Flat panel monitors are lightweight, skinny, and spacesaving, as compared to their bulky CRT counterparts. Prices have come down over the past few years, and many people are looking to make the switch. These monitors are particularly popular as dual side-by-side monitor setups which double your onscreen workspace without taking up a lot of room.
Flat panel monitors offer very low radiation emission, bright displays, and crisp text, but they're sometimes critizied for their ability to display accurate colors and smooth motion for games or movies. Here's what you need to know:
Display Size & Resolution
Flat panel monitors range in size from about 14" to 21" for most models. 15" flat panel monitors are decent for email and web surfing and for casual use. If you're a business professional, an 18" or larger flat panel monitor is recommended. And of course for gaming, as large a panel as you can afford will give you a more immersive experience, but see below for important notes for gamers.
Flat panel monitors have a native resolution, such as 1024x760 or 1280x1024. Setting the monitor to a resolution other than its native resolution will result in a crummy image. This is important because small monitors with a high native resolution will result in small text, which is hard to read for some people. There are some larger monitors (18") that offer modest 1024x768 max resolutions, which results in larger text. Make sure the monitor you choose runs at the resolution you want to use.
Digital or Analog
Flat panel monitors come in digital and analog varieties. Digital monitors are more accurate in color, picture geometry, and may offer better clarity, but require digital video cards. Analog monitors work with any standard graphics card but offer less color accuracy.
Most digital monitors use a DVI-D or DVI-I connector. DVI-D connectors are digital only, whereas DVI-I accepts a digital or analog signal. Many DVI-D based monitors accept a separate DB15 analog connection.
Gamers
If you plan to purchase a flat panel monitor for gaming, you'll want to pay attention to the pixel response time, or the time that it takes for the monitor's pixels to change color, which is important in displaying motion. The response time is measured in milliseconds (ms), and lower is better. Look for monitors with a response time of 25ms or less, with 16ms to 20ms recommended. Above 25ms, you're likely to see ghosting and other motion artifacts during gameplay.
Graphics Professionals
Graphics professionals will want to stick with CRT's if color accuracy is important, or choose a digital flat panel monitor. There is software out there to calibrate digital flat panel monitors periodically to ensure good color accuracy.
Text, Graphics, or Both?
Many flat panel monitors are good at producing either crisp text, vibrant colors and images, or both. Depending on what you want to do most (gaming, email, etc), choose a monitor that scores highly in your desired category - read reviews and lab tests to find out how your desired monitor fairs.
Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder
If possible, go see the flat panel monitor in the store before you buy and put it through its paces, even if you want to buy one online, and spend several minutes looking at it. Everyone's vision is different and we don't all perceive things the same way. A reviewer might say that one monitor is great, and you might find the image to be annoying. Overly bright images or blurry text are sure to aggravate, so look before you leap.
