I was somewhat indecisive. I had 4 matching sony 19 inch crts that I still love and they are old. But they were in transit when I moved. So I went out and bought two nec lcds. Because they seemed better to me than the samsungs at the time. Samsung was saying they were about to come out with new killer models but they were not out yet. At first I was dissapointed. I had to really work with my nvidia cards to get them to work 4 accross - two lcds and two crts. The lcds are better for charts. But for some reason I prefer to read and type on the lcds. I have never noticed a difference in speed. The killer difference for me is the heat. 3 crts can really heat up my room. Which is a factor when you have the air conditioning on and the thermostat is ina different room. I also suspect the crts give off more air pollution. When my kids are making noise I close the doors. And I can only keep them closed for about an hour before my eyes get annoyed. This does not seem to happen with just my lcds on. But I could be imagining that it is not the lcds. (Not the irritation but the cause.)
Why not buy a disposable flash camera (if not using your own), take your trading desk pix, shoot the remaining shots on whatever else, and have the film developed as a CD, enabling you to download what you want to Hardware-show & tell on ET? I believe your Sam's Club, etc.,-developed pix also goes to an assigned-numbered website where they can also be viewed and downloaded (free for 30 days). So, you could possibly arrange for a trusted, download-savvy ET'er to download from that website and make an immediate follow-up pix-only post to your descriptive post about your set-up. That is, if an ET'er doesn't explain by PM how you can do the downloading yourself (the preferable way). An even more preferable way: most likely, one of your friends with a digital camera to loan will be knowledgeable about downloading your loaner-taken digital pix - or their middle schooler+, will...
Actually we take . . . uhm. . . regular photos. I didn't know they had this option. My wife does all the developing. We're having a block party this weekend. Maybe I can get somebody to loan me their camera for a bit. These things are pretty common amongst the . . . say. . . low end of the upper middle class? What do I need to ask to make sure this is gonna work, or is it all seemless? I know some folks who have a digi camera and would likely loan it to me for a bit, but I don't know anything about DLing pics from it.
my viewsonic crt is lasting quite a while. however, the color depth is no where near "good"... i have it set right next to a sony and the sony is far superior. for example, dark purple looks like black on the viewsonic but shows up nicely on the sony. i think for most purposes (trading, spreadsheets, wordproc, etc) it should be fine but if u look at photos you're going to want a good quality monitor.
I would disagree wtih you here. The backlight and display may be made by a few manufacturers, but what really counts is the actual warranty, interface design, number of dead pixels, the quality of the stand and customer service. I usually stick with Dell because of the frequency of coupon sales and the sheer quality of the display itself. The 1905FP is unbeatable as far as value in the 19" display size. They are very sharp, bright, clear and very very clean. No heat and no eyestrain. They have also replaced a couple of displays because 1 pixel was dead. Most others won't even consider it unless 8 or more are dead. This could be a problem when you are using it for charting. I would never again use a CRT in an enclosed office. They are cause too much heat, offer no superiority to an LCD (except for price maybe), consume too much power and emit more pollution than most other computer components. Here is one of many studies that offer that conclusion: http://www.ie.dtu.dk/resresults.asp?ID=13 Prices will keep tumbling, I think. So there is no real hurry to run out and get an LCD right now. However, if you are bothered by the heat or have concerns for radiation or pollution, it is money well spent. Good luck to all.
go with LCD. i got 4 CRT's and i am burning up from the heat they produce especially now in the summer i am going to upgrade to 4 or 6 -19 LCD's soon maybe i wait tell next spring so i can save on the heating bill through the winter