help with LCD computer displays??

[jnorman]

i am looking at the new flat panel LCD displays and am confused. some are listed as "analog" and some are "analog/digital" - what does this mean? is a 15" LCD better than a 17" CRT display, and why? thanks.

[Super 8]

[quote]Originally posted by jnorman: [b]i am looking at the new flat panel LCD displays and am confused. some are listed as "analog" and some are "analog/digital" - what does this mean? is a 15" LCD better than a 17" CRT display, and why? thanks.[/b][/quote]Check out [url=http://www.zdnet.com]www.zdnet.com[/url] and you should find articles to bring you up to speed. Regarding the 15" to 17" comparison you mentioned. I think was you mean is viewable screen: With a CRT, the viewable screen is smaller than 17", closer to 15.5" or so. With the LCD, if it says 15" then it's 15". If it says 17" then it's 17". I would recommend getting one, they are REALLY nice. As always, buy the biggest you can afford. And -in my opinion- if you are buying a complete computer system, your monitor should be the FIRST consideration, not the computer. Put your money into a good monitor. With computers, today's speed demon is tomorrow's door stop. But a good monitor will last you a while. -Can you tell I used to sell these things?

[Rheolwr]

Running Windows these days I would consider 17" CRT to be the bare minimum requirement even for home use. the price of 15" & 17" LCDs has tumbled over the last few months so I see very little reason to buy a 15 CRT and 17 CRT would merely be a drastic economy measure. If you can wait a few months prices of LCDs are bound to fall even further, but then, you can always say that about computer equipment.

[S_Gould]

The analog/digital thing has to do with how the monitor is connected to your video card. Analog connectors are the VGA SVGA XGA family of connectors that most people are familiar with. Digital connectors have begun showing up on newer video cards to allow a direct digital connection between the computer ( a digital device) and a TFT monitor (another digital device) instead of doing a D/A conversion on the way out of the computer and A/D conversion at the input of the TFT monitor. FYI-CRT displays are analog devices; Apple uses a proprietary digital connector (ADC - Apple Display Connector); TFTs have no 'flicker' which causes eyestrain, and usually have better contrast, and look best at their native resolution; CRTs do faster screen re-draws, have 'flicker' , and display better (or more consistant) color values. Just some observations from a guy with a lot of monitors. Scott

[Franknputer]

I got you covered, man... [img]http://math.ucsd.edu/images/feat-fractals.gif[/img] Oh...wait...you said L [b]C[/b] D... [b]Never Mind...[/b] [img]http://www.angelfire.com/ny3/gildaradner/images/litella.JPG[/img]