ViewSonic: Monitor University: LCD vs CRT: LCD Advantages

LCD advantages

Brightness
The typical ViewSonic LCD monitor has a brightness of 250 to 300 nits, compared with a typical CRT brightness of 100 nits. Since an LCD acts like a shutter, it can be made brighter by increasing the brightness of the backlight. However, when the beam current of a CRT is increased to boost brightness, the beam spot size also increases, which lowers effective resolution and may yield a soft or fuzzy image.

No flicker
There is no flicker on an LCD display because, while a CRT must be refreshed, the LCD has a constant source of light over the whole screen. Once a pixel is on, it stays on until turned off.

Focus
In a CRT, the electron beam is circular when aimed directly forward, but becomes distorted when aimed up, down, left or right as it sweeps across the screen and may cause image clarity or focus issues at the screen edge.

In contrast, an LCD has millions of pixels, each one effectively independent from its neighbor, with no scanning electron beam, so distortion problems are negligible. The image is always perfectly "focused" over the entire screen.

Perfect geometry
LCD monitors provide geometrically perfect, distortion-free images-a huge advantage for advanced users such as artists and designers.

Longevity
The only item that ages on an LCD monitor is the backlight, which is composed of one or more tiny fluorescent tubes. The typical life of a backlight is 50,000 hours to the half brightness point-the point at which brightness is one-half of the original brightness, and the industry standard measure for product life.

A CRT ages in two ways: An oxide layer forms on the cathode of the electron gun, decreasing beam current; and the phosphor ages and becomes less efficient. The typical CRT half-brightness point occurs between 10,000 and 20,000 hours.

Power consumption
The power required to run an LCD is about one-third of that required for a CRT with the same screen area. In addition, the amount of heat generated by an LCD monitor is considerably less than a CRT monitor, resulting in a lower load on air conditioning. Building cooling needs may be decreased by up to 20%.

And, if an LCD monitor is used with an uninterruptible power supply, the lower power required provides precious extra minutes to store critical data and shut down gracefully in the event of a power failure.

These power-saving features of LCDs reduce the total cost of ownership.

Low emissions
An LCD is essentially emission-free, while a CRT monitor can generate electric, magnetic and even X-ray emissions due to the high-voltage power supply necessary to drive the CRT. An LCD causes no electromagnetic interference.

Ergonomics
The size, dimensions and weight of an LCD allow it to fit into locations that a CRT can't—even mounted on a wall. An average 17" CRT monitor may measure almost 17 inches deep and weigh up to 40 pounds, while an average 17" LCD takes up half the space, with a depth of just around 8 inches and a weight of 15 pounds.

In addition, some LCDs can also pivot from landscape to portrait mode to enhance certain applications, making it easier to work on spreadsheets or two-page layouts, for example.

Total cost of ownership
LCD prices have been decreasing in recent years. When the total cost of ownership is considered-including savings in power consumption and lifespan-LCDs are now less expensive than many CRTs.

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