How to identify a good second hand LCD?

Dear readers,

I want to buy a LCD monitor, and i got an offer from my friend in other town that he has one Samsung 740N, second hand but still in good condition. Seldom used, and being at the hand of computer expert, I believe that it still in good condition. He offer me for half the price of new monitor from the same type.

What I would like to know is, how to identify whether it is still in good condition?he said there's no dead pixel nor any ghosting symptoms.

Let's say it's still in a good condition, is there some hints how to keep it in good condition for a few years ahead?he said it's already 4 years since he bought it.

Thanks

As for tips to keep a monitor in good shape....

Simple, don't drop it.

I did nothing special with my Planar PX191 from 2002 and it still works perfectly today. However, it was considered a high end S-PVA panel monitor which carried a pretty hefty price so I assume to translated to higher quality parts were used to manufacture the monitor.