When you purchase a PC system, the 17 inches CRT (cathode-ray tube) monitor should be the minimum display standard you accept.  As with LCD displays, many systems now come with at least a 15 inches display.  Both CRT and LCD monitor prices have fallen, especially for the CRT monitors.  You will still expect to pay a lot more for an LCD larger than 15 inches. However, the speed, brightness, resolution and color accuracy still can't match those of a CRT monitor.  But people with limited space or easily fatigued eyes will appreciate the LCD alternative.  Below is a brief look at what you should keep in mind when choosing either a CRT or LCD monitor.

Screen Size As mentioned above, most PC systems come with a 17 inches CRT monitor measuring diagonally.  Most user now demand a bigger monitor or a LCD display. Nowadays the 19 inches CRT monitor costs about the same as the 15 inches LCD monitor.  CRT monitors are usually smaller than they seem.  The viewable area of a 19 inches CRT monitor is about 18 inches diagonally.  With LCD displays, all inches are viewable.   Resolution Most people find the resolution at 1,024 x 768 to be the optimal setting for their 17 inches monitors and 1,280 x 1,024 for 19 inches monitors. Many monitors are capable of running at 1,600 x 1,200 resolution. However, the resolution itself means little, what determine a good monitor is its resolution plus refresh rate (the number of times the screen is redrawn per second).  The higher the refresh rate the smoother, more flicker-free display a monitor can offer.  Generally, CRT monitors are capable of running at higher refresh rate than LCD monitors. So, one area to pay attention to before replacing your CRT monitor with a LCD monitor is to adjust the fresh rate to match that of the LCD one.   Dot Pitch All CRT monitors use tiny triads of red, green, and blue phosphor dots to produce what we perceive as a single dot of a designated color.  Thousands of these dots form the image we see on the screen.  A dot pitch is the distance between the centers of any two triads.  The smaller the dot pitch, the sharper the image. Dot pitch typically ranges between .2mm and .3mm. LCD monitors do not use phosphors, so this metric doesn't apply.   Contrast ratio Contrast ratio is an important spec for LCDs since the range from the lightest to darkest has immediate affect on image quality.  LCD contrast ratios range from 200-to-1 to 400-to-1, but there are too many different ways to calculate the ratio, so the spec is not very meaningful.   Warranty and support Most manufacturers offer three-year warranty on monitors.  And most also offer a 30-day money-back guarantee.

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