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Technology Stocks : 3DFX -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Waldeen who wrote (8559)	10/22/1998 8:08:00 PM
From: Michael Linov	Respond to of 16960

Flat panels have several "problems" when in comes to gaming (at least they used to, last I looked). Most panels out there today are 15 bit devices. (ie: maximum of 15 bit, 32K colors), and many have low drawing rates (which slows down frame rates (introducing ghosting), rather than causing flicker). The color depth is the biggest issue right now. With D/A conversion errors, the effective color depth is 4.5 bits per key color (or only about 12000 colors... sorry for the odd math). Cost is also a big issue. Flat panels cost 3-40x the cost of a similar monitor. With 21" (1800x1440) Monitors available for around $1400, it makes little sense for someone to pay the same for a 15" 1024x768 panel with poor color depth (Even if it does look cool). Over the next few years, this will all of course change. Economics of scale, better color depth, and higher resolutions will all come. But right now, an LCD panel is little more than a cool executive toy with little or no advantage over a CRT. In time, I also see a future for huge size LCD (or gas plasma) monitors 30" diagonal or more. Such sizes are impractical for monitors, and make alot more sense.