Like this article? We recommend
Like this article? We recommend
Like this article? We recommend
Entertain me
One concern people have when considering the switch to LCD is video performance. As I mentioned, until recently some LCDs haven't had the response times to support gaming or DVD viewing. That's starting to change now, with a four millisecond response time (the time it takes for a pixel to cycle between black to white and back) found in some of the newer LCDs from ViewSonic. The UltraSharp LCD has a response time that varies between 12 and 16 milliseconds, and seems plenty fast enough for games and video playback.
Unfortunately my system, at four years old, is starting to show its age. While not showing any signs of giving up the ghost like my old Sony, it certainly can't keep up with the likes of Doom 3 or Half-Life 2. So if there's a weak link in video playback, the 2405FPW is not it. The bottleneck is caused by my 1.2 GHz Athlon processors.
)
Figure 4 Playing Unreal Tournament 2004
The same held true when viewing DVD videos. I watched my favorite movie, Napoleon Dynamite (c'mon, whaddaya think?) in widescreen mode in a desktop window, and still had plenty of room for a browser or other application. Full-screen is another story, because my poor CPUs just can't take it. But again, the display was never the weak link in the chain.
)
Figure 5 Napoleon Dynamite, Copyright 2004 Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment