The other key type of display is the CRT or Cathode Ray Tube display. While
CRT technology is older it often outperforms LCD technology in terms of response
times, color reproduction, and brightness levels, although LCD displays
are quickly catching up. CRTs are becoming increasingly difficult to find and
have almost vanished from mass-market retail. High end CRT’s are still available,
though they are rapidly being discontinued, and now cost the moon. Used
CRT’s on the other hand, can often be had for a song as people change over to
LCD screens, this won’t last forever though.
There are two types of CRT displays, shadow mask and aperture grill. An
aperture grill display is brighter and perfectly flat in the vertical direction, but
is more fragile and has one or two mostly-unnoticeable thin black lines (support
wires) running across the screen. CRTs are generally 2-4 times as deep as
similarly-sized LCDs, and can weigh around 10 times as much. If you purchase
a CRT display over the internet, shipping is much more expensive than an LCD,
due to the significantly increased weight.
The response times of CRTs are often quicker than LCDs, which is good
for gaming, however, CRT’s can cause headaches in some people when run at
lower frequencies, so it may be ideal to pick a screen offering higher update
frequencies at whichever resolutions you intend to use. Most people who have
problems with low frequencies (60Hz) find it preferable to have at least 80Hz at
the intended resolution. Many won’t be bothered by this at all however.
Note that sometimes CRTs with a flat screen instead of a curved one are
called “flat screens”, this is not to be confused with the term “flat panel” used
to refer to LCDs.