Flat Is the New Black (Or White…)
March 12, 2006In a previous entry (iBook, I Think…) I stated that I was waiting for notebook computers to move to super high density LCD displays like those on VGA Pocket PCs before taking the leap; I also was of the opinion that desktop LCDs weren’t up there with CRTs.
Boy, was I ever wrong. I’ve been using a 17 inch iMac exclusively for several days, and it is, stunning. With the font smoothing set to light, and sitting relaxed, and at the proper distance from the screen, how could it get any better than this?
How could I have been so wrong about LCDs?
Partly because as you get older you tend to stick with what you’re used to, and partly because of what might be called the pixel peering technique. By that I mean, being overly obsessive when examining new technology. In the past, when CDs started to supplement LPs, doubters would look look physically strained while listening to a CD being played — and they’d claim to hear some digital choppiness. They weren’t enjoying the music — they were examining it.
Same thing with digital photography, although in the early days digital cameras were pretty lame; not now.
With LCD monitors I tended to get really close and peer at the pixels. Not any more — I’m sold!
