Time for a New Monitor

[Piccoro]

I have a Viewsonic 19" flat screen CRT (A90f) and it has started to fail. One of the colors in the monitor is starting to go out and it turns a green/yellow tint. I guess it has been to too many LANs.
It no longer has a warranty so I'm looking for a replacement.

While I could find a well performing 19" flatscreen CRT to replace it for 200-250$ I have been debating dual display. I have found 17" Viewsonic Flatscreen CRTs on sale for as low as 125$ (LINK)although there is one I am looking at for 179$ at Newegg. LINK

Or should I just go for a 19" flatscreen CRT. What would you suggest?

I do get into projects every once in awhile using video editing software and I encode/author SVCDs. I am big on multitasking so I would think dual displays would be a help.

Does anyone using a dual display setup care to share how useful it is?
What kind/brand of monitors do you guys like? other suggestions are welcome.

[The village idiot]

I think I would buy a nice LCD or 2. A little more money, but a lot less space. Especially if you tend to carry it around for gaming. I've seen 17" LCD's on sale for about $300 after rebates and such. If you could find an open box of one of those

[Piccoro]

I don't mind the space as I have a full 6 foot table to spread out on.
I really would like a performance display and keep with CRTs with my video/media and gaming needs. I tend to notice motion blur on LCDs to easily, even 20ms response time 17" LCDs. I think when I go to a flatpanel display will be when OLED displays come out in a few years.

And I don't wish to spend more than 400$ on dual display.
Although the LCD suggestion is good, I don't think it is for me. thx anyway.

[birdygal]

My old monitor stopped show the color red and when I was going to replace it I found out if was the video card failing and not the monitor at all.

[redwudz]

Just my opinion, but I like the 19" if you got the room. LCD's have one problem in that they work best at their native resoulution. I like to move between more than one resoultion, depending on the project. Also with heavy items like a monitor, I would buy it locally if at all possible. If it does go out under warranty, it can cost a fortune to ship back. I got my last one through Staples and under a resonalbly priced extended warranty, I can just bring it back to the local store.

[Piccoro]

Yeah, I should check other stores. I've looked at Bestbuy and the store here has only one 19" and one 15" CRT model the rest are LCDs. I guess I'll drive around and check out what models other stores have.

BTW i just put a new graphics card in today and it's the same.
It is the monitor as the color has come and gone...but mostly gone.

I'd really like to hear what dual display users have to say.

[gmatov]

Piccoro,

Before you junk it, play around with the cord from the vid card a little. I have had them kinda fatigue the wires or something, wiggle the cord, the colors come back. You can buy a new data cord, cable,whatever for 15 to 25 bucks.

One I had to put a new end on, myself, no biggie, if you can find a crimp on connector. Even Radio Shack sells new Vid card connectors, but 15 pin is solder only.

Watch where you buy the new one. I have 2 Mag Innovision 17 inchers, one from a supply house, one from BB. The first came with a 3 year warranty, 1 year instant replacement, they pay the shipping. They sent me a shipping label, prepaid, I do believe to California. Only after it went out did I read the entire warranty and find they were supposed to have it to me in 48 hours. Still no biggie, got another in 4 or 5 days, dropped at the front door.

The BB unit, 1 year warranty, went to Mag, their site gve it a 3 year, except for BB, who buy them without the extended warranty, try to sell you on their own extended. Rip off.

My first was 200 bucks. The second, 70 after rebate.

Cheers,

George

[Piccoro]

Well I can assure you that it is something in the monitor that has gone bad and not in the cord. I have a 17" that had its cord wear out and when you bent the cord it would be fine but as soon as you let go it would go blue. I have tapped this 19" before and it goes back to normal but it has become a lot worse lately as it stays green.
Either the gun is aging or some wire soddered to the PBC inside has come loose/off. I could sodder it if I could find out what's wrong but I'd rather not.

I looked at all the stores around here (bestbuy,compusa,officedepot,staples,officemax...) and they had very limited CRT selection and all their monitors were poor performance monitors. Would be what companies would buy for standard office use.

I've read the reviews for people who buy their monitors from certain sites and it depends on where I were to buy from whether they offer a good warranty and pay for shipping etc.
I'll have to find out how newegg handles warranties as they have the best pricing and free shipping at that on Viewsonic monitors.

[rallynavvie]

Mmm, the A90 is a good monitor. I have a G90f+ which is really nice and I got it from Gateway for just over $200 with shipping. Go to Yahoo! Shopping and browse for this monitor, you can often times get just as good a price for it.

Get a good 19" and then look around used computer stores for a decent 15" for a second display. You shouldn't really need the screen size for a second monitor all that much. Also be sure your video card supports dual displays. Some, like mine, aren't true dual-head cards and aren't nearly as flexible as to what you can use them for. Maybe before buying that second monitor use that A90 for a while to see what your card can do with two monitors. The other thing you may want to check is bring that A90 into a repair place and see if they can fix it. Wouldn't it be worth spending maybe $100 to repair a good 19" rather than spend that on a used 17"?

[808smokey]

Get a monochrome, green would be cool or even orange. get one with the letters all burnt in to the screen too. You can probly get those 4 free if they still work.

[Piccoro]

Alright, bought 2 Viewsonic P75f+ B CRT Monitors for 179$ @ Newegg.
None of the local places around here have any performance monitors nor any good brands but Newegg does include a 3 year manufacture warranty.

Table setup
Desktop

Love the setup. Lot of room and has helped with multitasking a lot.
Playing 3d games is great too as I can play on the 1st monitor while the 2nd is my 2d desktop (Instant msg program, IE etc).

Nvidia's new nView driver update (52.16) has a lot of great options to setup dual display.