Current state of LCD technology

[Staples]

I have been going beck and forth about buying an LCD for a few months and I am still not sure whether to get one or not. I will most likely be getting a Samsung T or P series monitor and it will cost me $850-1100. I don't mind spending a lot of money on something if I know that I am going to use it a lot and that it will last a long time but for LCDs, this is an uncertainty. As of the most recent LCDs, their response time is 25ms, viewing angle is 170 degrees and their contrast is 450:1.

It was only a few years ago when CRT monitors got so good that it would be overkill to improve them any more. That is why CRTs have made very little (if any) improvements over the past 2-3 years.

Where are we with LCDs of now? Will I buy one now only to find that the ones of a year from now are below 5ms response, cost will be considerably cheaper and contrast is a lot better?, or will all of these improvements take several years to come out with? Will LCDs even be able to handle 5ms response times? They have been on notebooks for 15 years and what has their response times improved in those 15 years? What is your say on this matter? I surely don't want to buy an LCD for an arm and a leg just to see that the ones of next year are twice as good and half as cheap. Over the past few years, cost hasn't dropped much at all, not even close to all the major price drop BS I heard two years ago.

 

[Viper GTS]

You might want to read this

Once you've read that, read this.

I'd say it's worth waiting at least that long.

Viper GTS

 

[Staples]

Thanks. I see FFD as more of an incremental step rather than a major break through like many seem to think. I never read about it before until today.

 

[azkiwi]

Originally posted by: Staples
Thanks. I see FFD as more of an incremental step rather than a major break through like many seem to think. I never read about it before until today.

Staples you've hit the nail on the head. The Extremetech article is a year old - in that time the typical panel has gone from 45ms to 25ms with excellent brightness and contrast. I'm sure if and when this technology is implemented it will provide a noticeable boost to hard core gaming enthusiasts and other especially picky people who need the best and are prepared to pay the most for it.

For the rest of us 25ms and 500:1 is just great. My Viewsonic VG191 is a year or so old and completely satisfiying - the best single upgreade I ever made. From the accolades the Samsungs are obviously equal or better - why wait?

 

[Maverick]

one thing that you should also keep in mind is the dead pixels issue. The industry standard is to ship an LCD as long as it doesn't have 6 or more dead pixels. Many retailers won't let you replace an LCD you order from them if it has less than 8 dead pixels. So unless you pay hefty premiums, you can get screwed into not getting entirely what you paid for with LCD. Just something to be aware of.

 

[zephyrprime]

as long as its dead pixels don't make up more than 5% of the screen

I think you mean 5 pixels, not 5 percent. 5% of my 19" lcd would be 1.8 square inches which is a huge amount.

FFD should be substantially better if reports are true. I would wait for it if I were in your shoes. As for the future...who knows? The real wild card in my opinion is polymer semiconductor technology which is the only thing I know of that might make LCD's cheap.

But look, I know you want some assurance that any money you part with will be well spent but in the fast moving world of technology, this is a desire that cannot be satisfied.

 

[Maverick]

oops my bad...I guess 5% would pretty ridiculous wouldn't it? Still sucks...even one can be very noticeable depending where it is.

 

[kazeakuma]

For those interested, we may be seeing a new wave of LCDs soon with much lower response times.

http://www.eetimes.com/sys/news/OEG20020927S0061