Tech Olive

Ah yes, the familiarity of CRT monitors astounds me. We’ve all used one at some point because it was the only thing we had. LCD monitors didn’t become extremely mainstream until just a few years ago. Heck, it was only last year that I made the switch from CRT to LCD and some people are still rocking the ancient display technology to this day. For this month’s Retro Review, I’ve decided to dive into the mysterious world of the one technology that changed the planet, but now serves as a stupid inconvenience and a desk space waster.

CRT stands for Cathode Ray Tube. A CRT is basically a vacuum tube that produces the image when an electron beam strikes the display surface, which is made of phosphor and glows when the electron beam hits it. The first CRT ever made was invented by Karl Ferdinand Braun, a German scientist, back in 1897 when he used it in the first ever oscilloscope. So, to think that you’re current CRT monitor is using 100-year-old technology is pretty astounding if you ask me. However, it wasn’t until 1931, when Allen B. Du Mont created a practical way to implement CRTs in consumer televisions.

So why are people still using CRT monitors? Well, there are many different reasons why. Some are more geeky reasons than others. First, there’s the price. Obviously you can grab a decent CRT monitor for next to nothing nowadays and some people are just too cheap to upgrade to newer technology. Others like CRTs because of their great picture quality. Believe it or not, CRTs are highly capable of delivering “true blacks,” good contrast, and excellent, overall color performance. Plus, CRTs can last a freakin’ long time and are very reliable.

Then again, we all know the cons. Literally, they’re big cons. The size of CRT monitors are astounding and makes you wonder how you dealt with it all your life. They’re also extremely heavy. I was lucky enough to not be a LAN party goer during my CRT days, but I can easily imagine how crappy that would be. Another con is that CRT monitors are just plain uncool. When was the last time you bragged about your CRT monitor? Can’t remember, can you? Now ask yourself when the last time you bragged about your awesome, Full HD 24″ LCD monitor….exactly.

Nonetheless, the CRT monitor was the most important component to a computer. Without one, we wouldn’t even be able to see what we were doing. I will definitely miss the days where I had to pull my desk away from the wall to compensate for the immense size of my 18″ ViewSonic. RIP.