Benefits of LCDs
While we’re at it, here’s a shortlist of LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) pros and cons, most of which are made against traditional monitors (CRTs - or Cathode Ray Tube):
PROS
- Less Eyestrain. Heard of monitor refresh rates? 60 hertz, 85 hertz, 100 hertz, etc? CRTs need to refresh (or illuminate) the screens much more often than LCDs. This frequent refreshing causes eye strain and fatigue.
- Radiation. LCDs don’t give out as much radiation as CRTs. Computer Radiation screen, anyone?
- Smaller Footprint LCDs take up less valuable space than CRTs. In high-cost areas like business districts or prime real estates, the space (and real estate cost) wasted by CRTs are more than what LCDs can cost. Most LCDs nowadays can even be mounted on walls.
- Power Consumption. LCDs consume around 1/3 to 1/2 less power than CRTs.
- Environment Friendly. LCDs don’t have dangerous chemicals like CRTs - which have mercury in them.
- Lifetime. LCDs have light bulbs to provide illumination. These light bulbs have a lifetime average of 50,000 hours. That’s a mere 12 hours of usage everyday for 11 years. Not bad considering that CRTs usually last me 4 years.
CONS
- Expensive. While LCDs have become more affordable in the past two years, it still costs a fortune.
- Pixels Die. Pixels in an LCD can die. When they do, 1) there’ll be a black and dead spot in your screen; 2) they’re the most irritating thing in the world and 3) there’s nothing you can do about it
- Fixed Resolution. LCDs have a fixed or native resolution. For instance, a 19″ LCD monitor that has a 1280×1024 native resolution will suck in displaying in other resolutions (i.e. 1024×768)
- Viewing Angle. LCDs have a smaller viewing angle than CRTs. You can look at CRTs from any angle with little color or quality loss. You can’t do that with an LCD. You need to be almost in front of it or within its viewing angle. Bad if you want to watch movies in your sofa/bed from a different elevation/angle.