Number 239 - April 2003

Rebuttal On Virtues Of LCD Monitor
by Jack Hord, CAUG Coastal Computer News, February 2003
The January issue (of Coastal Computer News) carried an article proclaiming the virtues of the LCD screens. While I agree that they have certain strengths, they also have their weaknesses. LCD or TFT flat panel computer screens are not ideal for everyone.    They cannot yet match the color fideliy and contrast ratio of a good CRT. Professionals who want to calibrate color from scanner to screen to printer do not we LCD screens. Remember that vibrant color is not necessarily accurate color.    Besides being more expensive than a CRT, they are slow and inflexible. By slow, I'm referencing the speed at which pixels can change from one color to another. This might be noticed as blurring during action scenes on a DVD. Also the screen refresh rate is generally fixed at 60 Hertz. This rate is not a flicker problem but too slow of a redraw for the fastest garners who have high-end videocards capable of over 100fps.    By inflexible, I mean that they exhibit their wonderful crispness of image only at their native resolution. If you are running your LCD screen at any other resolution, then you are missing the greatest attribute of your purchase. If you are shoppingfora LCD screen, be sure to consider how comfortably you	can recognize icons and text when it's at its native resolution. If you currently have a 17" CRT and run it at a resolution of 1024x768 (XGA), then a 15" LCD screen with the same native resolution will have smaller icons and text because it's 2 inches smaller. A 17" LCD screen is likely to run at a higher native resolution than XGA so that it too will have smaller icons and text than your CRT because the pixels are smaller.    I also have a conceptual problem with allowing your video card to work hard converting a digital image into an analog signal and then forcing the LCD screen to convert it right back to digital. For heavens sake, get a video-card with a digital output for your LCD screen and skip those self canceling steps.    If you can live with the above mentioned problems, then, yes, they are light weight, space saving, more energy efficient, crisp, cool, and they don't emit potentially harmful radiation.    Jack Hord is CAUG vice-president and Graphics SIG Leader. Email him: jack@hord.com    (Now armed with this information you can make an informed choice - TOGGLE Ed)
Number 239 - April 2003