, the redraw rate was so flaky that moving the
cursor rapidly made it practically invisible. Since games are usually
graphics intensive, this was definitely not ideal. Then you had the
brightness and angle of vision problems inherant in LCD's. Today
however, they are much better, though not 'quite' as good as CRT, they
are just about close enough to make them worthwhile. Don't know much
about LCD's on desktops, but the display on the VPR Matrix laptops are
amazing, and I think they've included a desktop monitor or two on their
website.

Michael