Help me measure my monitor accurately.

January 31, 2009 7:34 PM

I've been told to measure monitor size diagonally from the screen only. I've been shopping for a used CRT monitor between 19" and 22". I just bought one, which the seller (seems honest) swears was labelled 19" on the box when it was bought new 8 years ago. By my ruler, it couldn't be more than 15". Am I missing something here? What can you tell me to help explain this seeming discrepancy? Any tips regarding used monitor shopping and measuring would be greatly appreciated.

I measured it from the lower left-hand corner, along the diagonal from there. I measured from the corner of the actual screen, not the edge of the monitor itself.

Is it possible that that Dell lied on its computer boxes about the size of the monitors?

Maybe she simply "mis-remembered."

posted by SociologistTina to computers & internet (12 comments total)

the seller (seems honest)

The road to many a rip-off bears this sign.

Regardless, your monitor should have a model number somewhere on it. If you Google it, you'll get the answer you're looking for.
posted by mkultra at 7:44 PM on January 31

Monitor sizes are weird. The diagonal size of a CRT monitor is the diagonal size of the tube, not of the image rectangle. The diagonal size of an LCD is usually the diagonal size of the actual image rectangle. IIRC.
posted by hattifattener at 7:45 PM on January 31 [1 favorite]

Monitors have sometimes been marketed as "X inches (Y viewable.)" Regardless, there will be a label with a model number on that monitor. Type that model number into the Google and see what is revealed.
posted by deCadmus at 7:46 PM on January 31 [1 favorite]

I just measured my 19" CRT and it's 18.25" from corner to corner of the bezel. (The 19" would be from one corner of the actual tube to the other, which extends under the bezel somewhat.)

If yours measures more like 15" ... you probably got sold a 15" monitor. There's no way a 19" would only have 19" diagonal viewable area.

The clincher would be to Google the model number from the manufacturer's sticker on the back, and see whether it was originally a 15" or 19". If it's a Dell, it probably has the measurement as part of the model number itself. (Personally, I would never buy a monitor before first Googling the model...)
posted by Kadin2048 at 7:49 PM on January 31 [2 favorites]

Outer-tube-corner-to-outer-tube-corner is the honest-to-god industry standard for CRT monitors and only CRT monitors. LCD monitors are visible areas only, and CRT TVs are visible areas only. It's more than a bit of a sham, but it's a carefully defined and standardized sham.

And none of them are shy about rounding up.
posted by NortonDC at 8:16 PM on January 31

CRT monitors were usually described as things like 17" (15.7" Viewable).
posted by jjb at 8:54 PM on January 31 [2 favorites]

Exactly above. CRT (outer edges) is measured differently from LCD (actual visible) by weird industry standards, so the seller wasn't lying to you. Unfortunately, this is just a case of missing information.

Is there any particular reason why you want a CRT as opposed to LCD? LCDs have dropped in price substantially in the past couple of years, not to mention a used one would be even cheaper. The highest grade CRTs are still quite expensive as well, up there with high-end LCDs, last I remember.
posted by Ky at 9:02 PM on January 31

Maybe irrelevant, but wouldn't the shipping on a 19" monitor be outrageous? LCDs can be had for $150 or so.
posted by electroboy at 9:13 PM on January 31

Even in the CRT days I never saw a tube that had four total inches of overhang beyond the monitor bezel. 1-2", sure. Look up the model number and find out what it was sold as.
posted by mendel at 9:23 PM on January 31

The Mitsubishi 2040U monitor I have on my desk (I have a rather large work desk) was sold as 22", but is 20" when the glass is measured bezel to bezel.
posted by troy at 10:16 PM on January 31

Thanks you guys! This has been really great.

Lo and behold, on the back of the "new" monitor, it clearly says 17"! Apparently only about 15" of those are viewable.

I'm very grateful-- next time I'll get the model # & google it.
posted by SociologistTina at 10:26 PM on January 31

Many moons ago there were lawsuits that claimed CRT manufacturers were lying when stating CRT sizes. They were selling 21" tubes and 19" tubes that were several inches smaller when one measured the actual viewing area. The manufacturers were forced to use different nomenclature, as mentioned above, but that was over a decade ago. Since then they dropped the 19", 17" viewable and just called it a 17" display. So it begs the question: how old is your monitor?
posted by Gungho at 6:52 AM on February 1