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Thread: Who has the oldest monitor

  1. #1
    Senior Member Terminator's Avatar
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    Who has the oldest monitor

    Just read my warranty on my new Samsung monitor and noticed it said that ALL monitors brightness fade with time which got me thinking exactly how long a lifespan does a monitor have these days?
    Reason for the new monitor is that my 5 year old CTX 15" is virtually unusable now because of lack of brightness.
    Makes me wonder why such a short time when I had a Phillips TV which was 20 years old??? I know the technologies are slightly different but still both use a CRT.
    So my question is which make would you say has the longest usuable lifespan? Also do TFT screens suffer from any other type of brightness (or whatever) decay with time?
    Also what is the best way to protect your monitor? DPMS set to switch off monitors when not in use put monitors on stanby but is this really protecting them enough? I'd think switching it off alltogether would be the best?

    Many thanks

    T

  2. #2
    Member Jimstep's Avatar
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    My personal experience is that it is pure luck. We could both go out and buy the same monitor and yours could run flawlessly for 20 years and mine could bite the dust in six months.

  3. #3
    Senior Member dmoltrup's Avatar
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    My monitor was made in May of 1992. It's hard to believe it's only 10 years old. I cannot find a driver for it for the life of me!

    It is rather blurry and grainy. Not too much problem with brightness or contrast, though.

  4. #4
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    My second display monitor is an Orchestra Trumpet 14" and still works flawlessly at 1024x768 lol. Like he said it's the kuck of the draw. It was made in 1996.

  5. #5
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    hmm...I dunno if I'm on subject but my main monitor is a Shamrock 17" 703e made in 97, but my oldest monitor is from my 8086 think it's dated like 80 or so.

  6. #6
    Ultimate Member araaraara's Avatar
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    Well, at school we have some 14" IBM G41's which are going blurry as hell. After 5 minutes you can't even read anything on the screen, even at 640*480. They are like 15 years old. Then we have some other old monitors which are a little fuzzy, but some of them are still really clear. It's almost random when monitors decide to go. My dad's 15" MAG started screwing up when it was 2 years old(1997). It has visible scanlines on the screen which sometimes move and it makes a buzzing sound. It changes from dark to bright by itself all the time. We had it seviced when the problem started, they'd replace some chips in it and it would work for a month and then it would screw up again. After 4 months we gave up. Its been this way for 5 years and the family still uses it. My dad has the same kind of monitors at work(why he got this one in the first place) and he says that they are still working fine.

  7. #7
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    I have numerous monitors laying around......

    The oldest one still kicking is a pair of 14 inch CTX monitors made in....gulp...1987!!

    I posted a reply recently in this forum on how quality of consumer electronics has degraded over the years. 10+yrs. ago it was much less luck of the draw in getting a high quality item. Due to the ever present need to cut costs/increase profits due to stiff competition, it's rare to find newer electronics which have the potential to outlast the electronics that were made made years ago. The above applies to computer monitors, stereos, tvs, etc.

    For this reason staying with the big names in the business does not guarantee a high quality made product which will last many years...although IMHO you have better odds than some el'cheapo off brand.

    Regards,

    JeffD

  8. #8
    Senior Member Terminator's Avatar
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    hmmmmm
    Def seems like luck of the draw by the look of it!

    Notice no mention of lifespan of TFT's...I asume that it's probably too early to tell?

    Well lets just hope my samsung doesn't goose up after 3 years and 1 day when warranty runs out

    Thanks for replies

    T

  9. #9
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    I have seen two old monitors bit the dust in two different ways. One got so dark it became the dark age for my friend because thats all he ahd to use. My other friend had one that just got so unsharp that you couldn't read on it. I have seen an old apple computer that has 2 color display throw in the storge. That is the older monitor I have seen.
    Chris Stafford

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