Flat Screen Monitor versus Regular Monitor

[Sharone]

For a computer graphic designer, is there any advantage to switching over to a flat screen monitor from the regular one? I find that the new screen is lacking in solid lines and clear black fonts. It appears to be watery. I am evaluating an NEC MultiSync1720M with a 17 inch screen. Does anyone have any expertise in this area? Thank you.

[Sharone]

For a computer graphic designer, is there any advantage to switching over to a flat screen monitor from the regular one? I find that the new screen is lacking in solid lines and clear black fonts. It appears to be watery. I am evaluating an NEC MultiSync1720M with a 17 inch screen. Does anyone have any expertise in this area? Thank you.

[Steve Newport]

But from what I've observed, flat screens offer a very sharp picture contrary to what you have said. I've been really impressed actually! But then again, we havn't seen the same one, so your experience could be with a lower grade screen or mine with a higher grade?! But I've never used one so I may just be decieved.

Steve Newport

[pinkbat]

I think Gary mentioned he's got a fancy flat panel ...? Maybe he could tell us a bit of his experience with it - I for one would be most interested.
I do a lot of (non-graphic) work on a laptop, and I assume the laptop LCD screens are similar to the LCD flat panels (?).
IMO the pros are:
great clarity/sharpness of display; text is very clear; no harmful emissions from screen. No geometric distortion whatsoever. Result for me is that eye fatigue is noticeably reduced.
Cons:
Only one I know of: colour fidelity. It is almost impossible to get accurate natural colour rendering. Some colours shift very noticeably.

Hope to hear more from other people!

Regards,
Britta

[Mike Hennessey]

I too, got a new flat display in December. Very impressed. Everything is much sharper, and as mentioned, no distortion. I went with Sony Trinitron at.24 dot pitch.(dp)
I still use "old" traditional monitors at work, and although never noticed before, now they are like staring into a fish bowl!
Mike

[Wolfgang]

Sharon,

I asked the same question here a while ago. I was afraid, that I would run into problems with colors, brightness etc. when switching to a LCD.

To put it short: Buying this Flatscreen (I have a Compaq) was some of the best money I ever spent !!
Apart from the higher resolution than before it's incredibly sharp, bright and totally free of distortion.

For ergonomics: My former monitor was too near to my eyes (due to the big tube and the wall behind). The new flatscreen stands farther away which is very good for my eyes. It also has less (if any) radiation and less power consumtion.

Apart from the higher price compared to CRTs my recommendation is: Buy a Flatscreen, but ask for a couple of days of testing. Some 18" panels seem to have problems with color shifts etc....

Britta: You can't really compare a Notebook screen and a 'real' Flatscreen. I can't give you a technical explanation, but I have a brand new Compaq Armada, and the quality of it's screen is good but nowhere near the Flatscreen.

Wolfgang

[gwpriester]

Hello Sharone

I recently purchased a DELL 17" flat screen monitor with my new DELL system and it is every bit as good as the best CRT monitor, even better. The colors are rich and bright and saturated and the text is razor sharp.

My monitor has a relatively small dot pitch of about 25 - 26. Cheaper monitors have larger dot pitch numbers and are not as sharp in resolution.

I am also using my monitor at the suggested screen resolution of 1280 x 1024 which is probably closer in size to a 19" monitor.

Gary

Gary Priester

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XaraXone

[mckinney]

Tom's Hardware Guide has a couple of recent articles that helped me understand a bit more about flat panels and their pros and cons:

A Comparison Of 13 LCD Monitors (January 14, 2002)

and

TFT Guide - Part 1 - Flat Panel Displays (June 24, 1999)

The June 99 article has Parts 2 and 3 as well, and while it is a little old now, it makes some good points.

- Pete

[ivan louette]

They are your most important working tool and they justify you spend money for good material.

I use an SGI 1600LW flat panel monitor. When I bought it last summer it was half the price of the previous year.
No regrets ! It has the same height than my previous (excellent) Nokia 17 inches monitor and 5 cm more in width. But I work at its default resolution of 1600 x 1024 and thats absolutely fantastic. No noticeable color shifts, a fantastic contrast and richness in the grey shades. And Xara's antialiasing is marvellously rendered. I work with a GeForce 2 MX with 32 Mo Ram and in 16 bits color depth (too much windows freezing at 24 or 32 bits) which assure a quick redrawing in Xara X.

Kindly,
ivan

Be contrasted and colorful, re-invent the Rose.

[gidgit]

IMHO there is no doubt that the most important concideration here is one's eyes.

That said, if you can afford a flat panel go for it.

I on the other hand use a AOC 19" .25 and run with an older 16meg 128 bit Ati card and I tell ya, the older Ati cards have terrific color and the monitor is good enough that I will save my pennies for one of those new touch screen digipad type computer/monitors, then I will be in Graphic Artist heaven. [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_cool.gif[/img]