19" CRT to 20" LCD

[Raptor45]

If I make the jump, am I gonna go "Wow this is great I shoulda gotten a widescreen LCD a long time ago" or "gee, I wasted $400 on this? I shoulda just saved and waited for the CRT to die."

My mediocre CRT has been having intermittent issues, but it can still run just fine for a week or two in a row. It might last me a few years yet.

Other than the current reliability issue, there are some things I *think* I'd like about getting a new monitor. I've never tried it, but widescreen sounds awesome for games... And obviously makes DVDs more enjoyable. Reducing eyestrain sounds good to me; I think 75Hz may be giving me headaches. Plus LCDs seem to have a certain look and clarity I've always envied... I've never said "holy crap that CRT looks awesome." It'll also make it way easier to transport to the occasional LAN, buy I'd rather not base my decision on that.

 

[sisq0kidd]

One word.

DOIT!

 

[dug777]

Unless you've got the videocard to drive it gaming-wise, you'll end up being very unhappy with blurry interpolated lower resolutions.

I love my 21" CRT, because i can let her rip at 1600x1200 on older games, but it still looks brilliant at 1024x768 for stuff like FEAR & Farcry with my 6600GT...

& remember some games, like BF2, can't adjust the FOV for widescreen, so they will always look slightly out of proportion on a Wide Screen

That said, assuming you do have the videocard to drive it, and BF2 isn't your all consuming passion, DO IT!

 

[Raptor45]

7800GT, I think it can handle it.

Worst comes to worst I suppose I could run a smaller 4:3 res with bars on the sides in games like BF2... Tho that defeats the purpose.

 

[Raptor45]

Does Dell returns for a single dead pixel and stuff? Reading around it seems as if they would, but their official policy says otherwise.

My original question still stands... would be nice if this monitor would just decide whether its broken or not and make it easy.

 

[Jawo]

You will wished you have done it sooner when you switch. LCD monitors are very cheap <$200 and they give you great resolution. I went from a 15" CRT to a 17" LCD and currently enjoy a 20" widescreen. Each step was phenoninal!

 

[xtknight]

Originally posted by: Raptor45
Does Dell returns for a single dead pixel and stuff? Reading around it seems as if they would, but their official policy says otherwise.

Dell's policy, post 21-days, is different than their one within the first 21 days where pixel defects show up the most. Within 21 days after purchase, you can return for any reason with their Total Satisfaction policy. I know someone personally who exchanged their Dell 2407WFP for one dead pixel so I can confirm that. They even gave him a prepaid return and shipped him a new one with 2-day IIRC. The new one turned out to have no dead pixels.

 

[Ulfhednar]

I just went from a 21" CRT to a 19" widescreen LCD (yup, downgraded size) and love it. Go for it.

 

[Raptor45]

Well I decided to go for it... I'll soon be the proud owner of a Dell 2007WFP!

Thanks for the support everyone, helped me to narrow down the choices and choose which one to finally go with.

 

[Lonyo]

Dualies FTW.

 

[Ike0069]

I went from a 19" CRT to my current 20.1" widescreen LCD with only a 6800GT.

I can't play any of the latest games at 1680x1050 native resolution, but the games still look fine at lower resolutions, and there is no way I'm going back to a CRT. The difference is just unreal.

Take GRAW for instance, I only played it at 1024x768 on my CRT because of my VC limitation. So I played at that same resoltion on my LCD and I thought the overall picture quality was slightly better. Granted my CRT was a few years old and nothing special anyways, but the scaling done by my LCD or is actually quite good.

I think you'll be very happy.