Junk monitors (was: Re: [plug] [OT] User Support)

[Cameron Patrick]

James Devenish wrote:

| Ah...the days when warping of images and distortion of colours were not
| "perfectly normal features" to be experienced while scrolling through
| documents! (These great new characteristics seem to be standard in the
| design of recent junk CRTs* and not a problem with age -- don't bother
| replacing them under warranty because the replacements will be just as
| bad out-of-the-box.)
| 
| * s/junk CRTs/typical CRTs for desk jobs or home users/

Hmm... I'm wondering how picky you're being when you speak of warping
and distortion.  My (albeit limited) experience is that most CRTs these
days, even relatively cheap ones, have colours at least as nice as older
CRTs, and don't look particularly warped.  The problems I've noticed
more are awful geometry (LGs seem particularly bad here, although most
monitors can at least be adjusted into something half-decent most of the
time; other times the geometry seems to adjust depending on the overall
brightness of the screen) and general fuzziness (due to both poor dot
pitch and poor focus).  That being said, I've yet to really use the
current generation of sub-$200 17" displays so perhaps they make
awfulness into an art form.  Or perhaps I just have low expectations.

With flashy new-fangled LCDs you get a whole new set of things to
complain about, although at least the above two points aren't an
issue...  (FWIW - the LCD that I have at home doesn't have such nice
colours as the CRT sitting next to it, doesn't have such a good viewing
angle, is slightly blurry when scrolling through a document due to the
response time, and is pickier about graphics cards than a CRT.)

Cameron.