Q-5: What are the advantages of flat-panel monitor over CRT monitor?
Ever-so-common output staple is going away, and not many people are going to miss it. That
would be the big, clunky, desk-hogging tube monitor called the CRT (for cathode-ray tube). It's a
flat-panel world now. Steve still has a certain fondness for CRTs, but he also has a rather large
home office; when he can't figure out what one would put in the gained space behind a flat-panel,
Angela informs him that most of us put our walls there.
Those big CRT monitors also produce a lot of heat, which wastes energy. And they deteriorate
over time, so that a tube that looked pretty good five years ago probably doesn't look so hot
today. And they weigh a lot! In fact, their only theoretical advantage is picture quality--the
viewing angle is wide, so you don't have to sit right in front to see it--and, for gamers, CRTs'
faster refresh speeds.
But both of those advantages go away with modern flat-panel monitors. Unless you're a graphics
professional who needs the particularly accurate color you get on a big tube, you're going to
prefer one of these skinny guys. (Or unless you're a professional cheapskate, says Steve, an
amateur cheapskate who's extremely dedicated to his craft.) Tube monitors are cheap, cheap,
cheap. But flat panels are getting there; prices have dropped about as much as Seinfeld stars'
popularity, and the premium you'll pay to bump up to a flat panel isn't more than maybe a couple
of hundred bucks, if that.
So the Duo are for once in agreement: It's time for you to look into (Ha! Is funny! Laugh!) a flat-
panel monitor. But there are a few things worth knowing before you hit the stores. For openers,
understand that unlike with CRTs, screen-dimension numbers are honest for flat panels. With a
tube, you always end up with less than the official count. The rule of thumb for CRTs is to
subtract two inches from the stated tube size to get the same size flat-panel screen. For instance,
a 19-inch tube would be equivalent to a 17-inch flat panel.
Why is bigger better? In general, the bigger the screen, the more pixels you get, which lets you
cram more on screen at once. A 15-inch flat panel gives you a resolution of 1024 by 768 pixels.
A 17-inch monitor gives you a resolution of 1280 by 1024--two-thirds more stuff visible on the
screen at once. But there's a catch: At least for now, 19-inch monitors gives you the same
number of pixels as 17-inchers. So you don't see more info, you see everything a little bigger
and, to Steve's eyes, usually a little grainier. If your vision's bad, the 19-inchers are probably the
way to go.
But the Duo agree that for now, the 17-inch models are usually the best deal. You can get one for
about $250, which isn't much more than you'll spend for a 15-inch model--and it's several
hundred dollars less than you'd lay out for a 19-inch model. Now, just to confuse things, monitor
makers are adding wide-screen models, which have two big advantages: They make it relatively
simple to open two windows side-by-side (say for comparing prices while you're shopping