The last one soldiered on for a couple of years and then died a glorious death in a piffling power surge. Yes, I had it on a good surge protector and the surge was so trivial that the protector didn’t trip nor did the computer itself reboot. I had noted some ominous flickers for the past month, so I was prepared for its untimely demise.

I was glad in a way. I’ve been lusting for an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) flat panel monitor and now I have one.

I bought a Samsung SyncMaster 17” 174V, mainly because it was on sale everywhere this month, with a $40 manufacturer’s rebate. Before the rebate it was $399.97.

The price of LCD monitors has plummeted over the past few years. Three years ago a monitor of the size and quality I just bought would have cost about $1,200. The manufacturing capacity has increased significantly, partially driven by LCD TVs, which use the same process. Prices will probably continue to drop.

The main reason for getting a flat panel (other than the coolness factor) is that it takes up much less desktop space. I gained several feet of desktop real estate by switching to a flat panel. The model I have can also be detached from its stand and hung on the wall using an optional kit. Now THAT would be cool.

It is also very light — just under ten pounds, compared to 49 pounds for my old 19” Viewsonic.

You get more viewing space in an LCD monitor, as they are measured differently. A traditional CRT (Cathode Aray Tube) monitor measures a small part of the screen that is actually under the frame. A 15” CRT only has about 14.1” of real viewing area. A 15” LCD really has 15”. A 17” LCD like the one I bought is equivalent to a 19” CRT.

LCDs are direct-address displays, which means that each pixel (picture element) of the image is defined and displayed by a unique physical component in the monitor. Three liquid crystal subpixels — one each for red, green, and blue — produce the color shade for each single dot on the screen. This results in a sharper image than a CRT can produce.

The flat face of an LCD panel also helps reduce glare and reflections.

Flat panels use less energy and produce less radiation than CRTs.

I noticed a few differences using a flat LCD display. First, the color tends to shift a little as my viewing angles changes. It looks best when viewed head-on. For most people, this is not a major factor, but graphic designers will be better off sticking to a CRT until the technology improves.

There is a slight lag in motion, called ghosting, when the pixels hang around a little longer than they are wanted. This is especially noticeable when scrolling. Images are created by the physical movement of molecules within the display. It takes time for them to move, compared with the almost instant response of a CRT's electron beams and the phosphors they excite. People who use their monitors to play video games or watch DVDs may want to select an LCD panel with extra care, or stick with the CRT until the technology improves.

The monitor doesn’t appear to tilt or swivel. Because it is so light, I can easily move the entire unit from right to left, but there doesn’t appear to be a way to tilt it up or down. This is probably deliberate — the screen look best approached head-on — but it’s a feature I would have liked.

Here are some things to keep in mind when buying an LCD flat panel monitor:

TFT: You will sometimes see LCD monitors listed as TFT. This stands for thin-film transistor, which is an active-matrix screen. Passive displays apply current to the diodes at a specific refresh rate to maintain an image while active-matrix, or TFT, displays control each diode with one or more transistors. TFT pictures are sharper and brighter. I do not believe that you will find a passive-matrix display on any of the new stand-alone monitors, but they do exist on older laptops.

Viewing angle: This is important if you have more than one person looking at the screen at a time, as in an office or training situation. LCD panels are best looked at head-on. In a 15” monitor, look for a viewing angle of 140 degree or more; 160 to 180 degrees or more for 17” monitors. Mine is 150 horizontal and 120 vertical.

Contrast ratio: is the difference between white and black. CRTs can have contrast ratios of 700:1; look for an LCD contrast ratio of 400:1 to 600:1.  (Mine is 450-1)

The pixel response rate is the number of times pixels turn on and off, and therefore how fast the display can redraw the image on the screen. A lower (faster) response time is better. Most models claim 25 to 30 millisecond response rates. Some 17-inch models have 16 or 20ms response rates. My monitor is 25ms.

Dot Pitch is the distance between the colored dots that make up images on your screen. Dot pitch is measured in millimeters. The closer together they are, the sharper the image, and the better it is on your eyes. The lower the number, the better. My monitor is .263.

Resolution: is the number of pixels displayed in a horizontal row by the number of pixels displayed vertically. Native resolution is the resolution at which the display will look its best. My monitor has the capability of displaying multiple resolutions, from 800x600 to 1280x1024. I use Windows XP, which no longer supports 640x480. Most reviews will imply that higher is better because it lets you fit more on a screen. Unfortunately, higher is also smaller, which means that it is too small for me to read. Of course, if I had a bigger monitor, the display would be proportionally bigger, but there’s a limit to how much I am willing to spend (the 19” version of this monitor costs about $100 more My recommendation is to test the monitor at the resolution you intend to set it at. The native resolution of my screen is 1280x1024 but I usually have mine set at 800x600, not its best state. At the native resolution the pictures are much crisper but I can’t even see the icons on the task bar.

Warranty: Flat panels can develop a defect known as dead pixels. A dead pixel is when a pixel becomes locked in a certain state. For example, a pixel could stay red at all times. Manufacturers stipulate an "acceptable" amount of dead pixels; if your LCD develops dead pixels while under warranty, the manufacturer may not replace it because it has an "acceptable" amount. .Dead pixels can’t be fixed. The monitor needs to be replaced.

Samsung’s policy seems to be that they will replace a 17” monitor if there are ten dead pixels; a 15” monitor if there are seven. They don’t include this data on the warranty card or on their Website: I looked for an hour. Defective pixels can be of three types: a pixel can be stuck in the always-lit position; stuck in the always-unlit position or the red-green-blue subpixel can be stuck. A dead pixel in an unobtrusive corner of the screen is probably not a problem. A couple of pixels stuck on in the red position in the middle of the screen would drive me nuts. Samsung’s seems to be one of the harsher policies.

That being said, the warranty is 3 years parts, labor and backlamps. The lamps in an LCD panel are estimated to have a life of 20,000 hours, so they should last through the warranty period. The authorized service center for San Antonio is in California, so the monitor would have to be shipped to get warranty service.

The documentation was stinko. It came with a couple of one-page quickstart guides, one showing how to connect the power cord and the other how to install the drivers. The manual itself was a PDF file on the driver disk. I know that this is an efficient, environmentally-friendly way of distributing manuals, but if I need to use the trouble-shooting guide because the screen is blank, how the heck am I supposed to read a CD?

The layout was also confusing — the manual contained instructions for multiple printers, and was laid out two pages across. I took me a long time to find what I needed.

There is quite a bit of help on the Samsung site. Look under the FAQ section.

The monitor also came with an intriguing piece of software, called Natural Color. This helps to calibrate your monitor colors and your printer colors. It was easy to use and made sure that the display was right for my lighting conditions.

Look for a lot of new things in LCD panels. Some already come with speakers built in and some can serve double-duty as a TV screen for digital television. My monitor is analog — some have digital capability.

What I have is towards the bottom of the line in LCD monitors but it’s a good starting point. If you are thinking of buying one, I would recommend spending some time with one to make sure you like it. I like mine.