When you’re buying a new computer, you’re usually given several options in terms of display. There are super-large, widescreen 20-plus inch LCDs. There are the modest, 15-inch CRTs. Then of course, there are the 15-inch LCDs and also large CRTs.
While LCD monitors have been considered gold standard in office computing these days, CRTs still have a place in the computing world. Not all environments are ideal for using LCD monitors, after all.
Here’s a summary of the pros and cons of each.
The CRT
* The good: Cheap, excellent color reproduction, crisp display, great for games and videos.
* The bad: Large, Gives off some heat and radiation, consumes more electricity.The LCD
* The good: Great for the eyes, saves space, cheaper electricity bills.
* The bad: More expensive to buy, limited resolution options, limited color range.
To summarize, LCD monitors are ideal in situations that require you to stare at the computer for longer periods of time. This is because LCDs give off less radiation than CRT screens. So this means they’re ideal in office settings, for example when editing documents, using spreadsheets, and communicating via email, and even for surfing the Web.
However, LCD monitors sometimes don’t have the capability for high refresh rates that CRT monitors have, and therefore CRT might still be useful for online gaming and video. CRT monitors can also switch across different resolutions easily, so you can play games at different resolutions (say, if performance is lagging at high resolutions, you can lower it a bit using game settings). LCDs only work best at native resolutions, and you tend to get aliasing issues when you switch to lower resolutions.
Then of course, there’s the price factor. LCD’s are more expensive off the shelf. But if you’re in it for the long term, consider that LCD monitors eat up less power than CRT monitors, so you can save on electricity bills if you keep your computers on all the time.
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