Flat panel monitors for CAD

[WolffG]

Has anybody had any experience using flat panel monitors for CADD?
Specifically, how easy are they on the eyes after 8 or 10 hours of staring at them while designing?

How does the resolution compare to standard monitors?

[Henry D]

I switched from a 21" CRT to a 19" LCD about 1 1/2 years ago and I will never go back to a CRT. I find a lot less strain with an LCD. The resolution on my LCD'S are clean and crisp, I have a ViewSonic and a Samsung. Also, I think CRT'S in the long run are bad for your health - you are essentially staring at an electron beam aimed at your head all day. I believe you can think better in front of an LCD – a couple of weeks ago I heard on the radio of a recent study comparing retention rates for material learned on paper, cinema screen, LCD screen and CRT screen. I can't remember the exact percentages but it was something like paper (80%), cinema screen (50%), LCD (30%) and CRT (14%). The retention rate was twice as much on an LCD as a CRT. The amazing thing to me was how much more was retained from printed matter – I knew we should have stuck to hand drawing!

Another thing to consider: for environmentally concerned offices which are trying to cut down on energy use, you can use LCD's in offices which use daylighting, plus LCD's give off a lot less heat which will cut down on cooling loads.

[WolffG]

Hi Henry,

What model Samsung and Viewsonic do you have??
Any issues w/ graphics cards?

[Henry D]

I have a 19” ViewSonic VG191 and a 17” Samsung SyncMaster 770 TFT -but there are newer and better models out there now. I would do a search for reviews and ratings. Even though a 19” LCD has the equivalent screen area of a 21” CRT, if I was buying an LCD monitor now I would get a 21” screen, but a 19" is still pretty good – Samsung has a 21" LCD SyncMaster 2131 TFT for a bit over $1,200 that I would look at. Also, there are several who post here who use dual monitors and seem to really like it. I think however there is a bit more fussing with dual monitors to keep all the windows docked where you want them.

I didn't have any issues with my graphics cards.

[PeterJ]

What are the resolutions that you can achieve with LCD or TFT?

I run two 19" CRT screens at 1600 x 1200 to give a big desktop of 3200 x 1200 and couldn't go back to 1280 x 1024 or whatever the standard LCD seems to offer (even as 1560 x 1024).

I assume that if your pockets are sufficiently deep there are high res LCDs out there but how do they compare in price?

P

[brentcarlson892079]

I run a dual monitor set up. But I have 1 CRT (CTX PR1400 21") and 1 LCD (KDS 19")

The LCD's nice in the morning because the screen pops up quick. Also when I wake up the computer from sleep mode.

It's not much fuss to go from one monitor to dual. The LCD is for a laptop docking station (only in a few hrs/week). So I have extra cords to swap the LCD on the fly. Works great 8)

You don't need to mess with the refresh rate with LCD's

Now that I have the taste of multi monitor setups....I want THREE!!! :twisted:

The only thing I don't like about dual monitors is dragging dialogue boxes to one screen or the other.

[Henry D]

You can get a Viewsonic VX2000 20.1" .255mm 1600x1200 UXGA Silver TFT LCD for a bit over $1,300. Prices have really come down - about 8 years ago, I bought a ViewSonic 21" CRT for $1,600!

[PeterJ]

I thought that was probably going to be the case pricewise. That is more than I want to spend on a monitor, especially as I have two.

[hand471037]

Be careful with color control and calibration with Flatpanel monitors. If this isn't a big deal to you (which it probably isn't) then don't worry. But if you commonly do signage work and/or graphic design, where you need to match *exactly* the colors on the screen with some spec so you can know what it will print like when sent off to the big printing house, then a CRT might still be your best bet. Several of my Graphic Designer friends are still on high-end CRT because of the color cast that happens on LCD (even the expensive ones). While this isn't an issue for you, just keep in mind that the cheap LCD screens have poor color control/perforamance vs. a cheap CRT. So just pay attention to the hardware reivews with the cheap LCD screens in the area of color casting, and you'll be fine. :)