# I'm buying a new flat-screen monitor, need help **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 14, 2005, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-buying-a-new-flat-screen-monitor-need-help/335653 "2005-12-14T22:50:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@Jake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jake)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2005, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-buying-a-new-flat-screen-monitor-need-help/335653/1 "2005-12-14T22:50:14Z")
Money is (almost) no problem. But, I currently have a CRT and know nothing about LCD monitors. Thinking of something around 20 inch but from there I’m in the dark. Do they have dot pitch? Refresh rates to look for? Do I need a new card? What’s a good brand name? Confused in Carolina ---
**Author:** ![KlondikeGeoff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3e96dc/32.png) [@KlondikeGeoff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KlondikeGeoff)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2005, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-buying-a-new-flat-screen-monitor-need-help/335653/2 "2005-12-14T23:13:19Z")
> [@Jake](#): > > Money is (almost) no problem. But, I currently have a CRT and know nothing about LCD monitors. Thinking of something around 20 inch but from there I’m in the dark. Do they have dot pitch? Refresh rates to look for? Do I need a new card? > What’s a good brand name? > Confused in Carolina I got a 17-inch Acer for my wife’s computer as the CRT was going. I did not feel I needed one, as the 19-inch CRT I had was pushed back in the desk and didn’t matter being that big. However, after seeing how great the new one’s image was, decided to get a 19-inch for myself. I just did a search based on price,and was surprised to find Dell came out the best, from an approved vendor, not from their own site. It arrived in perfect condition, no bad pixels at all, and am delighted with it. I also looked for ease of adjusting the hight, tilt and swivel. This model also turns to vertical position which is helpful for some things, but I don’t need that. Don’t really know about other specs, but don’t think they are as important for LCDs as the old tube jobs, but somebody will probably know. I thought might sell the old monitor, but looking at the prices for used CRTs, decided might just as well donate it to the Salvation Army, as they are not worth much now, even in perfect condition. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2005, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-buying-a-new-flat-screen-monitor-need-help/335653/3 "2005-12-14T23:18:18Z")
You mentioned the image was great. Have they improved considerably over the past couple of years? I ask because the one I have now is a rather poor imager next to my CRT. Do you have a pretty sharp eye and noticed how good it was? Or was it just that you thought it was good considering it was an LCD? ---
**Author:** ![Jake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@Jake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jake)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2005, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-buying-a-new-flat-screen-monitor-need-help/335653/4 "2005-12-14T23:35:06Z")
The picture quality of the one’s I’ve seen are great. But I’m buying online and can’t preview what I’m going to buy. Thus, this post. ---
**Author:** ![pilot141](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e0b2c6/32.png) [@pilot141](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pilot141)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2005, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-buying-a-new-flat-screen-monitor-need-help/335653/5 "2005-12-14T23:50:38Z")
Start your search with the Dell 2005FPW as your reference. I just bought one to replace my 19-inch CRT and I couldn’t be happier. It’s bright, crisp, takes up less desk space and is W-I-D-E-screen. (It’s a 20-inch LCD). I should have gotten one sooner! ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2005, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-buying-a-new-flat-screen-monitor-need-help/335653/6 "2005-12-15T00:04:37Z")
> [@Jake](#): > > Do they have dot pitch? You usually don’t find it in the specs. But they have a screen size (e.g. 20 inches) and resolution (e.g. 1280x1024), so if two monitors have the same physical size and one has a higher resolution, that means it has a higher pitch. > [@](#): > > Refresh rates to look for? Refresh rate is important on CRTs because CRTs flicker. The goal is to make them flicker so fast that they blur together and don’t look like they’re flickering. LCDs don’t flicker so you don’t have to worry about it. But LCDs have the opposite problem: it takes some time for each pixel to respond, resulting in motion blur. The specs usually tell you the response time - the shorter the better. But I’m not entirely sure different manufacturers measure this the same way. In any case it’s only important for games and movies. > [@](#): > > Do I need a new card? If your current video card does not have a DVI connector, I _strongly_ recommend getting a card that does. Standard VGA connectors are analog, so you are converting a digital signal to analog and then back to digital (inside the monitor), losing image quality at each step. A DVI connection is purely digital. The difference in image quality is quite obvious. Make sure your monitor supports DVI too - not all of them does. Also, some older video cards only support limited resolutions on the DVI output - sometimes the limit is lower than the VGA output of that same card. I had to upgrade mine when I bought a 1600x1200 monitor. > [@](#): > > What’s a good brand name? I can only say that I’m extremely happy with my Samsung SyncMaster 213T. I don’t know if they sell the same model, but I’m pretty sure they sell one with similar specs (1600x1200, 21.3"). I particuarly like the swivel feature - I can use it as a portrait-mode monitor, capable of displaying an entire page of Word or PDF document legibly. I paid over $1100 less than 2 years ago, but I think it’s under $600 now. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2005, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-buying-a-new-flat-screen-monitor-need-help/335653/7 "2005-12-15T00:11:22Z")
> [@Jake](#): > > Do they have dot pitch? Indeed they do. In fact, that’s probably the most important thing you’ll be looking at. You want the lowest pitch possible withint your budget. The higher the pitch, the fuzzier the image–especially text. Larger screens tend to a higher pitch. Mine’s a Samsung model similar to [url=“[http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Samsung-SyncMaster-Monitor-730B-/sem/rpsm/oid/118806/catOid/-12965/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do](http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Samsung-SyncMaster-Monitor-730B-/sem/rpsm/oid/118806/catOid/-12965/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do)”]this one. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2005, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-buying-a-new-flat-screen-monitor-need-help/335653/8 "2005-12-15T00:13:06Z")
Argh! [This one](http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Samsung-SyncMaster-Monitor-730B-/sem/rpsm/oid/118806/catOid/-12965/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do). ---
**Author:** ![Jake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@Jake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jake)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2005, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-buying-a-new-flat-screen-monitor-need-help/335653/9 "2005-12-15T00:19:13Z")
Thanks all. You’ve been a big help. Scr4, if I have anymore questions may I email you? ---
**Author:** ![Harmonix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Harmonix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonix)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2005, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-buying-a-new-flat-screen-monitor-need-help/335653/10 "2005-12-15T00:19:39Z")
I second DVI and I second the dell 2005fp. The screen is absolutely gorgeous. I run it dual monitors with my old 17 inch CRT and I don’t understand how I used to think my old monitor was crisp. It looks like fuzzy washed out CRAP next to my Dell 2005fp. Other stats to be concerned with. Refresh rate: you want 16 ms or faster refresh. 20 ms is OK for text, but if your’e going to be watching any videos or playing any games 16 is the bare minimum you’d want. contrast ratio: the higher the better, but they don’t correlate across manufacturers. DVI DVI DVI! ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2005, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-buying-a-new-flat-screen-monitor-need-help/335653/11 "2005-12-15T01:01:07Z")
I have [this one](http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleID=1037), a Samsung SyncMaster 181t, but I didn’t pay $1100 for it. I think it was around $800, almost four years ago, so the price should have come down a bit. I love watching DVDs on it. The first time I popped in Evil Dead, I couldn’t help but go “oooooh”. It’s been trouble-free, unlike the rest of the system that I bought at the same time. My son installed a new video card because he thought the graphics could be better. It’s an NVIDIA GeForce 6800. I can’t tell the difference but he says he can. The flat screen monitor that came with my new Dell is crap though. I couldn’t get it adjusted to where it didn’t give me a headache, so it sits in a closet. I don’t know what model it is. ---
**Author:** ![KlondikeGeoff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3e96dc/32.png) [@KlondikeGeoff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KlondikeGeoff)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2005, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-buying-a-new-flat-screen-monitor-need-help/335653/12 "2005-12-15T01:50:02Z")
> [@Liberal](#): > > You mentioned the image was great. Have they improved considerably over the past couple of years? I ask because the one I have now is a rather poor imager next to my CRT. Do you have a pretty sharp eye and noticed how good it was? Or was it just that you thought it was good considering it was an LCD? Good question. No it really compared very favorably with the CRT, so they must hve improved a lot in the past few years. That’s why I was reluctant to change from a perfectly good old monitor, but when I saw the quality, I was sold.