Geeks.com was so kind to send me the Dell w1700, a 17" widescreen multi-purpose monitor (by lack of a better term). It can serve as a television and a computer monitor at the same time, and the amount of connection possibilities is just scary. Read on for a review.
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Member since:2005-07-06
I cannot imagine PAL...
Member since:2006-01-10
I'm the same way! The first computer I had that didn't use a TV was my Atari ST, and it ran at either NTSC or PAL, depending on the game I was playing. A lot of the European games required the 50hz switcher. It flickered a lot, though once you were into the game you didn't notice too terribly bad. But then after I got my PC and my 21" CRT monitor, it has to be at 85hz. At 75hz I can still see the flicker, and at 60hz it kills my eyes.
In fact whenever I have to sit at a workstation and almost always in Windows XP it doesn't set the highest refresh rate by default, so I have to change it. One time I did this on a Win2k machine at work for someone, then they did the upgrade to WinXP and the person who worked on it asked me to fix it because staring at her screen was making her ill.
Refresh rate is very important for CRTs, but my LCD on my laptop is fine at 60hz and looks great. Fortunately I have an HTPC connected to a 21" monitor at 100hz for watching TV on 
Member since:2006-06-03
Member since:
2006-06-03
but suffers from noticable flicker
For people who notice the flicker at 50Hz, there are 100Hz TVs.