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My monitor is dead. Long live the monitor.Follow

#1 Jul 30 2012 at 9:54 AM Rating: Good
I've had a lopsided dual monitor setup for quite some time now, at least a year to a year and a half, possibly longer. I don't remember when I got the second one, honestly. #1, old faithful monitor, was a 19" Acer I got at Sam's club for $160 about seven or eight years ago. It's still functional. #2, the dead one, was a 17" square LG Flattron I bought used from a friend.

Well, #2 died for good this morning. I had a feeling it was coming, as for the last week it took a surprisingly long time to respond in the morning after being turned on. Today, it just didn't turn on. No lights, no power. (Naturally I checked all the power cords and such.)

Now, I am at a cross roads. I want to replace the monitor, but I don't want a lopsided thing like I had before, where one is 16:1 and the other is 4:3. They need to match.

Should I:

- Just buy another 19" 16.1 Acer monitor for $99
- Buy two bigger square monitors, say, 24", for $150 each, at a 4:3 resolution

My concern is that if the 7 year old 19" also dies soon, I'll be locked into 19" monitors forever. Smiley: lol

Edited, Jul 30th 2012 1:48pm by catwho
#2 Jul 30 2012 at 8:48 PM Rating: Excellent
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LCD's last about 7-10 years, but they do lose brightness over time. Some models are better than others. the larger monitors are cheap enough and likely enough of an upgrade at this point that its probably worth it assuming you have decent video hardware and can find a pair that has a nice narrow edge bezil. Still really can't beat the Dell offerings for edge bezil width in most cases.
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#3 Jul 30 2012 at 9:39 PM Rating: Good
I've been investigating different configurations. Considering my budget ($300 total) and my desk size, I don't want to go too much bigger, but I do want a higher resolution. The 19" is 1440x900, and if I keep widescreen ratios, I want to crisp that up to at least 1600x900, 20". That won't increase the pixel depth much, but it'll enhance the wraparound effect quite a bit. I'm also getting a real monitor stand this time. (This monitor rests upon the Ultimate Hitchiker's Guide, although at one point I think I used the 6th Harry Potter book.)

Turns out 4:3 monitors are getting harder to find. Go fig.

The problem is that bezel width isn't always included in the product description. And I have a loathing of Dell I'm not quite sure I can overcome (due to working for HP's marketing arm for so long.)

On the upside, I found out Best Buy no longer charges a $10 "screen fee" for recyling laptops and monitors. They'd give you a $10 gift card in exchange in the past, but it appears they realized that was just being silly.

Edited, Jul 30th 2012 11:41pm by catwho
#4 Jul 31 2012 at 8:43 AM Rating: Decent
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Hi Catwho,

Sorry to hear about your monitor, may it rest in peace.

If it were me, I'd just buy a pair of new monitors. And if you can find 4:3's that you like for a good price, go for it, otherwise, just go with the flow and get the 16:9 that seems to rule the roost.

Like you said, matching a new with the old does put you in a position where you're stuck at 19" if you want to keep them balanced. Just get two of what you like, with nice thin bezels and all that. Then the lifespan should be equal, and your next upgrade (way down the road hopefully) won't be a question of which will match the working one all over again.

- Braewyn/TicoJ

Edited, Jul 31st 2012 10:53am by ticojpunk
#5 Jul 31 2012 at 6:58 PM Rating: Good
I think I may make a visit to the Tiger Direct warehouse for this project. I get the satisfaction of taking them home that day, and I get to see them in action before I buy.
#6 Aug 02 2012 at 11:57 AM Rating: Good
Actually, I ended up just ordering from newegg.

Got their 24 hour email blast sale that had Acer 21.5" 1080P LED monitors for $109 a pop. Snagged that and a new 850 watt power supply.

Squeee!
#7 Aug 10 2012 at 7:46 PM Rating: Good
An update on this project: The monitors arrived, the PSU arrived, and they are installed and lovely.

However, the old BSOD issue that had been plaguing me for a while returned with a vengeance after I installed the PSU. Fed up, I followed these steps to collect a minidump and analyze it with Windows Debugger. Turns out it wasn't a "memory" issue at all like the BSOD said, but a known problem with my motherboard's USB controller. Fortunately, Microsoft had a web based "Fix It" which I ran, and the BSOD has not returned again since. Hooray!
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