This post was actually written by Jeroen De Mol, another intelligent community member-at-large. If you have any further tips about hardware or software, feel free to send ‘em in!

After looking at some of your videos on YouTube, I came across: “I want to buy a monitor. This video has some great tips, but it was missing something that might be important to the people who are considering buying a new monitor.

The only real tip missing in the video is the one about different LCD Panel Technology. At the moment there are 3 different technologies used in LCD displays: (1) TN Panel; (2) VA Panel; (3) IPS Panel. When buying a monitor, it is pretty important to know what technology you want, and what is the best for you.

TN (Twisted Nematic) is the technology that is used the most. Monitors using this technology are cheap and have a great response time. The low response time is great for gamers. However, they do have a downside. Color reproduction, viewing angles, and contrast ratios on these panels are the worst of all the LCD panel technology. They are unable to display the full 16.7 million colors that 24-bit has to offer. They can gimmick it, but the result is not the same when you use an 8-bit VA or IPS. TN only offers 6-bit. Pro: cheap. Con: lesser-quality display.

VA (Vertical Alignment) is better than TN, but not as good as IPS. They have beter color reproduction and better viewing angles than TN panels, but the response time is often terrible. They are almost the same as IPS, but the response time is holding them back. The contrast ratios are better than any other panel technology, and because
of that, they are the leaders when it comes down to levels of black. The biggest problem these panels have is color shifting. When you view from an angle, the image looks to have different brightness levels across the screen. Cheaper than IPS, more expensive than TN.

IPS (In Plane Switching) are considered to be the best of the best when it comes down to image quality, color accuracy, and viewing angles. However, all of this beauty comes with a price. These panels are the best for graphic designers. Gamers might not be so fond of them, since the response time is slower than TN panels.

Tips for Buying the Best LCD Monitor

Where do your monitors go when they die? “Ice Ardor” has been thinking about it for quite some time…

In today’s tech world, monitors are getting bigger and bigger. 12-inch monitors used to be normal sized, and then 15- and 17-inch. I myself have a 17-inch monitor at 1280x1024px (the maximum my graphics card will support), and sometimes I wish I had more screen real estate. But something that constantly makes me worry is how a larger monitor means not only will my electricity bill be higher, but I am negatively impacting the environment. Sometimes I don’t need anything bigger than 17 inches, and so powering up a 30 inch monitor, for example, would be wasteful of energy. And even though there have been some great advancements in monitor technology, particularly the switch to CRT to LCD (I’ve got a CRT), larger monitors still produce more heat. More heat means global warming and wasted energy that was derived from some form of energy, most likely nonrenewable.

Americans continue to embrace unnecessary inefficiencies. For example, Windows Vista Ultimate has an animated wallpaper option. That’s wasted CPU power. Another example, screen savers were invented a long time ago when they actually saved screens. Now that isn’t an issue with monitors, yet our screen savers are more graphically complex than they used to be. When we’re away from our computers, do we really need to have some fancy schmancy graphics animation using more CPU than when we are sitting down at our computer? Another example, the yule log video, while cool, probably isn’t as good as the real thing, and justs wastes energy. There’s better ways to get into the Christmas season (eggnog, anyone?). Furthermore, with increasingly large monitors, the power consumption of the monitor and CPU for unnecessary tasks is quite significant.

I was also noticing that monitors are one of the things that people update with a new computer purchase. A lot of people who buy a new computer buy a new monitor. This means there are an excess of old monitors in the world, and unfortunately, they are costly to recycle due to hazardous chemicals. In today’s technology age, I don’t think people are really seeing the damage done to this earth just to have “the latest and greatest”.

I definately don’t mean this to be a personal attack on anyone who chooses to have more screen real estate (hey, I’d take a 21-inch if someone offered it to me), but do you think that there is a balance between screen size and energy efficiency? If you could throw this out to the chatroom (maybe make a video of it, too), I’d love to hear what people have to say about monitor size (energy efficiency vs human productivity), energy-wasteful applications, and the technological habit for upgrading monitors.

So, what do you do with your old monitors?

Computer Monitor Energy Efficiency

Codename Frost has a burning question:

Hey Chris, I was just wanting your opinion on dual monitors. Is there really any need for them nowadays? Considering we have applications like “Spaces” on OSX and Compiz on Linux, where it allows you to have multiple desktops running at the same time. Considering you can only look at one monitor at one time, where’s the need in having more than one, when you can run multiple desktops on the one monitor, and being able to switch between them instantly. The only real reason I see, in having more than one monitor is for the people who like playing simulation games. ie. Flight Simulator / Forza Motorsport who not only want to see in front of them, but around them as well. But even that isn’t a viable reason to have more than one monitor, as these games allow you to look to your left/right using a mouse/stick…

Dude. Since I’ve connected the MacBook Pro to my second 30″ monitor, I totally miss it as a secondary screen to my primary one. I like using that second screen for my tracking tools (widgets, IM, chat, etc.). I couldn’t live with a single monitor. Just couldn’t.

Dual Monitors: Is There Any Need?