If you get the Sunday paper, and happen to be looking at the sales sections. You may have noticed that LCD monitors have really come down in price. The question is, is now the time to get an LCD monitor.
And I'd have to say yes, for many different reasons.
First off, LCD monitors are getting to be really cheap. Where just a few short years ago, you'd have to spend $500 or more on a decent LCD monitor. It's now not uncommon to get a good monitor between $150-250 depending on the size and manufacturer.
Second, they perform better than they used to. One of my big hang-ups about LCD monitors was that they didn't perform that well. Particularly for gaming, there was a latency in the screen, which means that you could see residual images on the screen during fast action. That has changed as the monitors have gotten much more efficient in recent years.
Third, they take up less space than normal monitors. It allows for smaller desks, more space for more essential things on your desktop, etc. They really can save quite a bit of space, so much so that it seems like a 19" or 22" LCD monitor is smaller than your 15" CRT monitor was, even though the screen seems much larger.
Fourth, they take up much less energy than the older CRT monitors. I've seen some reports that some of the Viewsonic models are up to 3 times more efficient than older CRT monitors. And that's a good thing in today's age of rising energy costs.
Definitely times have changed and the technology has gotten cheaper, more effective and more reliable. If you have been holding off, I believe the price to performance ratio has gotten there. Now you just have to wait for the new Organic LED's, which can be as thin as 1mm (think about half as thick as a nickel), Kodak and other manufacturers are betting on the technology in a big way.
