Got a new 20" HP LCD PC monitor, wow!!!

[ezbtr]

What a difference in the 15" ,5 yr old Dell flat LCD, and with speakers! Looked at Frys online, called Staples and they matched the price, was last one they had, $129!!!!
Son will get the old(yet still great Dell), and upgrade to his old CRT. Nice to be able to treat yourself. Next, AFTER house I think, is 40" flatscreen TV.......

 

[achris]

Re: Got a new 20" HP LCD PC monitor, wow!!!

Ain't technology fun.

This should be your next step... Dual screens... Do you know how easy it is to have Firefox on one screen, answering a question on iBoats, and the service manual or parts look up program open on the other? Or a web browser open in each window? OR (and this is my favourite) pull the browser across both screens and see the complete picture when people post photos that are too big for one screen

Anyway, this is how it looks....

 

[achris]

Re: Got a new 20" HP LCD PC monitor, wow!!!

.... Next, AFTER house I think, is 40" flatscreen TV.......

Nar... Go the 50", and DON'T get plasma, get LCD, or even better, LED....

 

[ezbtr]

Re: Got a new 20" HP LCD PC monitor, wow!!!

yeah I do dual screens for all the folks at work, I have it here at home too. Def an LCD or LED tv next. Oh my LCD is hi def too

 

[JaSla74]

Re: Got a new 20" HP LCD PC monitor, wow!!!

Don't pull that trigger on the LCD so fast. I've owned a 42 Panny plasma for about two years (zero burn in issues & game a lot). Bought a 46" LCD not long ago & returned it after one week for another plasma. Unless you got the dollars to spend a high end LCD you can't beat a plasma's picture quality. Football looked fuzzy on the LCD & drove me crazy.

 

[achris]

Re: Got a new 20" HP LCD PC monitor, wow!!!

Don't pull that trigger on the LCD so fast. I've owned a 42 Panny plasma for about two years (zero burn in issues & game a lot). Bought a 46" LCD not long ago & returned it after one week for another plasma. Unless you got the dollars to spend a high end LCD you can't beat a plasma's picture quality. Football looked fuzzy on the LCD & drove me crazy.

I have a Samsung LCD and my neighbour has a Sony Plasma... I can't see any difference when watching sport... The only difference is in our power bills.

C...........

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Got a new 20" HP LCD PC monitor, wow!!!

I like my 2 24" widescreens that I use for my consulting work. Each was less than $200 through Dell. Dell just had a 20" on sale for $99!

 

[JaSla74]

Re: Got a new 20" HP LCD PC monitor, wow!!!

I have a Samsung LCD and my neighbour has a Sony Plasma... I can't see any difference when watching sport... The only difference is in our power bills.

C...........

Sony quit making plasmas years ago. Only their high end over priced XBR lcds can barely compete. My 55 plasma has a better power rating than my 46 lcd had & has a better power rating than Sony's 52 XBR.

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Got a new 20" HP LCD PC monitor, wow!!!

I thought this thread was about PC monitors!

 

[JaSla74]

Re: Got a new 20" HP LCD PC monitor, wow!!!

I thought this thread was about PC monitors!

Touche

I ended up getting a good deal on a 22" Westinghouse from BB. I got the extended warranty because I couldn't find much info it. Overall it's been rock solid.

About two months after I got it my young son put his mark on it with the tip of a wood screw. Needless to say I had some STRONG WORDS, but I don't notice it now.

 

[jay_merrill]

Re: Got a new 20" HP LCD PC monitor, wow!!!

OK, so y'all have me beat on desk cleanliness, but I got you "stomped" on puter power!

Three screens, total width of 63". The left screen runs off of two different computers. Both it and my single, wireless keyboard are controled by a KVM switch, which flips them from computer A to computer B, as needed. I can run all three screens off one computer, or the middle and right off one and the left screen off of the other. The main computer has the ability to run a forth monitor, if I want to add one.

The sound system is an old Radio Shack tuner that I had, run through an equalizer, to two sets of speakers - one wall mounted behind me and the other, a pair of cabs with 8" woofers and 2" tweeters. They're old RS speakers that I rebuilt with Jenson speakers.

The center monitor has separate inputs for DVI, VGA, S-Video, Composite and Component, so I can switch it between all sorts of stuff, if I want to hook them all up. It also has PIP, so I can still have computer input, with an external device providing video to the PIP window. Right now, I have a DVD/CD player (barely visible under the pile of papers) hooked to it. The sound for that runs through the tuner also.

Next to the 'puters, are a pair of 500 gig external hardrives. Next to those, are a scanner/printer/copier and a photo printer on the shelf below.

I "got" bits and bytes zoomin' all over the place!

???

 

[JaSla74]

Re: Got a new 20" HP LCD PC monitor, wow!!!

OK, so y'all have me beat on desk cleanliness, but I got you "stomped" on puter power!

Three screens, total width of 63". The left screen runs off of two different computers. Both it and my single, wireless keyboard are controled by a KVM switch, which flips them from computer A to computer B, as needed. I can run all three screens off one computer, or the middle and right off one and the left screen off of the other. The main computer has the ability to run a forth monitor, if I want to add one.

The sound system is an old Radio Shack tuner that I had, run through an equalizer, to two sets of speakers - one wall mounted behind me and the other, a pair of cabs with 8" woofers and 2" tweeters. They're old RS speakers that I rebuilt with Jenson speakers.

The center monitor has separate inputs for DVI, VGA, S-Video, Composite and Component, so I can switch it between all sorts of stuff, if I want to hook them all up. It also has PIP, so I can still have computer input, with an external device providing video to the PIP window. Right now, I have a DVD/CD player (barely visible under the pile of papers) hooked to it. The sound for that runs through the tuner also.

Next to the 'puters, are a pair of 500 gig external hardrives. Next to those, are a scanner/printer/copier and a photo printer on the shelf below.

I "got" bits and bytes zoomin' all over the place!

???

Nice. You running any Linux in there too?

 

[kei9th]

Re: Got a new 20" HP LCD PC monitor, wow!!!

i just wish i could afford some of the things you all have.

 

[jay_merrill]

Re: Got a new 20" HP LCD PC monitor, wow!!!

Nice. You running any Linux in there too?

I tried both Ubuntu and Puppy, in a couple of different machines. They're OK if you can run lots of open source software, but if you need to run lots of Windows based applications, which I do, they can be a real PITA.

The main machine in my bottom photo runs on XP Pro and the other, XP Home. I also have a multimedia machine in the living room and a recently rebuilt, generic PC in my workshop. Those two, along with my laptop, run on XP Home.

If you have the time to fight with all the hassles of trying to run Linux, its satisfying to give Microsoft a kick in the pants, but for me, it just isn't worth the lost time.



???

 

[jay_merrill]

Re: Got a new 20" HP LCD PC monitor, wow!!!

i just wish i could afford some of the things you all have.

LOL - don't get too impressed. If you saw my funky old house and my beat up, work horse boat, you would be thinking that! I just have a reason to be a techno-junkie, when it comes to computers.



???

 

[ezbtr]

Re: Got a new 20" HP LCD PC monitor, wow!!!

XP pro best OS yet, IMHO, Vista, ME, yuk

 

[achris]

Re: Got a new 20" HP LCD PC monitor, wow!!!

OK, so y'all have me beat on desk cleanliness, but I got you "stomped" on puter power!...

As well as the dual screens, my system has 4G RAM, 3 hard drives (320G, 500G and 1.5T) and 2 DVD burners. My wife's computer is just an average 'run of the mill' system, but we are both hooked to the 'net through the 4 port and wireless router/ADLS modem, and we can transfer files between system. We both have access to the 35ppm networked printer and the printer on her system is shared, so I can print something on it for her.

I have also set up an old record player to transfer LP to CD, that's run though the sound card. I have 3 RS232 ports, for the dive computer, GPS and weather station.

My laptop is just a standard Dell system, which has been fantastic. I put a 500G hard drive in it and carry 2x 320G external hard drives that I use as backup for both systems which I have configured as close as I can to each other.

For 4 screen I could just add another video card, but that would be overkill.

I tried the KVM switch thing... didn't like it. If I want to boot a different operating system, I just boot from floppy... (Hey, you young guys probably never heard of a 'floppy'... )

And yes, so far Windows XP Pro is the best, but I also use as LITTLE Microslush as possible.. I use Firefox, Thinderbird, OpenOffice and any shareware form the net, and I pay the authors. Some really great stuff out there if you're looking.

Had vista for 3 days before I tossed it... Hateful OS.

Cheers...........

 

[jay_merrill]

Re: Got a new 20" HP LCD PC monitor, wow!!!

I have mixed feelings about the KVM. What annoyed me, was having the sound switch back and forth, so I don't use that function. Rather than run the sound card output through it on each machine, my main machine goes straight to the tuner and the little puter has a pair of cheap powered speakers hooked to it.

One warning for anyone thinking about a KVM - if you don't use the sound switching function, keep the rubber caps that are attached to the cables, on the 1/8th inch jacks! If you ground the jack pins to anything, you will fry the KVM switch.

I could have done the screen switching on the middle screen, by using the separate DVI & VGA inputs, but didn't want to. I also like the fact that the KVM allows me to have only one keyboard. Two quick jabs at the "scroll lock" key and I'm controlling the other 'puter!



???

 

[xxxflhrci]

Re: Got a new 20" HP LCD PC monitor, wow!!!

Yep, I got a new Dell 22" a couple of months ago when Dell had them on a 24hr. special for 129 bucks shipped. It is a great improvement over my old 17" CRT.

 

[ezbtr]

Re: Got a new 20" HP LCD PC monitor, wow!!!

yeah amazing how prices drop on stuff - quite honestly I cant build a better/cheaper system for the money. I would buy a better system, but what I have now is just fine - ie, back to thread of not "building" a car, but just makin it run well