Old monitor = ?

[navyseal2101]

My monitor is 17 years old. Am i sacraficing anything quality wise by using it or is a monitor a monitor.

 

[angry_ducky]

My monitor is 17 years old. Am i sacraficing anything quality wise by using it or is a monitor a monitor.

How big is it? What's the resolution? What system are you using it on? I'd probably upgrade it to a cheap 19 inch LCD.

 

[CompTIA_Rep]

Humm.. A monitor made in 1989... Well I would guess if your just looking at text then your fine. If your computer is also from 1989, then dont upgrade. If you can seriously say "am I sacraficing anything quality wise" then you most likly arnt the way you are using it now.


But when you do get a new computer, most of them come with a free monitor, so junk your old one.

 

[towely]

Congratulations. Your monitor is officially older than the majority of posters in this forum.

 

[qwertycopter]

Towely, you are the worst character ever.

 

[dabuman]

The thing you're sacrificing is your eyesight! The older CRT (big tube) monitors didn't have the best refresh rate. The slower your monitor refresh rate the harder it is on your eyes. If your monitor is at 60hz your eyes will get bloodshot quicker than if it's at 100hz. You know a movie has around 30 frames a second? That's kinda the idea for a CRT monitor too. The CRT monitor has to redraw the entire screen every few milliseconds (I forget the figures), this is the hertz rate.

The advantage of a LCD flatscreen monitor is that it doesn't have to refresh the screen in the same way a CRT does. The tiny dots that make up the LCD screen are pixels (actually 3 different colors make up a pixel). Those pixels turn on and off or change colors like a light switch which is easier on your eyes than redrawing the entire screen.

I use a LCD monitor for 10+ hours a day and my eyes thank me that I have a LCD instead of a CRT.

Some other information you may not have considered is that a CRT monitor uses more power than a LCD. You're paying for more electricity than you need to. Some businesses change to only LCDs just for the cheaper electricity bill. Insignificant perhaps, but still true.

Today's LCDs are of nice quality and much crisper than a CRT (my opinion). Recently I went from a 19" 7 year old CRT at home to a 24" Dell LCD (I have two 19" LCDs at work that I use the majority of time I spend in front of a computer). The text was noticably crisper and easier to read on the LCD when I compared my 19" CRT to my 24" LCD.

For price vs quality Dell LCD monitors are great for their quality. They have nice sized ones; lowest size I'd go with is a 19" LCD, ~$230 to $300 depending on model. A 20.1" around $450. You have a choice for getting either a widescreen (rectangle) LCD or a "normal" (squareish) LCD. Personally I like the widescreen because I have more screen realestate.

 

[navyseal2101]

haha. I play on
-AM2 X2 3800+ @2.6GHz
-7900GT OC'd to 7900GTX
-1GB RAM
-250GB Hard Drive
-450w PSU

I play Oblivion maxed, FEAR, Ill be playing UT 2007. Funny thing is its older than me and i need a adaptor to plug it in. lololoololololol. I was thinking of a 19" LCD. I found one but is 8ms response time good. I play right now at either 1024x768 or 1280x1024.

 

[enforcerfx]

Towely, you are the worst character ever.

In a way he is right though, that monitor is old and you probably wont loose much of anything by getting rid of it. But towely doesnt have a good reputation attitude wise on the forums, so try not to listen to what he has to say. I would suggest just getting a new monitor. CRT or LCD, whatever floats your boat.

 

[CompTIA_Rep]

Guys your giving bad advice.
If he is using a monitor from 1989, it is very likly its an eVGA monitor which has a different plug. A new DVI monitor wont fit. Likewise, the monitors max rez should be 640x480.

Please post the age of your computer before accepting recomindations to buy a new monitor.

 

[Dahak]

LOL.I like that response dude.just glad i was born in the late sixties.

Dahak

EVGA VF4 SLI MB
X2 4400+@2.4
2 7800GT'S IN SLI MODE
2X1GIG DDR400 MEMORY IN DC MODE
WD300GIG HD
520WATT PSU
EXTREME 19IN.MONITOR
3DMARK05:11,582

 

[Dahak]

Congratulations. Your monitor is officially older than the majority of posters in this forum.

glad i was born in the late sixties.LMFAO.

Dahak

EVGA VF4 SLI MB
X2 4400+@2.4
2 7800GT'S IN SLI MODE
2X1GIG DDR400 MEMORY IN DC MODE
WD300GIG HD
520WATT PSU
EXTREME 19IN.MONITOR
3DMARK05:11,582

 

[navyseal2101]

My computer is a few months old. I posted stats up more.

 

[CompTIA_Rep]

HAHAHAH.

I would say keep it and get a LCD in that case. Use the ugly retro monitor as your secondary just for fun!

But ya your losing out on colors, refreshrates (smoothness), and eye health.

 

[angry_ducky]

haha. I play on
-AM2 X2 3800+ @2.6GHz
-7900GT OC'd to 7900GTX
-1GB RAM
-250GB Hard Drive
-450w PSU

I play Oblivion maxed, FEAR, Ill be playing UT 2007. Funny thing is its older than me and i need a adaptor to plug it in. lololoololololol. I was thinking of a 19" LCD. I found one but is 8ms response time good. I play right now at either 1024x768 or 1280x1024.

LOL; your monitor is bottlenecking your system. An 8ms LCD is good; I'm using one, and I've never had ghosting in games. Newegg has this nice Samsung 17" 8ms LCD for $160 after a $20 rebate.

 

[CompTIA_Rep]

Well since you like old stuff. YOu want an old 11.5 inch green screen monitor? Only 19.95 + S/H.

 

[krazyIvan]

Actually, I’m amazed that a monitor made in 1989 would be good enough to display at 1280X1024 without frying the monitor or your eyes. It must have been a really top end monitor for its day.
As reference, I was using my top-of-the-line Amiga 2000HD at that time with a Sony RGB monitor/TV (15" I think) that as I recall cost $500 in 86’

 

[navyseal2101]

So its not even good for my eyes. I need my eyes to stay 20/20. And that LCD from newegg wouldnt destroy my eyes? I also heard that 17" was bad for eyes ans 19-21" was way to go. Is that only with old monitors?

 

[CompTIA_Rep]

Ya 1990 monitors were svga with 1600x1200 max @ 60hz. anything earlier and you only had VGA (16 colors) but still 1600x1200 @85hz.

 

[CompTIA_Rep]

Actually, I’m amazed that a monitor made in 1989 would be good enough to display at 1280X1024 without frying the monitor or your eyes. It must have been a really top end monitor for its day.
As reference, I was using my top-of-the-line Amiga 2000HD at that time with a Sony RGB monitor/TV (15" I think) that as I recall cost $500 in 86’

Hay I had the same Sony monitor/tv. It was black and red. I played ALF and Rodger Rabit on it all the time! Was great and I wish I still had it.

 

[Number_VI]

But when you do get a new computer, most of them come with a free monitor, so junk your old one.

Wouldn't it be better to just keep it for another 17 years and sell it to some 2023 hipster with a nack for late 20th century memorabilia ? Could help fund his new system and datajack...

 

[towely]

But towely doesnt have a good reputation attitude wise on the forums, so try not to listen to what he has to say.

some people just have no sense of humour.

 

[qwertycopter]

But towely doesnt have a good reputation attitude wise on the forums, so try not to listen to what he has to say.

I didn't say that 8O

 

[CompTIA_Rep]

But towely doesnt have a good reputation attitude wise on the forums, so try not to listen to what he has to say.

I didn't say that 8O
I really did say that hehehehe 8)


Oh sure right we belive you! :lol:

 

[Mondoman]

For the OP: a monitor is not a monitor, but you need to tell us your brand and model in order for us to figure out if it's still any good. CRTs last forever, so the key things are its design and specs. Since there were super-high-end monitors from that era, maybe it's OK. LCDs will be crisper and have nice square/rectangular images, but are lacking in color range compared to CRTs -- just compare a photo of a person's face on a CRT and on an LCD.

 

[CompTIA_Rep]

Note to Mondoman.
CRT's do not last forever. Many things can fail.
If you had read my post a few up, you would have noticed that it was not uncommon for a monitor to support 1600x1200 at 60hz with good colour depth. If the monitor is supporting 1280x1024 then it is a SVGA monitor as well, which should be fine if not a bit ugly.