Need a little help!

[Ed_L]

I've been checking out reviews for 19 inch monitors, since I'm in the market for one. The Sony I had, had the aperture grille, and I'm wondering if that had something to do with eye strain. I have a 17 inch Viewsonic with the aperture grille, but it didn't bother my eyes like the 19 inch model. I might consider a shadow mask because it's supposed to be better for viewing text, and I actually spend more time reading text than I do working on images. Monitor reviews have really got me screwed up now. When I think I've decided on a model, I find a bad review on it. There aren't many 19 inch monitors displayed in stores locally, and those that I've seen either didn't look great, or they were low end, and I'm afraid of buying junk. How would you buy a monitor if you couldn't see it before buying? Everyone knows that reviews are typically written with a biased opinion.

Ed

[Doug Nelson]

For text alone, go for an LCD monitor. But for a CRT, compare dot pitch. A friend of mine just bought a Samsung 1100p+ with a .21 pitch (one of the best dot pitches you can find on a 21" monitor).

Also, with bigger monitors you can increase the distance between you and it, which should make for less eyestrain. Plus, at a given resolution, the larger the monitor the larger everything displayed appears, like text, etc.

[d_kendal]

I'll second Doug's recommend for the Samsung, I've had a Samsung 950p (19") for over a year now, and I love it, haven't had a single problem with it, I work for hours every day on it, and I haven't noticed any eye strain from using it. I'm not sure if you'll be able to find any in stock in most stores though, when I got mine, they were phasing them out, I got it on special at a Staples store. Samsung seems to mostly be making aperture grille monitors now, it's getting harder to find good CRTs anymore (as far as I've seen anyway)

- David

[Ed_L]

Originally posted by d_kendal
Samsung seems to mostly be making aperture grille monitors now, it's getting harder to find good CRTs anymore (as far as I've seen anyway)

- David

Am I missing something? I thought if a monitor had an aperture grille, it was a CRT, but a CRT is not *necessarily* aperture grille.

Thanks for the replies.

Ed

[d_kendal]

Actually Aperture grille technology is completely different than CRT (also known as "Shadow Mask") and LG's Flatron line (Slot mask) is yet another one, actually a hybrid of both (resulting in the flat screen without the lines you get with aperture grille. I've seen them on display at lots of local computer stores and I really like the look of them, I'm hoping to get one as a second monitor if I can afford it eventually. I posted a thread here a while ago in which I tried to do a bit of explaination about each technology.

- David

[Ed_L]

So a CRT can be either a shadow mask, aperture grille, or in some instances, a hybrid, right? The aperture mask displays the lines, which I have on my 17" Viewsonic (But I have to keep checking to make sure they didn't disappear, since I don't see them easily) .

Ed

[d_kendal]

thanks for the clarification Chuck, I haven't spent much time researching this stuff. yeah, refresh rate is definitely one of the most important things to consider, you'll want to find out what the maximum is on the monitor since even if your video card is capable of reaching high refresh rates, if your monitor can't match it then you won't be able to get the most from your card. For me, I'm very sensitive, I tried 1600 x 1200 for a while, but I couldn't stand it for long since the maximum refresh rate I could get was 75hz, right now I'm using 1280 x 1024 at 85hz and anything less bothers me pretty quickly.

- David

[ravenmd]

Hi Ed, I bought a ViewSonic flat 19" couple years ago. At the time I did a ton of research, but haven't done much since. I'm sure there's newer and better now, but I must vote for my ViewSonic PF790.
I use it for hours every day and no eye strain at all. I love it. I keep the refresh rate very high.. 85hz

I have no regrets about buying this monitor, though at the time it was way higher priced than most.

[Ed_L]

I've set the resolution and refresh rate to every possible setting, and still felt eye strain.

Marie,
I have a 17" ViewSonic, and I've been well satisfied with it. Just ordered a ViewSonic G90f-2. Optimal setting (and highest possible) is posted at 1600X1200 resolution, but other settings are available. All of the G's (graphic series) monitors use shadow mask technology, if I'm not mistaken. Keeping my fingers crossed. I should have it in a few days.

Ed

[collinf]

It's strange, I've been reading this thread and there was something I couldn't quite place. Then I realised: Doug mentioned the Samsung SyncMaster 100p Plus. I'm reading the forum on this very monitor, at work. I've got it running at 1280 x 1024, sat about three feet away mucking about with photoshop until I can be bothered to get in the car and go home. My vote would certainly go to this monitor. I find I do get eye strain if I'm sitting too close and concentrating on a small area too much, but then, my eyes have never been great.

I haven't been able to keep up with the talk about masks, I know the basics: I like CRT, the bigger the better and Flatscreens/LCD hurt my eyes after about an hour. Thankfully (???) I don't have a laptop to worry about.

Collin