I was at a family get together today and the son of my sister in law's brother was interested in buying my 23" LG Flatron w2361v monitor and was prepared to pay £70. I said I'll drive home and get it. He wasn't even interested in the box I had for it, just the monitor and cables. The mother said to him that she has the cash on her, but then his father who works in IT said "how old is it?" I said 2 and a half years, and he said oh that's no good, it's the time when they start flickering and going wrong, so he put the son off buying it. The monitor is perfect, so do you think he was right?
How long do monitors last?
- Thread starter Merlin5
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if its led backlit then yeah hes crazy,if its cathode tube backlit then hes still crazy but they do fade and can fail over time,im going off my acer 15" which is tube lit and it has faded but still usable and its manufacture date was 2004
Depends on the specific model to be honest. We've got IBM 17" TFTs at work bought in 2003 that are still going strong with 40 hr a week usage. The odd one fails usually with a backlight or power supply issue, but the cast majority are fine. Most of the Samsungs we bought a year or so later have been replaced due to failures.
Non-LED TFTs use cathode lighting, they tend to flicker before they fail.
That said I've still got a Sony CRT here from 1999 that's working just fine. Cost a fortune back when it was new mind.
Non-LED TFTs use cathode lighting, they tend to flicker before they fail.
That said I've still got a Sony CRT here from 1999 that's working just fine. Cost a fortune back when it was new mind.
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I always love this part when people in IT think they're experts. You'll definitely not be the type that ups the brightness and contrast to max. Most people would which definitely kills it's life.
Did he even see it in action? I'm betting no as it sounds like soon as you said 2 years old, not interested. Surprised a guy thats in IT doesn't realize there are people out there that looks after their gear.
quality crt monitors seem to last about 10 years before the power boards fail
Have to admit, one of the things I've always detested about CRT's was the clunk sound when powering them on. There was never any damage but I always hated that sound.
I loved how none of that happens with TFT's. Power on, soft button sound, screen appears. Some there's not even a button sound. Just like a touch screen. Love those, like Apple's and/or control it through the OS.
http://www.lg.com/uk/monitors/lg-W2361V-lcd-monitor#
I don't see the same amount of failing threads on forums compared to that time frame. I'm not implying yours is or will. I always remember backlight bleeding, power issue and power button threads. I still have my Sony 19" HS-95P or something... from 2004 thats still going strong. Looks just as good as the day I bought it even though it's hardware calibrated.
What causes them to fail? depends on the user/environment? it cracks me up when you see the BBC/Sky/Government/Councils and such that have their TFT's running 24/7, even when they're finished for the day. Waste of power and burn them out even faster. I've always set my displays to sleep after 15/20 minutes of inactivity. All I ever seem to see is so many people learn bad habits and waste.
Associate
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They don't fail but rather gradually deteriorate as the backlights or phosphors lose brightness over time.
I think the minimum half-life, time until 50% brightness is 50,000 hours or similar.
I think the minimum half-life, time until 50% brightness is 50,000 hours or similar.
So that would be about a 5 year life span I guess.
+1
Nope, he didn't see it in action, I was about to drive home and fetch it before he was advised not to buy it. Personally, I think he made his son miss out on an opportunity of a very nice monitor that has performed flawlessly for me and as you rightly assumed, has not had anything close to brightness and contrast maxed.
Soldato
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Kind of related. My 4 year old Acer monitor's backlit died a few months. How much would it cost to get replaced? Just wondering whether it's worth it or not.
I've already emailed Acer, I can't remember the exact figure, but they said it's something like £60 to just send it to them to have a look at it, so obviously that wouldn't be worth it.
I've already emailed Acer, I can't remember the exact figure, but they said it's something like £60 to just send it to them to have a look at it, so obviously that wouldn't be worth it.
have never got rid of a monitor due to them stopping working, currently have 2 dell 2001fp's in my setup that must be at least 7-8 years old. During that time I've probably averaged at least least 10 hours/day using them (and they've been turned on/in power saving 22 hours/day). are monitors these days really that bad that after 2 years they're showing signs of old age?
edit: over the last 15 years I've probably had 20 monitors - every one that's been dumped has been for a reason other than 'no longer working' - but none have been brought in the last 5 years either
edit: over the last 15 years I've probably had 20 monitors - every one that's been dumped has been for a reason other than 'no longer working' - but none have been brought in the last 5 years either
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Monitors with cheap caps tend to start getting issues between 2 and 4 years, backlight issues really per monitor some arent all that bright to begin with and if they run at full brightness 24/7 they'll be too dim for use quite fast.
LED backlit monitors are bound to outlast their CCFL counterparts but yeah generally the first thing te deteriate and ruin the monitor is the backlight. Brightness the monitor has been used at and how many hours its been used all affect how long it will last.
Personally monitors I wont buy 2nd hand. The somewhat new ones are only marginally cheaper than a new one and the older ones probably have a backlight issue. At 70 quid I dont think anyone missed out on anything, a decent new monitor starts at about that price and for about 90 quid there are several nice monitors.
LED backlit monitors are bound to outlast their CCFL counterparts but yeah generally the first thing te deteriate and ruin the monitor is the backlight. Brightness the monitor has been used at and how many hours its been used all affect how long it will last.
Personally monitors I wont buy 2nd hand. The somewhat new ones are only marginally cheaper than a new one and the older ones probably have a backlight issue. At 70 quid I dont think anyone missed out on anything, a decent new monitor starts at about that price and for about 90 quid there are several nice monitors.
I'm just as perplexed as james270; I've never had a TFT die on me. My first, a Dell 1703FP, is still in daily use by my father - he has two of them, both fine after nearly 8 years. My newest monitor is a 2408WFP, which I purchased in June 2008 (so nearly 4 years old). I've not had any issues with it. None of these were cheap monitors, though; I guess you get what you pay for in terms of longevity.
Unless you're prepared to take it apart and DIY, it's not going to be cost effective.
If you're certain it's just the backlight, then you can get CCFL tubes and replace them reasonably cheaply - around £30 for my 20" Samsung including delivery for all 4 tubes from the US to give you an idea.
Check out http://www.ccflwarehouse.com/ for more info
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He's being stupid, another classic idiot who works in I.T, preventing people who know what they're doing to get a job.
Think my mams 42" LCD HDTV is going on about 5 years.
The 15" LCD we bought with our first computer is about 8 years old and still works.
My HDTV LCD and my brothers LCD HDTV have both lasted 4 years so far.
Think my mams 42" LCD HDTV is going on about 5 years.
The 15" LCD we bought with our first computer is about 8 years old and still works.
My HDTV LCD and my brothers LCD HDTV have both lasted 4 years so far.
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Soldato
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I'm sure it's the backlight. I can still see the display when I shine a light on the screen.
I'm prepared to take it apart as I'll have time in the summer as I'll be on holiday.
But only if it's fairly simple to do. I don't really have any knowledge in electronics. I also don't want to die if there's any capacitors or anything haha. So if it's fairly straight forward to do (I've done basic soldering years ago) then I'll give it a shot if you say so.
That's the degaussing coil.
Way to completely miss the point.
Different manufacturers and models within their ranges will vary as to the long-term reliability.
My public sector employer enforces power management via a variety of software tools and has done for a number of years. To tar everyone in the public sector with that brush is misleading.
If anything large private industry is worse - I worked for a company in the travel business a few years ago. Some bright spark in marketing had the idea to use the shop PC screensavers as free advertising so all power management was forced off and they contracted some marketing agency to create a spangly system to play the central content automatically after 5 minutes inactivity. They never actually tested it in situ until it went live at which point the PCs started overheating in their secure cabinets due to the badly coded software flatlining the CPU when unattended.
What symptoms does it display? It could be failing/failed capacitors (really cheap and easy to fix), failed/failing inverter transformer (again really cheap and easy), dying/dead CCFL tubes (a little more involved in that you need to strip the screen right back to get at them in most cases) amongst some other less likely culprits.
Oh and you're unlikely to get any sort of shock unless you are: a. careless, b. very unlucky, or c. go near the CCFL's before allowing time for them to discharge properly. They are the main thing in there with the chance of doing you some damage if handled improperly.
If the monitor has been sitting around unused you should have no issues so long as you are sensible about it.
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going 9 years now i think, maybe more, only use it as a spare though so dun get used much at all.
Soldato
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When I turn the monitor on, it stays lit for about 2 seconds and then the backlight goes off. That's the only symptom afaik (monitor isn't with me atm).
Yeah it's been a few month just doing nothing.