LCD vs CRT

[quanttrade99z]

Hi there

I'm thinking about buying some new screens for my home office. I have always thought CRT was much better than LCD for showing clearing text, especially tons of small numbers on spreadsheets.... but I haven't really looked at the new offerings for a couple of years I have to admit.

Is CRT still better than LCD? I don't need to play games or watch movies, I'm really just looking for super-crystal-clear text, I have to work with spreadsheets all day long.

Any recommendations would be appreciated. Also- how much do you need to spend to buy a really nice LCD screen for work. Assuming that you have an infinite budget, but don't want to waste any money (i.e. no over-kill necessary).

Thank you all!
quanttrade

 

[hans007]

uh a DVI lcd is vastly superior for text because they dont have to refresh. the eye strain difference for excel is huge.

i dont actually do excel on lcds, but i'm a programmer and honestly my eyes thank lcds every day for being invented.

 

[heyheybooboo]

Don't buy a 'cheepy' LCD.

Mid- to high-end LCDs exhibit fine definition for text and spread sheets in native resolutions.

If you stick with a CRT, purchase the model with the highest refresh rate available at the resolution you are most comfortable working ...

 

[chizow]

Yep, as others said already text has always been a strong point of LCDs. Early reviews and user reports will almost always cite sharp text as a key advantage over CRTs. Other advantages include better brightness and less eye strain (subjective) due to no scan line refresh. The benefits of LCDs are even greater now with wide aspect panels becoming the norm as the larger panels (1920x1200) can fit two A4 spreadsheets side by side. The 2560x1600 panels offer even more flexibility and can display two 16x12 monitors when in portrait mode. Any sized panel that can adjust to portrait mode will also help if you're dealing with legal documents or lots of code. Add a second panel and you have even greater flexibility when working with spreadsheets/code. Personally I think two good-sized panels are slightly better than a single large panel for work and multi-tasking. You should be pretty safe with any quality 22-24" panels which will run $300-600, 27"+ will cost $1000+.

 

[CP5670]

Is CRT still better than LCD? I don't need to play games or watch movies, I'm really just looking for super-crystal-clear text, I have to work with spreadsheets all day long.

An LCD is an obvious choice for that purpose. Even a cheap one will work well, as long as it has a DVI input. There is no difference between them in terms of sharpness, which is pretty much all that matters when you're looking at text only.

CRTs' advantages are mainly related to graphics and motion, and all the good ones have been out of production for many years anyway.

 

[crisium]

My brother has a nice 21-inch CRT. The benefits to CRT are any resolution is the native. Depending on what suits me best, I switch between 1920x1080, or 1600x1200 (or an even higher 4:3). Plus I know that when my hardware ages, I can play games at lower resolutions if need be, such as 1024x768 and know that it's native (which it wouldn't be on LCD). It's very heavy though. Very.

 

[hans007]

Originally posted by: CP5670

Is CRT still better than LCD? I don't need to play games or watch movies, I'm really just looking for super-crystal-clear text, I have to work with spreadsheets all day long.

An LCD is an obvious choice for that purpose. Even a cheap one will work well, as long as it has a DVI input. There is no difference between them in terms of sharpness, which is pretty much all that matters when you're looking at text only.

CRTs' advantages are mainly related to graphics and motion, and all the good ones have been out of production for many years anyway.

yaeh you definitely need dvi though.


an analog one, will reconvert the analog signal to digital, so if its a poor analog signal it will make some pictures flickery because the analog to digital conversion will reinterpret the signal as a different value, hence the blurriness.

digital on the other hand is static so thats why DVI lcds are basically perfect for text.

 

[CP5670]

Originally posted by: hans007

Originally posted by: CP5670

Is CRT still better than LCD? I don't need to play games or watch movies, I'm really just looking for super-crystal-clear text, I have to work with spreadsheets all day long.

An LCD is an obvious choice for that purpose. Even a cheap one will work well, as long as it has a DVI input. There is no difference between them in terms of sharpness, which is pretty much all that matters when you're looking at text only.

CRTs' advantages are mainly related to graphics and motion, and all the good ones have been out of production for many years anyway.

yaeh you definitely need dvi though.


an analog one, will reconvert the analog signal to digital, so if its a poor analog signal it will make some pictures flickery because the analog to digital conversion will reinterpret the signal as a different value, hence the blurriness.

digital on the other hand is static so thats why DVI lcds are basically perfect for text.

I never understood why many low end LCDs only have VGA, instead of the other way around. It seems that having DVI only would actually be more cost effective, since there is no ADC hardware needed to do the conversion.

 

[SolMiester]

I think the secret in getting a LCD where the pitch isnt too small. 30" 2560*1600 is too small IMHO, you will lean forward and get all sorts of neck problems. If you want 16.10 1920x1200, get a 24+", if 1650x1080 22"...

1 step further dual LCD's are great for big spreadsheets.

Just my thoughts!

 

[firewolfsm]

Originally posted by: CP5670

I never understood why many low end LCDs only have VGA, instead of the other way around. It seems that having DVI only would actually be more cost effective, since there is no ADC hardware needed to do the conversion.

But cheaper graphics cards don't (didn't) have DVI. They need cheap monitors to work with integrated stuff, etc.

 

[postmortemIA]

LCD with DVI and ClearType font>CRT

 

[error8]

Originally posted by: hans007

Originally posted by: CP5670

Is CRT still better than LCD? I don't need to play games or watch movies, I'm really just looking for super-crystal-clear text, I have to work with spreadsheets all day long.

An LCD is an obvious choice for that purpose. Even a cheap one will work well, as long as it has a DVI input. There is no difference between them in terms of sharpness, which is pretty much all that matters when you're looking at text only.

CRTs' advantages are mainly related to graphics and motion, and all the good ones have been out of production for many years anyway.

yaeh you definitely need dvi though.


an analog one, will reconvert the analog signal to digital, so if its a poor analog signal it will make some pictures flickery because the analog to digital conversion will reinterpret the signal as a different value, hence the blurriness.

digital on the other hand is static so thats why DVI lcds are basically perfect for text.

I had LCD's with both DVI and VGA and I haven't seen any difference between them in anything. Everyone says that a DVI LCD is so much better then a VGA one, and I thought it was true, but when I investigated myself I came at the conclusion that this is a myth. The DVI doesn't show better colors, better contrast or better response time. They are just the same.