Still trying to find the perfect monitor.
Here's something a lot of you who grew up in the era of CRT monitors (TV tube types) don't know and aren't things we ever really needed to worry about. Or, heck, even for non-techies this will probably be new information.
1. Older LCD's use compact flourescent types as backlighting. They're now coming out with LCD's backlit with LED's which last a long time and don't usually change color but, truthfully, if any of you have ever had a compact flourescent tube you've used for a few years you will know that what may even start out as white ends up yellow and, eventually, they do wear out. LED's are a perk, so if looking for a new monitor, think about color shifts, brightness dulling after a few years that non-LED LCD monitors will develop. I'd stick with LED based ones. However, with any light source you have the following problem.
2. Because LCD panels are becoming thinner and thinner and factory goof-ups are often, sometimes when the screen is all black (Like, say if you're watching a movie and it has a dark-lit scene) you'll see some backlight "bleed" shining through one or more of the corners or maybe even along an entire edge altogether. And the more they up the brightness on those monitors, the worse the problem may get. So when shopping, read reviews and make sure your monitor doesn't struggle from backlight bleed.
3. Dot pitch or now as it's called "Pixel pitch." This is basically the amount of space between pixels. The lower the number, the more clear/crisp the image is going to be. On the best CRT monitors they had some of those down to .23, but the newer LCD ones still are in the average range of .26-.28.
4. Viewing angles. TFT or TN based LCD monitors (Not so much with IPS, but they often have backlight bleed problems) often give you a different color appearance if you view the screen from other than just a straight-on-direction. This could be troublesome for some who may sometimes slouch in their computer chairs or want to watch a movie or something on a couch across the room if they have a larger monitor.
5. Black levels. Seemingly not important to a lot, but a lot of TFT (TN) based monitors display horrible black levels. Find one via reviews that at least does somewhat of a decent job.
6. Color gamut: This basically means the amount of representational colors a monitor can output within 1 of 3 ranges. NTSC, which is the television standard and basically means all the colors the human eye can perceive, sRGB, which is a color standard scheme developed between HP and Microsoft, and Adobe RGB, which I know nothing about. Most TFT (TN) monitors don't get above the 60 percentile range for NTSC, although some are now going to 72% NTSC, which "is" 100% of the sRGB range. For photo quality editing and such, you're going to have to go with an IPS screen, though, which delivers a wider color gamut beyond the ranges of sRGB and goes towards 100% NTSC. However, most IPS screens cannot do fast refresh rates so although they are good for graphics, they aren't always the best for games and movies. Which brings me to my final number.
7. Response time and lag time. Screen response time is measured in milliseconds. So, as an example, if you're watching a movie or playing a fast paced game, if the monitor isn't 5 ms or less (And less being MUCH better) then you're going to possibly see artifacts (Pixelization), ghosting, etc. This was NEVER a factor with CRT's, because electron guns have virtually NO delay. Another factor is if you're a gamer and if the response time isn't fast enough, the time from your controller to the actual action on the screen has to be really close or else you can get your butt kicked in online games in such where timing is everything.
In my opinion, some of the things above are the most important things to look out for.
The reason this is so frustrating for me is because with my old CRT 19 inch monitor, which was the TOP of the line model 20 years ago, although huge and bulky and doesn't go to a very high resolution, displays an 83% NTSC color gamut, has NO response time problems, a great .25mm pixel pitch (Dot pitch for us old timers), NO problems with any kind of ridiculous backlight bleed, displays super deep black levels, has the same viewing coloration no matter WHAT angle you look at it, and the list goes on and on as to the pros.
So, the ONLY and I mean ONLY advantages of a newer LCD model you're getting are: Slimmer, smaller size, less power consumption, less radiation (And they made anti-radiation hang-on filters for CRT's, which I have been using for 20 years), and the ability to display more lines of resolution. That's it. In every other way the BEST CRT monitors that they made in the end of their production had LCD screens no matter "how" they were backlit, whether by CFL or LED's, beat in every other way in my opinion.
