LARGE LCD MONITORS 3

[BChumie]

Hello,

I am looking to purchase an 18" LCD monitor. I need some input on how LCDs are able to handle games, movies, etc... If there is any one with an LCD that plays games such as quake 3 could you please give your recomendations as to what I should upgrade to and what will be able to keep up with fast paced games (if any)?

Thanks in advance,

Brad

 

[Hungster]

i wouldn't get it, although in Asia, a lot of internet places uses cuz of the space, the frame rate will be slower than your CRT

for price of 17" LCD, you can buy a good 21" CRT and have a few hundred left for other toys say GeForce 4 MX440 or 460

 

[huffbr]

People that I talk to that have them say that they work fine. Yeah, the refresh rate is slower, but they say you can hardly tell a difference. They say that the picture is much nicer. It looks very crisp.

 

[mithrilhall]

I agree with Hungster.

Skip out on the LCD (they don't look so hot when playing fast games) and get a nice 21" CRT with a beautiful Geforce4. ====================================
I love people. They taste just like
chicken!

 

[BChumie]

Hello all,

Fist I would like to thank you for your responses. Second I would just like to clarify. The reason I am looking into this is for desk space. I currently own a 21 inch monitor and a geforce 4 card (4600). I am looking for a solution that would allow me to play my games (war3, unreal, quake, etc...) and save me valuable desktop space (in a dorm rooom at college). I am concerned about money but not OVERLY concerned. I am getting the impression that no LCD currently will live up to these standards, but if any one knows of a good one that will do what I am looking for then I am game. Again it really isn't money I am concerned with (to a limit). Thanks again for all of the responses.

Brad

 

[Hungster]

Brad, one good thing about LCD i find is you won't have to worry about speakers interfared with your monitor magnetic field

yes it will save you power and space, personally i like Sony, although i don't have Sony, as i shop around where they have demo on the self, i find Sony is a lot sharper, i personally have Dell models and Samsung, and seen some Viewsonic too

What kind of 21" do you have ? yes i love WarCraft 3 "yes WarChief" lol Orc rocks

 

[BChumie]

Hungster,

Thanks for the response. I am currently running the G500 by sony. It has been an excellent monitor thus far, but like I said desk space is scarce in my dorm room... maybe I should buy a bigger desk ... As far as brands go I really like sony and viewsonic but I guess I was wondering what the opinion of people who owned lcds would think.

Brad

 

[Hungster]

if you are interested of getting rid off it,
i will pick it up from you

As for LCD, WarCraft 3 works fine on it, i am using myself, you won't disappoint on it
as far as Quake, Unreal, i personally don't like it, it lags behind when you are on high frame rate

plus remember one major thing, LCD are manufactured in their native resolution, meaning usually they are made say 15" are 1024x768 Max, looks crappy when you have it running at 800x and 640x
for 17" usually runs at 1280x800 Max, when you set it at 1024x 768, it looks crap

good luck

 

[paparazi]

As an LCD user I can say that anyone saying the picture is better must have been looking at one after 10 pints because they ARE inferior and thats fact!
The resolution and refresh rates are low in comparison to a tube and colour rendition is also not as acurate.
The image is so very differant and does take several days to get used to.
So why the heck have I got one? you ask, well it's swings and rounabouts, yes the image is inferior but overall the LCD looks good on the desktop and takes so little room.
After 5 months of ownership my thoughts are to return to a tube but then maybe not. Martin Please let members know if there advice has helped any.

 

[Hungster]

Yes, but you have to remember, some people like me have a weaker set of eye, and i find using LCD for day to day work on text is excellent

easier on my eye, that's why i do not really like Sony's grid technology, Shadow Mask is my only choice

 

[Hungster]

Forgot to mention if you wish to see which large LCD screen, go and pick August Maximum PC
they have a test on from 17" up models

 

[glover]

I think you'll find this article from Tom's Hardware useful. They 17" LCD's with Quake and they talk about lot the weaknesses / strengths of each monitor.

http://www17.tomshardware.com/display/02q3/020709/index.html

http://www.bglover.net

 

[Guest_imported]

Good point about the native resolutions. Very important.

Okay, some things are a little misunderstood:

1) The refresh rate should not be your concern. It is high enough. You should look at Pixel Response Time (or Latency). It is desirable that the total (rise+fall) for Dvds be under about 40 (personal preference), or maybe about 25 for fast games. There are monitors out there that fit this spec. Some (NOT all) NECs do, and many Samsungs do... and some Viewsonics as well. This is what causes ghosting. Unfortunately, it becomes increasingly difficult to tame with increasing screen size.

2) The colors with a dvi connector (as opposed to analog) will be represented MORE ACCURATELY and MORE CONSISTENTLY than a non-calibrated, analog, what-everybody-uses monitor. Unless you do graphic apps/publishing, you should give less than half a millionth of one percent of a darn (even if you do, you know that it is physically impossible for ANY rgb device (ie: monitor) to accurately display cmyk (print) colors. But if this is important, viewsonic makes reasonably-priced large LCDs which cater to this complaint exactly (I believe it is the VG series).

3) There are other reasons for LCDs, like 50x less radiation hitting these valuable eyeballs we got...

Now... I've got a headache from this CRT, so I'm done.

 

[Hungster]

Jodaman,

thanks for your information, i too learn about the latency time, yse i agree with your point on refresh rate, i don't think LCD calculate their refresh same as CRT does

and i feel a huge different on my eyes on the radiation.
another point is, when you turn your monitor on, LCD comes on instantly, rather than waiting for 2 sec tube warms up

and with Large display of CRT, the capacitors tends to melt after a extended of use over time.

LCD doesn't produce the heat CRT does
CRT tends to leave burn in marks if you leave your computer on the same screen for long time

 

[GoLdFiNgeR]

Ok what about the 21" flat crt's which say they use lcd technology, are those good for games? Do you know how good the refresh rates are?

 

[BChumie]

Hello all,

I would like to thank everyone for posting. Upon reviewing tom's hardware and reading that issue of maxiumPC I think I might go with the sharp monitor. One question I still have is when they list response time as "rise" and "fall" what does that mean? The reason I have decided on the sharp monitor (if I get one) is due to the fact that it is 18.1 inches and it matches sony's S71 response time of rise 20 fall 5 (except it is reversed). The reason I compare it to the sony is that I visited my local compusa and they had the 17" sony hooked up to a computer running wolfenstien 3d. The 17" looked WONDERFUL, no delay... good colors etc.. BUT I want an 18.1" monitor. So I tried the 18.1" sony and it was nothing like the 17. Shadowing everywhere, very disappointing. So upon review of many specs I have found that the response time on 17" sonys and 18.1" sonys are much different and the ONLY 18.1" LCD monitor that matched the response time of the 17" sony is the sharp. MaximumPC also rated a great monitor and from other websites everyone agrees that it is well worth the investment. Thanks again to everyone especially hungster who has been reading/responding to this post from the begining.

Thanks,
Brad

 

[Hungster]

no problem Brad,

monitor is very important to me, due to the weakness on my eye, i find what ever refresh rate i set at, i can not tell much different on LCD

you might want to search for more on reliable on Sharp brand name, i am not very impressed with their products in the pass

 

[Hungster]

Brad, let me know where you can find the lowest price
so far, it is around $1,199 USD

 

[LiquidDye]

Hello I have a Samsung 181T which as you may guess from the number code is 18".1 inches, it has a refresh rate of 20 + 5 giving total of 25. I have ahd this for 3 months now and have done every thing from gaphic drwaings with a very large tablet, to normal office work to high speed gaming Q3, MOHAA, UT, Dungeon Seige etc, I can honestly say that I would never go back to a crt. Clear crisp precise colours, yes Im English so excuse the correct spelling, (its english remember we invented it, Americans canabalised it.) I have two seperate computers conected one via RGB and the other via DVI, a single button switches between the two. It has 18 mm / 3/4" bezels, in silver every one whose seen it has gone WOW!.
Over here it was £703 all including taxes and delivery,
over in the USA I would of thought it would be cheaper it normally is over there. The one I have is the simply stand model I didnt need the swivel model they do as well.
40 watts nice and cool and 1280 x 1024 native, some of the other resolutions look fine my wife uses 1028 x 768 and no one has said ooo! when I show them how it switches between the two pcs.

 

[BChumie]

Wow... LiquidDye thanks for that great response. I wish there was somewhere around me to test this monitor.. but from the specs it looks like a winner.

Thanks,
Brad