Hmm...not so sure about this new 19" LCD I just bought...

[bovinda]

Just bought a Princeton 19" LCD (VL1918 is the model) from Costco for 300 + tax.

It has one dead/stuck pixel which is bothering me moderately. But my main concern is that I had been under the impression (perhaps erroneously) that text is clearer on an LCD than a CRT (which is what I'm coming from).

However, on this monitor, the text looks less clear somehow, especially when on a shaded background (like most of the text on the AT website, for example).

It's like it's a little light to the left of the text and a little darker to the right of it. I'm not sure how to describe it better. I notice this especially with red colors--it's a little light to the left of the red, and a little darker to the right of it. It makes text look uneven and (I think) a little hard on the eyes.

Finally, the colors seem a little washed out, especially yellows/golds.


So is all this normal for LCDs? I've never noticed it before. I don't know if I'm just being exceptionally picky because I've finally put the money down one. (It is a bit of an investment for me as a heavily indebted student.) Maybe this is just a case of you get what you pay for.

I was thinking of returning it (easily done with Costco's legendary return policy) and looking for a better 19". What do all you other LCD owners think?

 

[Paktu]

If you're using the VGA input, that might be the problem. Try DVI if you can.

 

[MX2]

Screencap?

 

[AsianriceX]

Are you running at its native resolution? Probably 1280x1024.

 

[Kogan]

Make sure you have cleartype turned on. I didn't know what this was when I got my first LCD. It makes text on screen look much better: http://www.microsoft.com/typography/cleartype/tuner/Step1.aspx

You may be able to exchange the LCD at costco if you want to try to get one without a dead pixel - It's usually a lot easier to do this at retail stores.

 

[bovinda]

Thanks for the continuing feedback guys...

I am using the DVI input and am running it at its native resolution of 1280x1024. Kogan, turning on cleartype helped a bit, thanks for the tip. I'd never even heard of that before. There is still some fuzzyness, but it's better. I notice now it's like there is a red or green haze on the side of each letter, but it definitely seems clearer. I will try to fiddle with the cleartype thing later on when I have some more time and see if it can improve it some more.

MX2times, once I figure out how to upload files to a message like this (I'm sure there's some obvious and easy way to do it) I will post some screencaps. From looking at the captures I just took, though, it shows the fuzzyness around the letters, but it doesn't display the very small light and dark highlights to the left and right, respectively, of red pixels. Does anyone know if this sounds like a possible monitor issue? Edit: I mean, as in a low-end monitor issue? Would something like this be less likely in a higher-end or more reputable brand monitor?

 

[sundev]

Most 19" LCDs aren't so great for text, because of their relatively low resolution of 1280x1024. 17" LCDs for example have the same resolution, but with a 2" smaller screen the letters are much more clear.. basically everything is blown up a little bit on a 19" since it's at such a low resolution (for the size).

I have a 19" LCD right beside my 20" widescreen, and it's very obvious that the letters are much more blurry on the 19".