LCD monitors guide

A couple of years ago LCD monitors were definitely not worth the money. They were extremely expensive and for the money you could get a much better quality CRT (TV style) monitor.

These days the price difference between flat panel LCD monitors and CRTs has decreased dRAMatically to the point where LCD monitors are only about twice the price!

However even though LCD monitors are more expensive to buy they save you money because they use much less power. Another good advantage that LCD monitors have over CRT monitors is that they are much easier to read text on, if you do a lot of reading on your computer (rather than graphics work) then an LCD is a good choice for you. They also save space and are great because you have much more room on your desk for your keyboard or mouse. You see a 19" CRT monitor takes up a lot of space and it only gives you about the same viewable area as a 17" LCD.

If you want to read more about CRT monitors then go to my cheap computer monitors page. It has a good guide to understanding resolutions and refresh rates. It is a useful read if you are deciding on whether to buy a CRT of LCD.

Factors to consider when buying an LCD monitor

LCD monitors do not resize resolutions very well. They have a native resolution which you cannot exceed and that provides the best picture quality. You can run resolutions lower than the native resolution but the image will look a little blurry.

There are also two other important specifications: response time and contrast levels.

The response time is the average time required for a liquid crystal cell to go from active to inactive and back to active again. Roughly speaking, it refers to the time needed for a pixel to change from black to white and black again.

The time is expressed in milliseconds, and the longer it takes, the slower the monitor's reaction. There is a direct link with image output, as well. For example, a 20-ms monitor will display 1/0.020: 50 dark then light images per second, or a total of 100 images per second.

The contrast level is the ratio between an image's brightest and dark points. The higher it is, the better the monitor will reproduce in-between shades. In practice, this level gives the number of grays the monitor can display.

A high quality monitor will have a contrast ratio of 500:1 but that is more than the average web surfer will need.

If you plan on playing games then the monitors response time will be of most interest to you. LCD monitors have a noticeable afterglow that cause bluring when there is a lot of movement on the screen.

If you play a lot of games I don't really recommend you buy an LCD monitor.

Let's take a look at some LCD monitors

This refurbished Dell LCD monitor is a good example of a good quality and inexpensive 15" LCD.

It has a contrast ratio of 350:1 which is good enough for home use. The major drawback of 15" LCDs is that they have a maximum resolution of only 1024 by 768. This resolution is too low for most graphics work and you'll want a better monitor if you plan on spending a lot of time using Photoshop.

A much more advanced monitor for people who want higher resolutions and better image quality.

This monitor represents the current state of the art 17" LCD displays. With a contrast ratio of 500:1 and a response time of only 16ms this is one of the best 17" LCD monitors you can get. It also has a native resolution of 1280 by 1024 which would help people who do graphics work.

If you want my opinion I would say the 17" monitor above is much better value. With more resolution and top of the line specifications at that price it really proves how far LCD monitors have come over the last few years.