TR Forums

FIRST-EVER POST:
I'm a gamer using 15" IBM digital LCD for 3 years. Sweet. Rock solid image. No ghosts. But time to move up, get ready for 1600x1200-capable Elder Scrolls "Morrowind" (which reviewers say is "first ever" RPG-engine that can bring mightiest CPU to its knees).

I'm looking at 18" 1260x1024 Samsung "181T" LCD (digital/analog) monitor with 250 NITS, incredible 500:1 Contrast ratio, USB's on Hub. Highly praised ("amazing picture quality") by Review at http://www.Iamnotageek.com.
Has anyone heard of this rig?
Is Iamnotageek a reliable reviewer?

I'm hoping someone here uses LCD---and even better---is up on newest models and has opinions on what I should get.

Criteria: It MUST be 18" min, MUST be LCD (no more "eye-ball frying" CRT monitors for me, absolutely not!) and MUST be digital (or combo analog/digital).
Big Thanx, for all info/advice/opinions, no matter how "far out". I'll study ALL replies.
Fragg.

It may be sacreligious to point you to another forum, but these folks seem to have some very strong (and long-winded) opinions about 17-18" LCDs. One of their arguments is that it is better to get a 20" LCD with 1600x1200 (4:3 ratio) resolution than any 17-18" LCD with a 1280x1024 (5:4 ratio) resolution. This Dell model gets mentioned a lot. They watch for it to go on sale every so often.

I am currently using a Hitachi CML170SXWB. One of the strengths of the Hitachi display is the wide viewing angle. I greatly prefer a high quality 19" CRT for half the price, e.g.: Viewsonic PF790 or P95f.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: JustAnEngineer on 2002-03-23 23:03 ]</font>

".....I greatly prefer a high quality 19" CRT for half the price, e.g.: Viewsonic PF790 or P95f....."
Engine, thanks. Nice of you to reply and supply those links.

I'm glad to hear crt's have not done-in or harmed your sight. In my case, watering eyes, blurring vision symptons got worse n'worse after years of staring into CRT's stream of residual-radiation blasting its way thru the anti-radiation coatings of TCO etc. "low-emission shields".

When I switched to LCD's sevral years ago, above symptons disappeared. Now I sit comfortably for hours in front of those millions of tiny light-emitting transistors----and worst I get is aching back <g>).

Big thanx also for forum link, You've raised exactly the point I was puzzled about: (i.e. is going from 1200x1024 to 1600x1200 WORTH the "100% price-jump"?). All CRT vs. LCD considerations aside---what is your opinion on that? Now I'll head to that forum you gave and bone up on the subject.

If you are going to run at the physical resolution of the LCD all of the time, then LCD monitors are OK. If you ever run at a different resolution, the scaling artifacts are nasty.

It is an irrelevant technical detail, but liquid crystal displays do not emit light. They block it. The light is emitted by a (usually flourescent) lamp behind the screen. A white pixel in the LCD matrix is de-energized. A black one is fully-energized.

Fluorescent? OK.
BTW, that link at Ars you pointed me to is 14 pages, full of LCD info/opinions. I went thru the whole thing. Thanks for everything.

I have that Dell 2000FP and must say it is an incredible monitor. I'm typing on it right now. 1600x1200x32 DVI. God, it's nice. Top notch scaling and autoadjuist in analog mode, top notch s-video and composite in (plus picture-in-picture! play PS2 while you web browse), really bright. The only one serious annoyance is that "black" on this monitor ends up looking more like "dark grey" when the lights are out. With lights on it look black, though.

Dell occasionally has 20% deals under their small business section which almost makes it affordable. Unfortunatel they just boosted the price by $100, which would put it over $1400 even with the 20% off...

I have no regrets giving up my left kidney for this, though. Did I mention how nice it is?

edit: The refresh is pretty good, too. I can no longer tell the difference between 60fps and 100fps (obviously), but after a bit of adjustment I'm just as good as I've ever been in CS.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Freon on 2002-03-28 20:57 ]</font>