[HM] LCD monitor question / adding second montor

[Florin Alexander Neumann]

On Thursday, Oct 2, 2003, at 16:32 Canada/Eastern, Jack Honeycutt wrote:

> PC Magazine (which is the most critical of computer hardware 
> publication that I know of) says that flat screens still have not come 
> up to the quality of the old time CRT if you compare like-for like.

There appears to be a little confusion here. "Flat screen" does not 
mean LCD.

Flat _screen_ is a CRT monitor with a reduced curvature of the screen. 
Flat _panel_ is sometimes used as a synonym for an LCD display.

As to comparing CRTs and LCDs, the above assessment is substantially 
correct. Measure for measure, you pay a premium for an LCD monitor. 
However, things are not as simple as they seem. At the low-end, an LCD 
may make more sense than a CRT. A cheap CRT can be atrocious (I've seen 
a new 17-in Dell that would curl your hair). However, at the higher 
end, no LCD can reasonably match the performance of a professional 
quality CRT.

As to whether to get an LCD with digital vs analogue interface, it 
depends on what you have and what you want to do. If your video card 
has digital output and you plan to buy an LCD, then it's worth the 
extra bucks to get an LCD with a digital or dual interface; with a 
digital interface, the video signal does not go through a DAC prior to 
being fed to the monitor, and you can expect a briskier response.

f