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General discussion

Screensaver ?

May 20, 2005 3:41PM PDT

Gateway 400 Select PC; Windows 98SE; 160 MB RAM; IE 6 SP1

I don't know if I'm in the right area for the question I have.

Our monitor that came with the PC mentioned above died and went to PC heaven. It was a slow process and still usable, but we decided to get a new monitor before the old one went completely.

Today we purchased a new CRT flat screen 17'' Gateway VX750 Monitor. In the User Guide on the Maintenance page, there is a statement that says the following:

Use a screen-saver to avoid permanent damage burn-in.

I have not used a screen-saver for 5 years. I thought it was not necessary with newer monitors -- only on older ones. I prefer to not use a screen-saver, but will if important to do so. I do know how to turn it on and off.

I posed the question to Gateway and they said since it says to do this, do it.

What are the thoughts of forum members? Thank you.

Julea

Discussion is locked

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Re: screensaver.
May 20, 2005 10:47PM PDT

Julea,

I also have always thought a screensaver wasn't necessary anymore with newer monitors. But it won't harm doing it. The 'blank screen' screensaver is hardly annoying: it just makes the screen black.
You can also use power management to set the screen to suspend mode. That saves electricity, money and the environment as well.
It all depends on your use of the machine.

Maybe better try the PC Hardware forum. That seems a much better place.

I'm amazed people still buy a 17" CRT (they're big and use a lot of power) when a 15" LCD offers the same resolution. But you should have your reasons for that.

Kees

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Thanks Kees -- here's the reason
May 20, 2005 11:25PM PDT

I was very surprised to find that I did not care for the viewing I had with the LCD's. We have been window shopping for a bit and ALL of the LCD's, which were many, just did not seem to give me the crisp, clear, reading characteristic that I found with the flat bed CRT.

To be honest, I was all set to buy a 19" LCD and found the 17" flatbed CRT was amazingly more clear to view. It's just got to be my eyes though. Hubby said the LCD was good for him, but for me just didn't cut it.

In comparison to our old monitor, I'm once again seeing black is black instead of gray-black; blue is royal instead of just blue; white is white instead of off-white (LOL)! It's wonderful.

Another thing I would not have thought a new monitor would do is bring up screens much faster. It's not the downloading of webpages so much -- just flipping from one program to another and opening files or folders. That is a real bonus.

Thanks for yor response. Think I'll just go ahead and set a screensaver -- it's not that bad.

Thanks for your input.

Julea

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Monitors and screensavers
May 20, 2005 11:41PM PDT

I hae a 19" LCD.....and the first thing I was faced with was that the white is snow blindingly white. Took a few days to get my eyes adjusted to it, and now find usual CRT monitors flat out boring as hell. LOL

There is a setting for LCD monitors with XP called Clear Text that makes the fonts crystal clear and sharp with no fuzziness.....the next time you need to window shop and come across a display somewhere with an LCD hooked up to an XP system, try that setting. You might find you have a different opinion of LCD monitors after that.

As for the screensaver.....use the Marquee one and put in your own statement of something along the lines of "This is a screensaver.....it is NOT indicative of a dead monitor". That will let you know right away as you walk past the monitor that you still have one alive and kicking rather than just plain black. The other nice thing about Marquee is that you can leave messages to your family..like "don't touch this, I'm running defrag" or "I've run away from home, don't look for me, dinner's in the fridge and the microwave still works".

TONI

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(NT) (NT) Tks Toni -- I like your dinner's in the fridge!
May 21, 2005 10:20AM PDT
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ClearType not Clear Text
May 22, 2005 5:38AM PDT

ClearType, not Clear Text, actually works by making the pixes ''sort of fuzzy'', to smooth out the jaggies caused by the very crispness of LCD displays.

zeebell - Julea if an LCD panel is NOT SHARP, I would suggest that you check to make sure the computer's resolution is set to the exact same physical (or native) resolution of the display panel. LCDs are as sharp as you are going to get (for now, for any reasonable price), as long as you have the two resolutions the same. Most 17'' LCD panels have a physical resolution of 1280x1024. If the computer is set to some other (than the physical LCD resolution) then the LCD panel has to make the pixels fuzzy.

I use ClearType all the time. It can also be used with some success with CRT displays, since their pixel display pattern can be sort of like an LCD sub-pixel. But since the edges of the pixels (there aren't really CRT sub-pixels) are not as sharply defined as with an LCD panel, the problem is not as pronounced.

If you are a WinXP user, just try out ClearType (regardless of your display) and see if the effect is to your liking.

(Any WinXP user who wants to try it out, just
Go to Display properties, Appearance tab, [Effects] button, and check ON ''Use the following method to smooth edges of screen font''
or
go to the Microsoft ClearType website
or
Download the Microsoft WinXP ClearType Tuner PowerToy

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a flatbed CRT? you probably mean a flat screen
May 22, 2005 5:13AM PDT

The term "bed" is usually used when talking about scanners.
A flat bed would be useful for scanning open books or magazines, placed flat down on the flat bed surface (also called a platen).

Other scanners, or another method (since some flat beds might also have a paper feeder), are paper feeders. Those have a slot of some sort to feed individual sheet of paper through.

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I just now found this post
Jun 15, 2005 2:55AM PDT

Thanks for the information. I did end up getting a 17'' flat screen (you are right on that) CRT monitor which fits us fine. Before I bought, i did much shopping. I had originally planned to get a 19'' LCD but I did not like what I saw with them. The salesman even changed the settings for me and it just was no a clear crisp image like what I saw with the CRT models. Yes, the CRT is bulkier and the LCD's are sleek looking but I went with what my eyes required. I really like our new monitor. The price was great too!

Julea