why spend so much?

[peach]

<font color=blue>I don't get it. I have read many threads talking about "how great" this monitor is over that one, etc. Physically, I understand why 22" is better than 21" and a truly flat screen is better than not. But I have a 21" Rasterops I bought for $300 at <A HREF="http://www.azteksales.com" target="_new">http://www.azteksales.com</A><i>(this site is down at the time of this posting - I leave it here in hopes it comes back up later).</i> It is .22 dpi, and runs 32 million 1600x1200 at 85khz. As a very select group of people can tell the difference between 85khz and anything higher, why would I pay sooooo much money for something like a EIZO or a Sony when nobody I know can tell the difference?

Or am I totally off base? Please don't *flame* me, I am not trying to insult anybody here who blew their wad on their monitor. I am truly interested in why I should >$1000 for a monitor that is ?how much nicer to look at?

BTW, I use my screen for CAD and look at it for 9-12 hrs a day. I experience no headaches. My field of vision is above excellent (12/20L,13/20R).

😎 <i><font color=blue>on company time....</i>

 

[Guest]

Wish I bought mine at that price, we use to get ripped off something terrible here in Australia a few years back.

Just new @ everything!

 

[peach]

<font color=blue>Sure - it <i>was</i> a good deal. I found it (refurbished)on ebay. Saw this outfit was selling like a kagiliion of them (that is an official number betwee 1 billion and 1 trillion - but it is a secret as to its exact number). I eemailed them an offer of 300 + s/h. Total cost ~350. I see them sell on ebay all the time for about 400+ but occasionaly they go down to 300.

This is generally a good way to buy things.

😎 <i><font color=blue>on company time....</i>

 

[Stick_e_Mouse]

For one thing, most people look for quality and durability. I don't know much about your monitor, but how do you think it compares to a more expensive monitor that can last more than 5 years without a problem?? Some people also look for long warrenties. Plus, top-tier compines and brands just tend to cost more because of its name.

But Im with you, if I can find a great quality product that is cheap, i'll go for it.

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[peach]

<font color=blue>yeah, yeah - quality is a term salesmen use. I have monitors I have had since '82 (thats a long time ago) and they STILL work (btw - one was for my ATARI 800 which I still have about 200 bootleg games for on 5 1/4" disk fyi fo who cares). In fact, its only a few piece of crap monitors that I have ever seen that go bad. And, in tv's, which have been around forever, it seems that *usually* it is the tuner that goes out, which monitors don't have.

A modern CRT lasts just about forever. I have got to say, if the choice was 1500 or 1700, ok, the quality *look* might play a factor. But the difference is truly 400 (or 300 in my case) vs 1000, 1500+. Gimme a break. "I'll take 4 of those $400 jobbers, please."

😎 <i><font color=blue>on company time....</i>

 

[Stick_e_Mouse]

Yes, they can last forever, but the quality won't. The sharpness, focus, color, etc. will all degrade. The same will happen to all monitors...but which one will it happen to sooner???

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[peach]

<font color=blue>Hmmm. Well, that is a good point. But I wonder. Say you take the 1500 you save on the monitor that would say, still be good in 7 years, and invest it with a reurn of ~10%. At that time, the $ is now ~$3000. I can't imagine what kind of FPM I could buy for 3k in 7 years.

Probably an exagerration. Let's take it down a notch. Say you save $500. @7.5% in 3 years - thats worth ~$630. That would also probably buy a much nicer screen than any thing you can buy for 900 today!

My point is, the TVM (time value of money) of the cost differential between great and best in the computer world is almost ALWAYS better than the depreciation factor of what is considered best. With other hardware components, the contrast is more blinding. I am maintaining that this widely accepted fact for those components, is now also true for monitors. I contend that one should ONLY buy what he needs now, not for ANYTHING he considers for next year, or especially 3+ years from now. That would probably be a waste. Spending double, or triple for a screen that's biggest practical advantage is that it will look as good as it does now 5 years from now isn't worth the cost.


😎 <i><font color=blue>on company time....</i>

 

[FatBurger]

AAHHH!!! Too much blue in this thread! I'm going colorblind!!

-----------------
Whoever thinks up a good sig for me gets a prize

 

[hammerhead]

There is always a trade off between price/performance for us poor people. And the law of diminishing returns applies if you spend wads on the best screen.

If you bought a decent unit for a good price, and don't notice the difference between 85hz and 100hz, then you got a good deal.

Personally, I'm not shelling out on a top monitor because I'm hoping (been hoping for a couple of years now) that large TFT screens will become the norm and prices will fall accordingly.

 

[Stick_e_Mouse]

I contend that one should ONLY buy what he needs now, not for ANYTHING he considers for next year, or especially 3+ years from now. That would probably be a waste.

Unfortunately, not everyone thinks that way (including me). I wouldn't want to spend $1000 on a computer that would suite my needs NOW, then a year later, spend another $100, and keep on doing the same thing forever. I'd rather spend $2000 NOW on a computer I will use for the next 5 years or so. And why would it be a waste??? So i guess a newly wed who builds their first home with only 1 bedroom would be better than a one that builds a house with an extra bedroom or two for a future family...the same thing with cars, TVs, Education, etc.... LOTS of people buy for the future...and ALWAYS will....

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[hammerhead]

Yeah but a house is an investment.

Buy a PC, kiss your money goodbye, three years later it will be comparatively worthless.

 

[mawfia]

Well as the present case may endure an even longer discussion about who is right those who spend top dollar or those who would rather spend only half or even less than that, in my opinion no one is right and no one is wrong.

What im really getting at is that since we are in a country that promotes (or so ive been told) life, liberty and the pursuit of happines, why not fork out that 1000+ dollars if it makes you happy. And on the contrary if you are able to pay the least amount of money for what you would consider to be the best hardware for your needs than by all means do whatever makes you happy. If you sit and try to analyze why people do what they do for too long, youll either end up with a headache or on channel 11 news!

Im sorry if this post wasnt technical enought for some viewers. Every now and then I think that philosophical approaches to even hardware questions give a good break in all the red tape.

 

[Stick_e_Mouse]

It can be looked as that, or maybe as a necessity, just like a computer is a necessity, or a computer can also be looked as an investment.

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[Guest]

Well I myself use a Viewsonic.19 inch..it's not the most expencive one but it's not the cheapest eather. I to use it for Cad and spend a long time looking at my monitor, and have sat looking at a cheep one...there is a differance. I would like to get the new 22 inch NEC compleatly flat screen, the differance is amazing...I belive that you get what you pay for. Not only that when I first got my screen I had a problem.with it...Viewsonic sent a new one no questions asked from Califoria via UPS..I had it at my door step in 2 days...try that on E bay ( I live in Toronto Canada)

Cheers

 

[peach]

<font color=blue> hey all, been on vacation.
<font color=black>

AAHHH!!! Too much blue in this thread! I'm going colorblind!!

<font color=blue>sorry fats, more blue.... It's kind of a sig in of itself.

<font color=black>

Personally, I'm not shelling out on a top monitor because I'm hoping (been hoping for a couple of years now) that large TFT screens will become the norm and prices will fall accordingly.

<font color=blue>I am with ya hammer - I too am wating for the price to fall little more onn 18" TFT. I waited patiently for 4 years for a 21" - I can go another couple for a TFT.

<font color=black>I'd rather spend $2000 NOW on a computer I will use for the next 5 years or so.

<font color=blue>I understand that people's needs are different and one shouldn't project ther own position as a position maintained by everybody, but!!!!! It seems to me that the kind of person who cares soooo little about technology that he/she doesn't update their computer after it is ancient by four years and continues to charge on for another <i>fifth</i> year, well that person surely didn't need to waste there money on an expensive system in the first place. Buy a cheap one. Last years model, which, ahem, is only <i>one</i> year old - shuold be good for another four, right? One like that can be had for 20 - 30% of their original cost. Me personally, I don't want last years model. Which is why I upgrade mine every year, and even that seems painfully slow.

The more I think about it, by wating a year, as the dated technology doesn't bother you, you can carefully avoid the the problematic boards, chipsets, etc. Convenient in that sense.

<font color=black>So i guess a newly wed who builds their first home with only 1 bedroom would be better than a one that builds a house with an extra bedroom or two for a future family...the same thing with cars, TVs, Education, etc....

<font color=blue>The fact that you say this illustrates how poorly I was making my point. My point is somewha complicated and I guess I was assuming the THG readers could read between the lines to get it, but I will spell it out.

It is well known that computers in general are unlike "[houses], cars, TVs, Education, etc.... " Computers are in a category of their own in which purchases of them should be treated differently. I live in a house built in 1941. It is a damn good house, built better than many today. I have a 1990 Sentra. It is a damn good car. That is why I haven't sold it - even though I drive others today. Those things haven't lost their value, and in fact evrybody is pretty well aware that with things like cars, tv's, and even clothes, it is mainly pride that conditions us to think we ough to be new instead of used. Not true with computers and most people are aware of this. Monitors, however, seem to be put in the category of computers, but I maintain are more in line with a tv or refigerator, or some other houshold appliance, than the computer. Buying the latest and greatest is not the best bang for the buck. Not even close. You pay an inflated premium as is common to the latest and greatest computer components, but the result is in fact not all that much more rewarding.

In fact, even the computer industry is now starting to feel the effects of this. Where once, a 66mhz machin was 200% faster than a 33Mhz. And a pentium 200 with MMX totally kick my 486DX computer's ass! But now wait, I am supposed to apragde my 1.2 Athlon to a 1.4???? Although, with new Technologies going way beyond just the processor speed, these points are little unfair and in fact, next years computer will be way better than this years despite what the proc speed increase is.

Ok - getting long-winded. Basically, I was only trying to prove the point. I think the high end crt monitor segment is over-rated and over priced.

btw, I <i>never</i> bought mine off ebay - I used it as referral source to etailers that are off-loading products at extremely reasonably prices. And yes - they can use the same Fedex delivery guy that delivered your Viewsonic in 2 days to Canada. Although I imagine that too would be likely be a bit of over-indulgence. Can't wait another day. Jeez.

😎 <i><font color=blue>on company time....</i>

 

[kusek]

i think he has a point.
buying a pc is NOT like buying a home.
instead of that $2000 machine buy the year old model for $500 and only keep it 4 years.
not trying to make you mad but I have a friend who is a Mac Nut and that's the argument he used to try to make me buy one ($2500 w/o monitor). "You will never have to upgrade again". His is less than 2 years old and he is talking about a new one.
I think everyone should feel free to spend their money as they wish but let's face it electronics is the worst thing to spend it on if you don't have a lot of money to blow in the first place. The difference between a Geforce3 ($399) and a Geforce2 GTS ($89) does exist but few of us would really suffer much with the latter. Their will always be something better, something bigger, someone tougher ,etc.