CRT's made obsolete because of power usage?

Newer tech comes along that can do things the older tech can't and for a variety of reasons (not always good ones (ie: Apple products)), the newer tech becomes more desirable to consumers. If the new tech isn't as good as the old tech, it's a fad, and consumers revert to the old tech eventually.

Also, politics plays a role, for instance, in the US incandescent bulbs have been regulated out of the hands of consumers. Though there are better alternatives, they are not perceptually that much better to many people.

Why does any new tech supplant the older tech?

Why did cars replace the horse & buggy, why are cell phones mostly replacing land lines which replaced the telegraph, etc., etc.

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At the time the transition was being made a lot of consumers were buying what Dell and eMachines told them was better. New=Better was (is ?) frequentlly the conventional wisdom. Along with all the other reasons mentioned , I think that was a contributing factor. Much like the gummint and light bulbs.....Except they were a lot more right about monitors. IMO.

Alaric said:

At the time the transition was being made a lot of consumers were buying what Dell and eMachines told them was better. New=Better was (is ?) frequentlly the conventional wisdom. Along with all the other reasons mentioned , I think that was a contributing factor. Much like the gummint and light bulbs.....Except they were a lot more right about monitors. IMO.

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Apple is telling people to buy their watch, and certainly some people will, but to say that all you need is for 1 or 2 companies to hype something and it becomes the law of the land would be to really short sell the benefits of the LCD over the CRT.

What can a CRT do better than an LCD besides being a better boat anchor?

Incandescent light bulbs are SO freaking inefficient (only 5% of the energy used produces visible light). You can burn barrels of gasoline to heat your home if you want too, but really, if there's a better way maybe it's not all bad.

Study history and economics to find out how technology gets a foothold. Look at the Industrial Revolution, for instance. Really, it's not all about the Illuminati.

Apologies for my first post. It seemed to have vanished from the unfamiliar laptop I'm using and contained irrelevant and unnecessary political commentary I did not intend to post. I may start a seperate thread on the light bulb issue.

Which increases the cost of manufacture much higher than a standard tube TV. It's the total cost you have to look at, not just 1 item. Cost to manufacture a tube, is way more then a LCD. Cost to ship is more. Cost for packaging is more. Cost to handle. Cost to power. Would you rather spend $200 to manufacture something and get it into stores, but only sell it for $205? Or spend $50 for all, and sell it for the same $205?

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This.

I would ultimately vote this as the main component of the transition. I like flat screen monitors and agree they are an improvement over CRTs , but not because of energy savings. Performance is how I measure some things. If I wanted a "green" computer I wouldn't have built the one I did.

Alaric said:

This.

I would ultimately vote this as the main component of the transition.

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When LCD's came out they were super expensive, as were the later LCD tv's. I know as I still use a sony sdm p232w which cost me $2400 in 2003. Like many things, the more you produce the cheaper they are, technology for production also gets better (re: cheaper) over time. It's not like LCD's burst on the market and were all cheaper than CRT's.

Why did LCD's sell more and become cheaper? Because they're better. Again, is there anything a CRT excels at that a LCD falls behind at?

There a couple of very important things.

Color reproduction, refresh rate, contrast.

LCDs were an acceptable compromise to size and power to performance.

montaillou said:

Why did LCD's sell more and become cheaper? Because they're better. Again, is there anything a CRT excels at that a LCD falls behind at?

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Gaming. There is no ghosting in video gaming w/CRT's. Viewing angle -- there is no such problem w/CRT
technology. Input lag -- doesn't exist w/CRT's.

They could make plasma displays in the 20" class, except that would be a hard sell against modern LCDs.