Is a $125 CRT monitor expected to be good?

Shinova · Post by **Shinova** » 2003-10-25 05:38pm

Especially if its manufacturer is KDS USA?

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2003-10-25 06:52pm

Probably won't be that great.

Slartibartfast · Post by **Slartibartfast** » 2003-10-25 09:48pm

Depends on size. I think that's what a 15" would cost.

Vertigo1 · Post by **Vertigo1** » 2003-10-26 12:20am

Slartibartfast wrote:Depends on size. I think that's what a 15" would cost.

Actually, decent 17" monitors have come down substantially in price. I've seen CTX and KDS monitors with .20mm dot pitches for around that price (most of them with ~16" visiblity) and max out at 1280x960 @ 85Hz. If you're insane about high refresh rates, then I wouldn't go for it. However, 85Hz is plenty for most people.

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2003-10-26 01:02am

Check it out for yourself. If the picture looks good enough for you, why worry? I suppose you might be concerned about reliability, but I've seen a lot of cheap-shit monitors that seem to be pretty tough. Actually, I've personally seen more reliability problems with the expensive Trinitron-based monitors than I have among the cheapie ones for some strange reason.

Slartibartfast · Post by **Slartibartfast** » 2003-10-26 11:51am

Apparently, for most routine items, Brand-names are greatly overrated... and sometimes even negative - for example, my no-name cd-writer has lasted for 3+ years now, but the famous Creative infrared CDs break in the first 6-12 months without exception (and then they replace it, it breaks again, but the warranty doesn't apply to the replacement

). And I think I haven't even bought a box of 3M (or whatever they're called now, Imaco or sumthin) that didn't have one or two bad CDs, even once bought 2 boxes that had like 9 out of 10 failures. But I buy these LG ones which are cheaper, or even the cheapass Princo and such, and I get 100% reliability.

TrailerParkJawa · Post by **TrailerParkJawa** » 2003-10-26 12:25pm

They can be. I bought a cheap ass 14" monitor for lan parties once, and it was great. I was sad when I dropped the thing and damaged it enough it to no longer be functional.

RedImperator · Post by **RedImperator** » 2003-10-26 04:33pm

A monitor is such a basic piece of hardware you shouldn't have to pay a lot of money to get quality equipment.

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2003-10-26 04:45pm

RedImperator wrote:A monitor is such a basic piece of hardware you shouldn't have to pay a lot of money to get quality equipment.

You can get good equipment for a decent price, but getting high-quality stuff tends to be expensive.

Also, what I might consider a 'quality' monitor is probably better than what Joe Public would consider one. YMMV.

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2003-10-26 04:52pm

Slartibartfast wrote:Apparently, for most routine items, Brand-names are greatly overrated... and sometimes even negative - for example, my no-name cd-writer has lasted for 3+ years now, but the famous Creative infrared CDs break in the first 6-12 months without exception (and then they replace it, it breaks again, but the warranty doesn't apply to the replacement ). And I think I haven't even bought a box of 3M (or whatever they're called now, Imaco or sumthin) that didn't have one or two bad CDs, even once bought 2 boxes that had like 9 out of 10 failures. But I buy these LG ones which are cheaper, or even the cheapass Princo and such, and I get 100% reliability.

Bah, you shouldn't rely on big names, but the name can tell you something. I generally prefer Plextor CD-RWs: they make good products. That Creative Labs CD-RW is unlikely to be actually made by Creative; it's almost certainly a rebranded OEM.

3M's media line is called Imation; I don't really like them - and IIRC 3M doesn't make them anyways. Most media is rebranded. I prefer Taiyo Yuden-sourced CD-RWs (Fujifilm sells rebranded ones, but I hear they may be changing some of their sources).

Uraniun235 · Post by **Uraniun235** » 2003-10-26 05:04pm

Slartibartfast wrote:Apparently, for most routine items, Brand-names are greatly overrated...

Just FYI, going with generic cheapass power supplies can easily turn around and bite you in the ass.

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2003-10-26 05:22pm

Uraniun235 wrote:
Slartibartfast wrote:Apparently, for most routine items, Brand-names are greatly overrated...
Just FYI, going with generic cheapass power supplies can easily turn around and bite you in the ass.

/cough Deer...

OTOH, someone on the Ars boards actually used a generic CompUSA 400W PSU to power a dual Xeon 2.6C machine until he got a better one...

Vertigo1 · Post by **Vertigo1** » 2003-10-28 10:28pm

phongn wrote:
Uraniun235 wrote:
Slartibartfast wrote:Apparently, for most routine items, Brand-names are greatly overrated...
Just FYI, going with generic cheapass power supplies can easily turn around and bite you in the ass.
/cough Deer...

Ugh, don't get me started with Deer.....

I had a 250W power supply by them a few years back. Damn thing just fried out of the blue, taking out a 170MB Quautum HDD and a Mitsumi FDD in the process. The quantum was originally out of a 286, and was mainly used for backups or just file-sharing in general. (Dad wouldn't let me wire the house with Cat5 and setup a LAN....). I opened the power supply and didn't see anything remotely looking like a scorch mark (but the melted insulation on the power cable leading to the HDD and FDD shows that they took a big jolt of current before the PS died.) but I did notice a shitload of cold solder joints. I just said, to hell with it, and bought a new case (since it was cheaper than buying a new power supply). The new case had an Allied power supply (which is what's in my current case as well) and its been rock solid stable.