LCD Monitors are now primetime
By Parrish Reinoehl, Pathfinder Networks
August 2006
Most PC users are familiar with LCD (otherwise known as flat screen) monitors. For quite some time these monitors have simply been out of reach of the average consumer. I can remember paying over $600 for my 17” LCD only a few years ago.
Now, fortunately, things are changing.
Over the last couple of months the price of LCD panels (used in not only monitors but flat screen TV’s as well) have dropped considerably. World wide production is beginning to catch up with demand. This increased production capacity has been the primary cause of the price drops. It is now easy to find a 17” LCD monitor for at or under $200. Even 19” LCD monitors are down in the $270-$300 range. I don’t foresee any large price drops in the immediate future, so now is primetime to purchase these monitors.
Before you rush out and pick out your shiny new flat screen LCD monitor there are some things you need to know. First, and definitely the most important, is to understand what screen resolution is and how it affects LCD monitors. Screen resolution is the number of pixels (or dots) being displayed on your desktop. Screen resolution is depicted as a number representing the number of pixels horizontal and the number of pixels vertical. Typical screen resolutions are 1024x768 (1,024 pixels wide by 768 pixels high) and 1280x1024. A wide-screen monitor can have an unusual resolution such as 1440x900. The higher your screen resolution the higher the detail that is able to be displayed. But the higher you go in screen resolution the smaller your fonts and icons also get. A typical Windows icon has a resolution of 32x32 pixels. To get more pixels to display on your desktop you have to, essentially, shrink those pixels down. This is why you get more detail- the dots that make up the images on your screen are smaller. But, this is also why the fonts and icons seem to shrink to a very small size. The number of pixels in those fonts and icons remains the same- they are just smaller.
A traditional CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) monitor is able to switch between various resolutions without breaking a sweat. You could choose to display your desktop at 1024x768 or change to 1280x1024 because you want to get more detail and have eyes still good enough to see everything. With a CRT monitor you could do this and have no trouble. A LCD monitor is completely different. Unlike a CRT monitor where the size of the pixels can be changed, a LCD monitors pixels are set to a specific size and cannot be changed. This simply means that a LCD monitor has a native resolution that it will perform (and look) best at. Most 17” LCD’s have a native resolution of 1280x1024. A 19” typically is either 1280x1024 or 1600x1200. If you choose to run your LCD monitor outside its native resolution you will not be happy with the results. When you set your PC to a display resolution below the LCD’s native resolution you will get the “fuzzy” effect. Your screen will look very fuzzy- almost out of focus. This results from your LCD monitor trying to scale down to a different resolution. If you try to change your desktop resolution to something higher than the LCD’s native resolution you will either get no video at all or you will get a small video window inside your monitor- it will not take up the entire screen. It is always best practice to set your PC’s screen resolution to exactly match the native resolution of your LCD. Your fonts and icons may look very small however. But, you will get used to the change if you give it some time.
Another area to look out for is if your PC’s video adapter can actually generate video at the resolution your LCD monitor wants. Most modern video adapters have no trouble generating video at 1024x768 or 1280x1024. But, if you purchase a monitor with a native resolution of 1600x1200 you may also need to upgrade your video card (video adapter) to run at that resolution. The problem becomes even more prevalent if you purchase a wide-screen (16x9) LCD panel. These monitors run at resolutions that most PC’s were not built do display. To display a resolution of 1440x900 often requires a new, high definition capable video card.
You also need to consider the type of connectivity your LCD monitor requires. Most LCD monitors still use the traditional VGA plug. This is the plug that has been used for years with CRT monitors and is what a very large majority of PC’s have. Many LCD monitors also have a DVI plug. DVI stands for Digital Video Interface. While VGA is an analog signal a DVI signal is purely digital. If your monitor and video card have these plugs this is definitely the type of connection you want to use. Many new PC’s now have DVI capable video cards. But, most PC’s more than a few months old likely do not have a DVI capable video card.
One of the last areas to think about is stuck pixels. A stuck pixel is a bad spot on the LCD panel itself. Most of the time this will be a very tiny dot that is stuck to a certain color- such as red. A stuck pixel is just that- a pixel that is stuck at a certain color and cannot change. It is likely that you would never see this, but there are times when an LCD panel has this defect and it can be somewhat annoying. Most LCD manufacturers have a stuck pixel policy. For example, if you have 5 stuck pixels then your monitor would fall under that manufacturers stuck pixel policy and would be replaced or repaired under warranty. Each manufacturer has their own policy on stuck pixels. It never hurts to know in advance what that policy is.
Feel free to stop by our Belle Plaza location if you’d like to learn more about LCD technology. We will also be glad to give you a price quote on a monitor of your very own!
About the Author:
Parrish Reinoehl is President of Pathfinder Networks; a Niles based technology consulting firm specializing in providing affordable computer services to small businesses and home users including networks, PC support, sales, and service. Pathfinder Networks can be reached at 269-684-7696 or via email at parrish@pathfindernetworks.com
Pathfinder Networks website is http://www.PathfinderNetworks.com
Visit our retail location at 1920 S. 11th St., Niles, MI (in Belle Plaza).
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