I broke down and bought "one"

This is a long read but I hope you enjoy my telling of the tale. It was fun and exciting for me.

When they first appeared and I saw my first "one" I was green with envy. But they were sooo expensive and I couldn't justify "one", try as I might. I tried all sorts of crazy rationalization to convince myself that I "needed" one.

I'm pretty tight with my money if I'm buying a single purpose item. It's pretty easy to justifiy another hpc though cuz, hey, they are full featured computers after all. And if I squander my money on frivolities sure enough I'd be broke when the next great hpc deal surfaces. So I pinch pennies.

So I've been patiently waiting for my price point before I took the plunge, broke down and finally spent my hard earned money. I've been watching the flyers and online sales for a long time and never saw "one" I could justify.

Wouldn't you know it? I wonder into a big box retailer looking specifically for a CF card that was on sale. Of course they were sold out Buying "one" was the furthest thing from my mind.

I was casually browsing their clearance table, mainly recent open box desktop computers at a decent discount when the "one" at the far end of the table caught my eye.

As I moved towards the item, another shopped picked it off the table and put it under his arm. I was mortified. I finally found "one" at a price I didn't need to justify and it got scooped out from under my nose. Ugh

Knowing human nature I decided to "stalk" the other shopper, lol. He found a store associate and started asking questions about the return or warranty of the item. The associate told the guy the item had a full warranty and a 15 day return if he didn't like it.

Then the guy asked the associate to hook it up so he could see it working. It was really busy in the store and the assocaite said he couldn't because a minor part was missing.

So the shopper stood in the aisle where there was another "one" working and looked it over carefully, looked at the "one" under his arm, looked again at the "one" on display and back at the "one" under his arm. He spent about 5 minutes at this.

I'm watching this at a discreet distance when the shopper started heading in the direction of the clearance table. I stayed close enough to make my move but far enough away to mask my intentions.

The second he placed the "one" back on the clearance table and his hand left the item I sprang into action! I said "I'll take that thanks" and planted my hand on the "one". I had it ! Oh Joy!

You should have seen the look on that guys face, it was the face of a dope and he knew it. He knew it had a warranty, he knew he could return it within 15 days, he played with a working "one" and still decided not to buy.

So what was so important and exciting that I had to write a book about it? I got myself a new 15" LCD monitor for $60US. That's hardly the coolest deal on the planet, but for me, today, it was.

I can *finally* fit my complete desktop system on one smallish computer table. That table has the perfect spot waiting for it in my livingroom. I won't have an enormous lump of glass dominating the table. I'll never have to trudge downstairs to use my desktop again. I'll no longer wait 5-10 seconds for a monitor to wake up from sleep. (geez, I hated that, many times the task at hand took less time than it took for the monitor to wake up.)

An entire large room in my basement was/is dominated by desktop computers, scanners and printers. My g/f took her desktop when she left so the room is poorly utilized space. I'll find a good use for it

It's weird though. My LCD measures 15" exactly, and my 17" CRT measures 15.6". So It isn't like I gave up much of anything. Using the LCD is like using my 6651. Tack sharp and a brilliant image. My CRT is a Compaq Trinitron and is as good as any CRT I've ever used, but the LCD blows it away. After so much time in front of my 6651 it's hard to tolerate any less. ( Unless it's DSTN on one of my other hpcs, their cool factor makes up for it )

There's even enough room on my desk to use my 790/880 comfortably while attached to the LCD. The LCD has speakers which are good enough for me and that means I save more table space.

I know I'm late to many a technology party but hey, today was a good day for me

edit: I forgot to mention the missing part was the patch cable to the video card. Big deal, I had a spare here to use.

Edited by wallythacker 2005-11-21 1:41 AM

Always nice to read that someone's got a bargain, and at $60 for a TFT then you definitely did!

I bought a 17" Samsung tft last year just after Christmas as it was a great deal - not as good as yours, I hasten to add - but ended up returning it as it just wasn't any good for photo editing. If I moved my head up or down by 2 inches or less, reds would wash to either white or black: trying to correct colour balance, brightness, contrast and exposure would have been a nightmare.

Every 4 months or so, you'll find me in a consumer electronics store staring at LCDs, moving my head up and down and trying to see if the picture remains fairly constant. Store droids probably think I'm soft in the head, I dunno.

Unfortunately, the only screen I've found that I instantly loved was a Samsung Syncmaster 214t: 21 inch, 1600x1200 native resolution, and just under £1000. My resolve was seriously tested when the local store reduced it to under £500, but I was strong - I couldn't justify spending that out on something I didn't absolutely need!

Great story tho: I must admit that I've "goal hung" in bargain sections waiting for someone to return something, then feeling pretty pleased with myself to get a bargain .

well, that's the nature of tft! i was surprised at mine when i discovered it but it never bothered me since then. of course, i don't do any photo editing so i can feel tft is superior to crt..

geez, really exciting story and very good deal.. my 17" tft was around the equivalent of US $600 , almost three years ago. hey but before i forget.. we received back half of the price later as i was a student and we had a special discount because of that...

but i like it much more than a crt... hm well, it is still a few seconds to wake it up after a long standby, but significantly less than with a crt.

TFTs screen size are measured from the display area directly while the CRTs are measured based on tube size. Part of the CRT tube needs to be held by the bezel of the monitor and hence is hidden, but is counted towards the size of the CRT anyway.

So a 15" CRT is always smaller in viewable size compared to a 15" TFT, and two 15" CRT may have different viewable size. For 17" CRTs, its common for it to be only 15.9" or 16+"

Both TFT and CRT dimensions are diagonallly measured.

Snappy, TY for the dimemsion explanation. It makes perfect sense. So if I bought a 17" TFT it's pretty well the equal of a 19" CRT. I can see why 17" TFT monitors are in such demand. So much screen and very little desk space. Perfect solution.

When I first got into computers everything fit on one desk. With time one desk didn't cut it anymore, primarily because of larger monitors I was buying. That and I had more external accessories than I needed, and I always thought I needed a second desktop for backup purposes. I now backup to DVDs, my 40gb external disk and my 20gb jukebox, so a second machine is redundant.

It's great to have everything on one desk and reclaim my computer room, all thanks to buying a TFT monitor.

I wonder how long I would have waited for 15" TFTs to hit <$100 if I hadn't gotten lucky?

Woh, great deal! Anyone remember when TFT displays were over 800 USD?

-500 Posts, H/PC Elite-

EDIT: Typing Errors

Edited by tenjeangosi 2005-11-22 2:47 PM

$60 IS A GOOD DEAL I also enjoyed your story, I have done the same thing many times.

wally: For a while, I thought you were talking about an H/PC.

I thought it was a cf card.

For a minute, I was stunned at how mean that was, then I realized that it was a tft for under $100! Who cares about the other guy, never let go!

Yes, I remember! ... I bought my planar 17" for around that price from Dell like 5 years ago ...

On the bright side, that 17" is still working great, bright, spotless, no dead pixel etc. Except for its THICK frame, its a very decent LCD.

so, someone else got a new montior rather recently?

I did too, a 17 inch Acer AL1714 (with speakers) and I am still rather annoyed with myself. Why?

The story is this:

"after work, my father took me out for some retail therapy, he forgot his cards, so he had to go back and get those, then goes back into Chichester.
His first place was a local computer shop to find something, I can't remember what, but I picked out an item to convert PS/2 keyboards and Mices into USB items. He then heads off with me to the local tesocos. I looked in a local magazine isle, (while my father picked up 2 papers), and then we looked at the electrical isle, we stumbed across the said monitor, and we debated whether to swipe it or not, besides, it was only £150, so I went off to look in my bank account to see if I could pay my father back or not until I realise I don't have my card on me, but we decide to take it anyway, took it to the checkout and 'lo and behold, a TFT monitor is now mine! There were 2 19" TFT monitors for sale wtihout speakers, but I passed on them due to space and price, my father has a 19" monitor though. "

So there you have it, ofcourse, it is a little late for my intended use, I needed it for Warley really, so I could do some trainz demostrations on a larger monitor. Oh and I need a grease resistant film, due to my mucky prints getting on the monitor (or fear of!).
Wall mountable would be a good idea at the moment.

what is the contrast ration like? I often find with TFT's that the range of contrast ratio's across the quality levels makes the colour reproduction less than faithful, important I would imagine in your grapic design line of work.

The new X-Black versions do seem to hold a more steady colour field (at least IMO), but the front reflection levels just make them unappealing to me.

So I stick to a very heavy 21" Trinitron CRT for my primary display.

Bust!
Well, it shows much more colours more clearly, for example, if you have 2 distincive shades of colour, they won't flow into each other, even with 32-bit colour mode selected, they would be more visible, even in big patches, but my laptops are the same.

The trouble is, graphics work is not going to be easy, as every monitor in use is going to be different, so therefore, the image will look different on everyones computer.
I don't really believe that having a good monitor, is going to be good enough for your work. but thats my view (I put up with any old rubbish! )
I am satisfied with my monitor, to me, space is more inportant, due to how big my room is, or how small shall that be, this image tells you more, and that was with the CRT in place!



That was taken some time ago, though., I need to get another shot soon(tm).

As mentioned before, TFTs are not ideal for editing coloured images. There is a wide range of colour shift when the viewing angle changes. I have found nothing beats a Trinitron based CRT for image editing.

Once calibrated my Trinitron has shifted only slightly over the several years I've had it. I no longer photo edit like I did (hpcs take too much fun time away, worthwhile trade IMO) but I'd be using the Trinitron again in a blink if colour really mattered.

I think my TFT contrast is 450:1 and I find the image bordering on excellent. Reflection isn't an issue for me because of careful monitor location but I'd rate my TFT as effective as the Trinitron for glare as both are coated with several layers of anti-reflective material.

Wessex, so you did get yourself a TFT then? If I read your post right you got yourself a good deal. I feel with the crowded TFT market we might see sub $150US 17" in the near future.

FWIW, my Trinitron makes an extremely good TV. I have a, I don't know what to call it, a box to allow your xbox/ps2 whatever to share your monitor with the gaming device. The box also has a cable tuner and remote control. It was another goodie I picked up at the Source for cheap and not knowing what use I'd put it do at the time. It (Trinitron) in an incedibly sharp normal definition TV with this box.

Having said that, if I find another cheap TFT monitor I'll be very pleased. It will replace the Trinitron in the bedroom and let me use my MPs on a larger screen and double as my TV.

Overall, if you find a TFT cheap enough I think you'll really enjoy the experience. Just the reduction of mass on the desk is a welcome relief.