Low end LCD monitors like 90s ones?
March 26, 2022 8:13 PM Subscribe
Are there LCD monitors for sale that use old technology from the 90s? TFT laptop displays had narrow viewing angles and 100ms refresh rates. STN displays weren’t even color but they were sunlight viewable. And everything was low resolution. Fun! Can I buy one to connect to my computer? Just plug in an HDMI cable and go?
If you're interested in narrow viewing angles, you can get polarizing "privacy screens"/ filters. You can get them at Staples. 3M makes a good product.
If you're hackey and able to pinout to a modern interface, you can try searching for bare lcd/ led screens on Alibaba or your local electronics supply. Lots of lower-tech options.
Likewise, if you can pinout the ribbon connector of a laptop display to a modern interface, there are still old and busted ... legacy... laptops on eBay/ thriftshops.
There are still VGA-moderninterface adaptors still out there. You can check your local thrift stores or government surplus auctions but I'm skeptical that you'll find anything more than 16 years old (for gov auctions; depends on local depreciation calculations and budgets).
posted by porpoise at 9:01 PM on March 26, 2022
If you're hackey and able to pinout to a modern interface, you can try searching for bare lcd/ led screens on Alibaba or your local electronics supply. Lots of lower-tech options.
Likewise, if you can pinout the ribbon connector of a laptop display to a modern interface, there are still old and busted ... legacy... laptops on eBay/ thriftshops.
There are still VGA-moderninterface adaptors still out there. You can check your local thrift stores or government surplus auctions but I'm skeptical that you'll find anything more than 16 years old (for gov auctions; depends on local depreciation calculations and budgets).
posted by porpoise at 9:01 PM on March 26, 2022
You can try thrift stores or Goodwill (our town has a Goodwill computer / gaming stuff store); however you are almost definitely going to need an HDMI-to-VGA adapter if your computer or laptop doesn't have a VGA output; I think most of the old kinds of monitors you mention predate HDMI and possibly DVI
posted by TimHare at 10:28 PM on March 26, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by TimHare at 10:28 PM on March 26, 2022 [1 favorite]
The Facebook selling pages where I live are full of old 4:3 LCD monitors with VGA connectors. They typically sell for the equivalent of $10-15.
posted by pipeski at 5:49 AM on March 27, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by pipeski at 5:49 AM on March 27, 2022 [1 favorite]
Not sure where you’re located exactly, but I googled “computer museum Colorado” and found this gem. Maybe they have a source? Or even some spares?
posted by 10ch at 5:52 AM on March 27, 2022
posted by 10ch at 5:52 AM on March 27, 2022
One issue with older used monitors is not the LCD but some internal capacitors that do not age well. What that means is a dimmer display. So beware, but if you find a monitor you love it's possible it could be fixed by some that can solder circuit boards. (my one attempt failed:) Also, HDMI LOL, older monitors may only have a VGA port.
posted by sammyo at 6:30 AM on March 27, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by sammyo at 6:30 AM on March 27, 2022 [2 favorites]
The middleground between HDMI and VGA would be DVI, which started becoming common in the early 2000s. HDMI to DVI is quite easy. VGA is definitely more verisimilitude and brings with it the exciting challenge of trying to get an analog scanline signal to correctly line up with the discrete pixels of the LCD display. If you want some blurring to go with your terrible viewing angles and bizarro colors, go VGA.
posted by Nelson at 7:13 AM on March 27, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by Nelson at 7:13 AM on March 27, 2022 [1 favorite]
For a while, you could get these: Pixel Qi 10" Display with Controller- 1024x600 HDMI/VGA/NTSC/PAL. They use the dual colour/reflective LCD that was used in the (dreadful) OLPC. The reflective mode, however, is a thing of great beauty and has never been equalled in modern screens.
Vintage LCD screens, if you can find them, won't be in great shape. As mentioned earlier, the display capacitors will likely be shot. If they have a backlight, it'll be an old fluorescent type, which will have faded and is classed as hazardous waste: fun! Finally, the display may have succumbed to "screen pest", a (perhaps moisture-related) fading of the edges of the screen which makes it progressively harder to read. A couple of my old PowerBooks have it, and it's quite distressing
posted by scruss at 10:03 AM on March 27, 2022
Vintage LCD screens, if you can find them, won't be in great shape. As mentioned earlier, the display capacitors will likely be shot. If they have a backlight, it'll be an old fluorescent type, which will have faded and is classed as hazardous waste: fun! Finally, the display may have succumbed to "screen pest", a (perhaps moisture-related) fading of the edges of the screen which makes it progressively harder to read. A couple of my old PowerBooks have it, and it's quite distressing
posted by scruss at 10:03 AM on March 27, 2022
Newegg lists some TFT displays as being in stock. There are also still a lot of TN panels out there, many high refresh rate gaming monitors use them. They'll have viewing angles somewhere between TFT and IPS in my experience.
posted by Aleyn at 7:44 PM on March 27, 2022
posted by Aleyn at 7:44 PM on March 27, 2022
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posted by kschang at 8:45 PM on March 26, 2022