Waiting For the Package Truck
We’re finally moving into the 21st century and getting an LCD monitor. We’ve been using the same CRT for five years. That’s one of the reasons that the colors of our photographs may seem a bit “off” to some of you. Even though most computers these days have LCDs we’ve been do all of the editing on an old CRT. I don’t blog from work, so I seldom view our blog on and LCD. When I have had the opportunity, the difference in the appearance of our photographs has been very noticeable. It should be delivered early next week so the pictures from our next photo session should look a bit different/better.
California Girl and I are really looking forward to reclaiming our lost desk space. It’s really shrunk over the years as we got bigger and bigger monitors. Our first computer had a 13-inch monochrome monitor which was considered oversized since many computers in those days were only had 12-inche monitors! Nowadays, something that size would considered small even for a laptop.
The kids have had a flat screen LCD for years, so we’re finally “catching up” to them. Until their last computer, they’ve had a lot of hand me down processors; but, they’ve always had newer monitors and good video cards. They can get by with a slower system; but they spend so much time online researching and typing homework that California Girl and I always felt that a good monitor and keyboard was important; especially since they still have good vision. No, we’re finally taking our own advice.
Question: Does anyone else still have/use CRTs or are we the last dinosaurs?
For the non-technical, LCDs are the thin flat panel displays that you see sold with new computers and CRTs are the big boxy things resemble old-style TVs.
Update: The monitor has arrived and it is sweet. Photographs look great on it.
Tags: Geekings
May 13th, 2008 at 1:11 am
We finally got rid of all our CRT’s at work during our last PC upgrade. I was one of the lucky ones and already had an LCD monitor but it was only a 15″ HP. My new monitor is a 19″ Dell and WOW…….you can really see the difference.
Good luck on the new one. By the way what brand did you wind up with?
May 13th, 2008 at 2:16 am
Steve: I got a Viewsonic. Years ago, I used to get Nec; but I’ve gone with the birds for the last three.
May 13th, 2008 at 7:46 am
Our desktop has a CRT but we never use it, we all have our own laptops now. My PC at work has a 22″ LCD which I love!
Ms SD
May 13th, 2008 at 7:46 am
You will see a big difference in color and clarity. I bought a 17″ one about 6 months ago.
I am happy with it. The only problem that I have is that there is an excellent chance that the system will crash if I go to a site with a solid black background. I am using ME, and the drivers for the lcd may not be compatable. So I try to avoid those sites.
I still don’t understand why people design there sites with a black background and red or blue text. I guess that they don’t want people to be able to read what they post. if one is advertising a mortuary, I guess that darkness would be ok.
May 13th, 2008 at 8:36 am
Up until last June I was still on a 24″ SONY CRT, WRT-something-or-another. Though it weighed about 200 pounds, needed a special videocard to run, and took up alot of desk space, it worked and that was good enough for me. Then it decided it was tired and just flat our stopped working all together.
I”m currently on a 19″ Dell UltraSharp but have been jonesing for an Apple Cinema Display for the lognest time now.
May 13th, 2008 at 12:36 pm
You are the last dinosaurs.
May 13th, 2008 at 8:59 pm
CRT…LCD…OMG…WTF…
I’m about as low tech as they come so I have absolutely no idea what that post was about! I’m probably even more dorky for admitting that too.
Oh well…
May 14th, 2008 at 1:08 am
I have been useing a 19″lcd for several years in my limited office space. The wife uses a 32″ Olivia Wide screen due to her diminished eye sight. Vista really pops on it and she has all the extra large fonts and cursors. Welcome to the 21st century. You guys are a great pair and we both admire your open sexuality. Can’t emulate it due to medical reasons but we were a very active pair in our day.
May 14th, 2008 at 6:55 am
We have all LCD’s here now (even my 6 year old). My husband works on two really big LCD’s that are somehow seen as “one” by his video card. It’s cool. Freaks me out when I use his machine though.
May 14th, 2008 at 10:41 am
We’re still in the dinosaur age as well. Due to financial constraints, we’re still using the CRT at home. The kids have the LCD’s and they look great but we just can’t afford to replace the 21″ CRT we currently use. Oh, also use a 21″ CRT at work. Your pics look fine on both of them.
May 14th, 2008 at 5:36 pm
MCB:
I’ll give you a tax tip:
DONATE your remaining CRT monitors to a rec center or daycare and get a tax letter to use as a charity deduction on your return next year.
May 15th, 2008 at 1:43 am
Years ago, we got a 20-inch CRT which was HUGE at the time. So although we didn’t have the colors of today’s LCDs it was still a good size; so we used it much longer than we probably should have. Even after the difference in quality was obvious.
Ms SD: The only laptops we have are the one that I bring home from work. So, I never really noticed the difference in quality until recently. Remember, when LCDs first came out, they were inferior to CRTs.
Richard: We use Windows Vista and it appears to like the new monitor just fine. Solid black backgrounds look better to some people than others. I can barely focus on the letters and have a hard time reading hem; but some people really like the look.
PJay: The CRT we are replacing is at least 85 pounds. It’s hard to believe that we are getting a bigger screen with better quality display and it weighs just over 10 pounds. Our CRT was still working but it was starting to give us problems. So we decided to do something before we were in a hurry and couldn’t shop around. Good luck getting the Apple Cinema Display.
Chickie: Yes we are. But at least we aren’t extinct. And the way we reproduce is a lot more entertaining.
Naughty Girl: That’s why this post as in the geeking category. That’s where all the posts full of techno babble are.
Carolina Jim and Wife: 32 inches! Wow. At work, I’d get rid of whatever was in the way for a nice wide-screen LCD display. Almost everyone else has a flat panel display; but I’ve still got a CRT there. Thankfully, since I have a laptop is not my primary display. BTW: thanks for the props.
Michelle: Now that I’ve seen the difference, we’re NEVER going back. We ate least want to be comparable to a 15-year old BTW: I don’t like the two monitors/one display configuration much either.
Mr. Manic Depressive: We would still be using the CRT if we hadn’t got such a deal on the LCD. Price matters. We don’t blog at work; so we’ve never regularly compared what our photographs look like with each display type.
Steve: Thanks for the tip. After five years, it’s not worth very much but we’ll see.