foamy Posted November 27, 2002 Share Posted November 27, 2002 Its getting near to Christmas and I am writing to Santa for a flat screen (LCD ??) monitor. Given that my computer is used 99% of the time playing Combat Mission I thought I might ask the advice of this forum on what type of LCD monitor is 100% comapable / playable with CM ?? I kinda like the idea of the speakers built into the sides of the monitor, I have my screen set to 1074 X 768 using a 17" Sony 200sx at present - Any recommendations ?? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_UXcva Posted November 27, 2002 Share Posted November 27, 2002 What platform and machine do you use? I love my apple studio display (flat screen LCD),, very nice on the eyes [for those countless hrs. spent playing CMBB] and the visuals/graphics look very good as well. Doesn't take up much desk space and is relatively portable too. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pine59 Posted November 27, 2002 Share Posted November 27, 2002 I use a NEC 19" LCD and am quite happy with it. A few things I think are worth thinking about: 1. LCDs look considerably better when your display settings are set at their native resolution. If you are happy playing CM at 1024x768 then you might want to look for that native resolution on the monitor. I think most all 17" and smaller LCDs are that resolution. Mine is 1280x1024. Lower resolution games like 800x600 don't look very good compared to a CRT. 2. If possible check the specs for a response time number, preferably under 40ms. This is different from the refresh rate (Hertz). LCDs have much slower response rates than CRTs which causes some blurring when things move on the screen. I really never notice it in CM but scrolling text like on a web page it is noticable. A lot of LCD makers don't include this number so I'd try to play around with the monitor at the store to see if this is a problem. The general consensus is that LCDs are not quite ready for prime time when it comes to gaming but I love mine and will never go back to the 100lb CRT monsters I used to use. They are getting bigger, faster, sharper, and cheaper all the time. Most of the ones I have seen have built-in speakers so that shouldn't be a problem. I didn't want that and actually had to look harder to find speakerless monitors. If you want to check out a lot of prices and specs check out this site: Monitor Outlet 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jiggles Posted November 27, 2002 Share Posted November 27, 2002 Yeah, I'll second pretty much everything Highlife said. Response time is quite important, even for desktop-based work. Some monitors in the Samsuns range have a good reputation for having fast response times (~25ms). There are other panels on the market with this sort of response time, so you should be aiming for that sort of performance. My flat-panel is just great for Combat Mission. Much of the criticism flat-panels get from the gaming community comes from the first-person shooter brigade, to whom every frame-per-second is critical. For more sedate games like Combat Mission they're just fine. The lack of any flicker and the higher contrast makes them easier on the eye too, when spending hours plotting out your shoot-'n-scoot moves ... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HeadHunter Posted November 27, 2002 Share Posted November 27, 2002 That's all that's really stayed my hand on purchasing an LCD display - the fact that I'm also a total FPS nut. If I could get an LCD that gave the kind of performance my CRT provides (like 100Hz @ 1024x768 and 85Hz @ 1280x1024), and didn't cost more than the computer itself, I'd definitely buy one. The prices are coming down, but the really good ones are still rather pricy if you play shooters. It's only a matter of time before the cathode-ray tube goes the way of the dot-matrix printer... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sirocco Posted November 27, 2002 Share Posted November 27, 2002 I'm using a Samsung SyncMaster 171s 17" LCD. I've been very satisfied with it. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soddball Posted November 27, 2002 Share Posted November 27, 2002 I bought an Iiyama 17" TFT a couple of months ago, which is the mutt's nutts. I play Quake 3 and Unreal Tournament on it regularly with no blurring. Iiyama do seem to produce some of the finest monitors, but you pay a premium for them (in my case, £600 :eek: ). 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JP Jones Posted November 28, 2002 Share Posted November 28, 2002 I'm using a Samsung SyncMaster 170s 17" LCD. It has worked great so far. No speakers, but I didn't want them attached to the monitor anyway. It takes up a lot less valuable desk real estate. I keep it at 1280 x 1024 for everything. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foamy Posted November 28, 2002 Author Share Posted November 28, 2002 Thanks to all for the info' and advice, and Happy Thanksgiving to those that celebrate it. (As a Brit living in USA, I join in as an excuse to train my stomach in time for Christmas - he,he). Seems like people are happy with the Samsung, so I think that's the brand I'll go for, now just got to figure out what model Santa can afford. The LiYama looks great, but quite rare here in the USA and pretty pricy. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Emrys Posted November 29, 2002 Share Posted November 29, 2002 I'm looking at an ad for the ViewSonic E90-3 19" CRT monitor. It of course is not as slim as an LCD, but in the picture it appears to have only a little over half the depth front-to-back as other brand CRTs. And it is priced at $219. Specs are 1600X1200; .23mm dot pitch. They also have a model E90F with the same specs but a .21mm dot pitch for $249. They also have 17" and 21" and 22" displays. Prices range from $145 to $679. I don't know anything else about them, so you would definitely want to see them in action. But it doesn't sound too bad to me. Michael 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
voidhawk Posted November 29, 2002 Share Posted November 29, 2002 Resolution isn't everything with a CRT; make sure you can live with the refresh rate at your prefered resolution. For instance, the E90 you mentioned above has an acceptable 80Hz refresh rate at 1280x1024, but a (to me) unacceptable 68Hz rate at 1600x1200 - that is why it is relatively inexpensive. Anyway, just something to be aware of. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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