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First Monitor Eulogy

S

sombunall

Experienced Member
Joined
Feb 18, 2010
Messages
154
Location
Montreal, Canada
I am taking the first monitor and first expensive computer part I ever owned to the recyclers. It is the Viewsonic PS790 19" CRT. It lasted 12 years as my primary monitor.

I paid over $2000 for it with the money from my first real job, working for a software company. It upgraded me from a 14" to a 19" which was considered a big jump back in 1998, when windows 98 came out. It could do 1024x768@120hz and up to 1600x1200. It had 5 BNC connectors which I never used once. It had the body of a 17" and a .25 dot pitch. I still remember all that. I bought that and a Diamond 3dfx 2 card with 8 megs on it (I think for $400 not sure). Unreal came out at that time... I can still remember talking on the phone with a purchasing agent about how cool Unreal was. He said after getting off the crashed ship he went to the cliff, fell off it because he didn't see the drop off, fell into the water below, reloaded and then he and his friend kept on staring at the water. I did too. That water wave algorithm would not be done better by another game for years.

Anyways, this is for you - you reliable expensive electronic maniac.

View attachment 3630View attachment 3631View attachment 3632
 
Those Viewsonics were nice. I've given away a few of them, and might even have one still.

I too recently gave up my favorite monitor, a 21" Dell Trinitron. Picture was faded, and the Windows grassy meadow rolling hills was becoming burned into the screen. Not my first monitor; I bought it used several years ago. My new 24" widescreen Asus is bigger and cost less. The picture is OK, but not as even as the Trinitron.
 
I had a PT775 back in '98, my first monitor I owned myself too. Really really loved that thing. I think I paid ~$780-800 for the thing.
Finally died a few years back and went to the trash. I didn't know as much about monitor insides at the time, or I would have at least opened it up.

I recently acquired a P815 21" job (for $50, shipped), just 'cause :d It's still in the garage though, haven't found any desk space for it (imagine that :lol: ). I wanted a demonstration of one of the last/biggest CRTs for my collection.

__
Trevor
 
I went from a Seiko 14" (Sony Trintron tube) to an Idek Illyama 17" in mid 90s, then to SGI 1600SW in the early 2000. At the time $500 for a refurb 1600SW + MultiLink adapter was considered a bargain.
 
The first monitor that I remember owning is my Samsung 19" CRT. It still works to this day, but it's begun to get some discoloration in some of the corners, which makes me sad.. Can't make myself get rid of it, and can't use it with the discoloration... so it just sits. :/
 
$2k does not seem all that bad for something that lasted 12 years.

I have a Samsung 19" CRT that my step daughter is still using, it works perfectly still and is about 10 years old, I bought for about $400 from Best Buy when I worked there.
 
My first monitor was a Commodore 1702. Was used with the Atari 130XE. Us Atari users always seemed to hate the Commodore users... except for their monitors - they were the best :)

That monitor was also my TV for a very long time, even after moving away from the Atari - I had it connected to a VCR as a cable tuner.

Still have it, and it still works great.

So, what finally failed in the Viewsonic? It's been my experience that they've been very reliable. I've got a GS710 (I think), 17" one on my main machine, awesome picture for sure.

-Ian
 
First monitor I owned I still have and it's a Micron 700EX. I've seen it with OEM names on it like Dell.
 
I always lusted for the viewsonic monitors, they have brilliant picture quality! :)

I am still running 19" CRT's all over my house, I have 4 of them. My company threw them out when we upgrade our PC's.
They are Philips branded, and look like this -->

philps109s.jpg


I still don't like LCD monitors :?
 
I had a PF 790, 19". Excellent monitor but the screen went all pink on me and I hate pink. Thought it was a video card but sadly, it wasn't. I had a custom built CAD system strait from XI computers and that baby rocked. I paid over $700.00 for that monitor, plus shipping and had it just in time for Christmas. One of my better holidays.
 
Minerva10210 said:
I always lusted for the viewsonic monitors, they have brilliant picture quality! :)

I am still running 19" CRT's all over my house, I have 4 of them. My company threw them out when we upgrade our PC's.
They are Philips branded, and look like this -->

philps109s.jpg


I still don't like LCD monitors :?
Click to expand...

I prefer a CRT, but it's hard to find and expensive to get a ~24" widescreen CRT.. I've got a 28.5" LCD that I love but I must admit a CRT has it beat on picture clarity for obvious reasons, but the age of most CRTs means that they aren't so bright and vivid anymore and the LCD wins there.
 
RetroHacker_ said:
So, what finally failed in the Viewsonic?
Click to expand...

In the last year I think it was going black sometimes like it was losing sync then it would click and recover. Now you turn it on, hear it degauss and nothing but black. I think just before it goes black there is a bright dot in the middle of the screen.
 
I like LCDs for lower weight and wattage, though I prefer the picture and reduced eyestrain of CRTs. I'm using a CRT that's about 14 or 15 inches right now, at 640x480 (800x600 is too small). It's almost 11 years old. My first monitor was a color Tandy CM-5, maximum resolution 640x200.
 
my favorite monitor, A Tandy VGM-390 Really small, but worked with EVERYTHING, and i mean EVERYTHING that i threw at it, then a couple weeks ago i had to take it to the recycler, the power supply failed, fuses intact, it just refused to start up.
 
I still have a 13" viewsonic monitor that's stamped 1992 on the back, going perfectly, That thing was given to me when i was 10 back in '98 by my mom's boyfriend at the time (yeah, im young hah), i use it when i work on computers still, i just dont use it because 800x600 is tiny on it, and i need at least 1024x768 to get by now a days.

My favorite monitor of all time though was the one we got with our Dell OptiPlex back in '98, it was a 19" Dell with a Trinitron tube, that thing had (and still has, my sister has that computer) an amazing picture. Much better than my 23" LCD i have right now.
 
RetroHacker_ said:
My first monitor was a Commodore 1702. Was used with the Atari 130XE. Us Atari users always seemed to hate the Commodore users... except for their monitors - they were the best :)
Click to expand...

The 1702 was easily the best monitor Commodore ever sold. As I recall it was made for them by JVC. I never had much luck with later Commodore monitors, but I still have (and use) one working 1702. I had more, but lost a number of them in the late 1990s. I've used my one remaining 1702 for a lot of things over the years and it just keeps on going.
 
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