Analog vs Digital Flat Panel Display

I will try to answer your questions since no one has replied yet.

1) CAN YOU ROTATE THE DIGITAL TO GET PORTRAIT OR LANDSCAPE?
A: If you get a widescreen LCD, you may be able to. Depends on the stand that comes with the monitor. I believe the 2005FPW and 2405FPW monitors do this. The reason CRTs don't do this is because of size and weight. LCDS are so thin and light that the stands can easily accmodate the rotation. CRTs are just heavy big beasts and would need too much stability for this, although there may have been some over the years, never seen one.

2) IS ONE EASIER ON THE EYES?
A: Yes. LCDs can be much easier on the eyes due to glare and detail/contrast.

3) HOW IS THE PICTURE QUALITY?
A: Much more clear and detailed on an LCD. They are two different technologies. Like and oven and a microwave. CRTs can get fuzzy or wavy. LCDs can get pixelated (think blocky or like lego bricks) or faded. With LCDs, you pretty much want to stay in the suggested resolution for the picture to look correctly, to reduce the pixelation.

4)WILL THIS LOOK AS GOOD AS MY M991 at 1024x768?
A: Your screen sizes are the same as long as you are talking about a square LCD and not a widescreen LCD. On a regular square LCD, the fact that the native resolution is 1280x1024 means things will look smaller on the screen than the 1024x768. You still have the same acreage, but your house, animals, and family will shrink some (is that a good analogy?). BUT, since LCD is a softer looking picture (less glare) and gives better non-blurry detail, you may be ok with this. And you can still change the resolution, but you may find some things look a little funny, like vertical or horizontal bars, some text, ect. And there might be a degree of pixelation since things have to be resized to fix the LCD pixel layout (I don't know how to better explain this).

5) I UNDERSTAND THAT 17" LCDs ARE SAME VIEWING AREA AS 19" CRT.
A: I know this is a statement, but I feel it's needs explaining, I just can't think of a way to say it. I guess you could say that a 17" LCD at 1280x1024 should be able to put the same amount of text or windows on the display as a 19" CRT at 1024x768, but everything will seem smaller on the LCD if you do this.

I hope this helps some.

Oh, and if you are asking about a difference between an Analog LCD 'flat panel' and a Digital LCD 'flat panel' monitor, there isn't all that much. All LCDs are digital beasts by nature. Manufacturers can build monitors at a lower price point by not including a digital input port, thus creating what I assume you are referring to as Analog flat panels.  Dell markets them with a model number that starts with an 'E'... for Economy, I suppose.  :smileyindifferent:

LCDs (especially the larger ones) perform best with a digital / DVI connection. There isn't the overhead of the digital-to-analog-and-back-to-digital conversion that is going on all the time with an analog / VGA connection to an LCD. Really comes down to what you'll be using it for.

If you can afford it, I would highly recommend going with a monitor that supports DVI input. Unless you won't be buying a larger or widescreen monitor, or using it for movies or cutting edge gaming, then perhaps you would be fine hooked up via VGA.

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@cwkasper wrote:
5) I UNDERSTAND THAT 17" LCDs ARE SAME VIEWING AREA AS 19" CRT.
A: I know this is a statement, but I feel it's needs explaining, I just can't think of a way to say it. I guess you could say that a 17" LCD at 1280x1024 should be able to put the same amount of text or windows on the display as a 19" CRT at 1024x768, but everything will seem smaller on the LCD if you do this.

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From what I understand, this has more to do with the fact that an LCD screen goes all the way to the edges of the bezel, whereas a CRT leaves a border between the bezel and the viewable image. I believe you will also find that the bezels are narrower on an LCD, thus giving you more screen 'real estate' in a similarly measured size.