# LED monitor instead of LCD monitor



## webexplorer (Apr 3, 2009)

I thought that Apple manufacturer would start making LED monitors for all Apple's computers - not just a LED monitor for a laptop.

Many TV manufacturers are making new HDTV LEDs instead of LCDs this year.
Many stores marked down most TV LCDs and HDTV LCDs.

For HDTV issue:

How safe are the new HDTV LEDs?  For example, Apple sells its LCDs that contain "Arsenic-free display glass, BFR-free, PVC-free, meets its Energy Star version 5.0, Rated EPAT Gold (?)."


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## ElDiabloConCaca (Apr 3, 2009)

webexplorer said:


> I thought that Apple manufacturer would start making LED monitors for all Apple's computers - not just a LED monitor for a laptop.
> 
> *Many TV manufacturers are making new HDTV LEDs instead of LCDs this year.*



I think you're getting your terminology confused.  "LEDs" are used for the _backlighting_ in an LCD monitor.  The old technology that "LEDs" are supposed to replace in backlights are fluorescent tubes, similar to fluorescent lighting in office buildings.

A monitor can be an LCD monitor, and use either LED or fluorescent tubes for the backlighting of the monitor.  Just because a monitor uses LEDs for the backlighting doesn't mean it's not an LCD monitor, though.  It's _still_ called an "LCD monitor" because it uses the same LCD panel that older, non-LED-backlit monitors use.

The LCD portion of the monitor is the actual red, blue and green pixels that make up what you see on the monitor.  Without a light shining through them from behind, though, your monitor would barely be visible.  The light that shines through the LCD can either be LED-based, or fluorescent tube-based.

LED-based backlit monitors have a few advantages over fluorescent tube-based backlit monitors: they're typically brighter, they sometimes have a wider color gamut (though this may be attributed to better LCD panels and not the backlight itself), and they also go from completely off to maximum brightness in a matter of milliseconds (unlike fluorescent tube-based backlit monitors, which can take minutes to "warm up" to full brightness).

Apple is in the midst of transitioning to an all-LED-based LCD monitor lineup.  The new unibody MacBooks and MacBook Pros use LED backlighting in all the models, and Apple's desktop monitors are following suit -- there's already at least one LED-based monitor available from Apple, and I would suspect they'll all be LED-based in the next year or two.



> How safe are the new HDTV LEDs? For example, Apple sells its LCDs that contain "Arsenic-free display glass, BFR-free, PVC-free, meets its Energy Star version 5.0, Rated EPAT Gold (?)."


What, specifically, do you mean by "safe?"  All monitors are "safe" -- so long as you don't eat them or blow them up while you're in close proximity to them.  An old, cathode-ray-tube-based monitor is just as safe to sit next to as the new LED-based LCD monitors.  Or are you referring to "environmental impact" when you say "safe?"  If so, then yes, the LED-based LCD monitors are a step in the right direction.

...although you'll have to be more specific on your definition of "safe" if you want more information.

In addition "HDTV LED" doesn't make sense... I think you want to say "LED-based backlit LCD monitor."  "HDTV" has nothing to do with monitors -- they're not TVs.


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## Mikuro (Apr 3, 2009)

As far as I know, there are no LED computer displays yet. There are LCD displays with LED backlighting (instead of fluorescent backlighting), like ElDiablo said, which Apple has begun using.

I'm pretty sure that so-called LED TVs are the same -- LCD panels with LED backlighting. "LED TV" is a misnomer, but that's marketing for you. (Or maybe _real_ non-LCD LED TVs have actually been developed now and I'm behind the times; it's hard to know for sure since false marketing is everywhere.)


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## ElDiabloConCaca (Apr 3, 2009)

Well, sonovabitch... an "LED TV" does exist:

http://www.samsung.com/us/productsubtype/led/?cid=ppc_hdt_goo_LED_LED+General_LED+TV

Although you can see by simply pricing the 40" model (of which you can get an LCD version of for as little as $700) is just ridiculously high (around $2,200 USD).  For those bitching about how Apple's stuff is supposedly "overpriced," you'd REALLY think they were smoking something if Apple used nothing but "LED" monitors -- the price of ALL Apple computers would _double_, if not more.

So, how do you like your new 20" iMac with LED monitor?  Oh, yeah?  It's that great?  So... how much did you pay for it?  Oh, only *$4,000*?  Dang, that sure is nice!


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## MisterMe (Apr 3, 2009)

Mikuro said:


> ... (Or maybe _real_ non-LCD LED TVs have actually been developed now and I'm behind the times; it's hard to know for sure since false marketing is everywhere.)


Not gonna happen. Manufacturers are switching from fluorescent back-lighting to LED back-lighting for environmental and energy conservation reasons. LCDs form images by either reflecting or transmitting light. In the case of a watch or a calculator, a small voltage changes the liquid crystal from liquid to solid. This changes it reflectance and forms the digits that you see. In the case of an LCD monitor, it changes the transmittance to either transmit or block illumination through each pixel. Reflection and transmission are optically passive. OTOH, LEDs are active devices. Compared to fluorescent or incandescent bulbs they use very little energy. Compared to LCDs, they are locomotives. You may use LEDs to form pixels in a stadium scorebox or a digital billboard. However, a computer monitor or home TV set composed of LED pixels would use too much energy to be compliant with pending environmental and energy consumption regulations.


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## ElDiabloConCaca (Apr 3, 2009)

MisterMe said:


> However, a computer monitor or home TV set composed of LED pixels would use too much energy to be compliant with pending environmental and energy consumption regulations.



...unless it's only 11" in size and costs a fortune:

http://www.google.com/products/cata..._catalog_result&resnum=1&ct=result#ps-sellers


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