my favorite, well used, much loved, Samsung 171P (Porsche design) 17" LCD is starting require almost weekly calibrations to stay sharp. it's a few years old, and after recalibrating it's still pleasant to use. still plenty bright, no bad pixels, etc., but wondering if the repeated loss of calibration means it's heading south? I could actually use the second video card, and swap monitors around, but that's a PITA, and since it's only the oldest monitor acting up, I'm guessing age of LCD, rather than video card; other monitor on same ATI 9600 is fine... ideas? thanks,

Buzz
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Might just be the power supply failing, which strictly speaking isn't related to the LCD technology. Especially since you say you can smack it back into shape.

My 1999 LG Studioworks 500LC LCD is still working fine but I don't know how use it got
before I got a few years ago for $5.00.

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Grateful11

one of the first Dell 2001FPs i bought -- for $750 -- is starting to show a dark "shadow" line across the top -- must be at least 5 years old

rest of the screen looks fine

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The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs [www.fakesteve.net]

Do LCDs loose their sharpness? I know the bulbs start to go south and they loose their color temperature, brightness, and contrast.

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C(-)ris

Their sharpness tends to get lose.

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I would think the CCFL (backlight) on a typical LCD would not last more than 7-10 years.

I think LCD make the screen artifact with the many years of passing.

Not sure, buzz, but you won't believe the difference when you put a new LCD next to your current one. I replaced two Dell 2001FPs with two Samsung 204Bs (all 20" screens) about 1 year ago. During the changeover, I left one Dell on and hooked up one new Samsung. I was shocked, and took the following picture. I'd only done the switch because the used Dells were getting such a great price on eBay and I found a steal of a deal on the Samsungs. But once I switched, I realized that I was probably going to get new monitors about every two years, just to save my eyes.

Buy a new one. It'll be a happy happy purchase.

The diff:

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Mac Pro 2.8Ghz Quad-Core tower, 14G RAM • Mountain Lion 10.8.x • Dual 24" ViewSonic LCDs • 11" i5 MacBook Air •

LCD monitor backlights do wear out. However, they're not terribly difficult to replace if you're a tech person. Then its just an issue of the cost of parts vs. the price of a new monitor. In all, I consider them a much more secure investment than a CRT.

>>Not sure, buzz, but you won't believe the difference when you put a new LCD next to your current one.

The difference between those displays can either be calibrated away or the bulbs needed to be replaced on the old monitor. Many LCDs ship waaaaaay too bright.

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mattkime
The difference between those displays can either be calibrated away or the bulbs needed to be replaced on the old monitor. Many LCDs ship waaaaaay too bright.

I didn't know that the brightness bulbs could be replaced; I'd be curious to know how difficult that is.

Given the cost difference between selling the old ones on eBay, and the pretty low costs of LCDs these days (in my case, the diff turned out to be $100), and getting a new 3-year warranty, I'm wondering if it'd be worth the time and expense to replace the bulbs.

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Mac Pro 2.8Ghz Quad-Core tower, 14G RAM • Mountain Lion 10.8.x • Dual 24" ViewSonic LCDs • 11" i5 MacBook Air •

tuq, et al- I have a couple of newer Dell's that are brighter than the Samsung and (thankfully) don't yet suffer from the color-shifty bugaboos, so the comparo is right there in front of me. the Samsung has been dimmer from day one, and I would guess is probably dimmer-er now, with age, but not so un-glaringly dim that I thought its backlight was suspect, but maybe it is afterall. I'm thinking at this point, after digesting the replies, to just keep it a while longer, then swap a new monitor in its place when a decent deal pops up on sale, and move it to a lower usage usage, less monitor critical workstation... thanks.

It all depends on a lot of issues:
1.) Where your energy saver preference panel is set. If you set the LCD to go off at 15 minutes of non-use then your LCD may last for a decade or more.
2.) What is your brightness set at. Maybe using a dimmer setting saves the bulb and doesn't bleach the pixel panel?
3.) Maybe never powering down your computer but only using sleep stops those power-up energy @#$%& threats.
4.) Sleep your setup the minute you are not going to be using it instead of allowing the energy saver settings to do that several minutes later-it all WILL add up to weeks/ months of run time being saved on the monitor.

I buy and sell Macs occasionally and those Apple Plastic models seem to be VERY hardy indeed. Right now, I've got a 15" version and it looks brand new.

So yes, maybe the LCD panels have a life-span but doing some of the above things will keep them until you simply want better/newer technology in those areas.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/18/2007 11:55AM by viaripatti.

I think the biggest problem with most LCDs is the tube losing its brightness as it ages. Usually it's slow enough that most of us don't notice.

But I agree that many of them ship way too bright, and run all of mine at minimum brightness. As time passes and the backlight starts to wane, I'll up the brightness some.

I believe that turning down the brightness will help the tube last longer.

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You and I have memories longer than the road that stretches out ahead.

We don’t do focus groups. They just ensure that you don’t offend anyone, and produce bland inoffensive products. —Sir Jonathan Ive

-An armed society is a polite society.
And hope is a lousy defense.

There is no safety for honest men
except by believing all possible evil
of evil men.

Pixels were born to be punished. -Frederick Van Johnson

Mister, that's a ten-gallon hat on a twenty-gallon head.

I *love* Sigs. It's Glocks I hate.

I have a Westinghouse 37 and I turn it off whenever I leave the computer, rather than putting it to sleep (the power indicator light is fairly bright and bothers me if left on overnight, anyway) I was thinking I was doing well to turn it off rather than let it sleep, given it's a direct LCD (opposed to projection). From what I'm reading here, is it better to avoid the power cycles and leave it on all day (and night) once started? I suppose I could put tape over the indicator light.

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/19/2007 06:52AM by olnacl.