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apple lcd refresh rate?

-fluke

LCD's and plasma displays don't have a refresh rate due to the fact that the pixels are dictated by direct electrical current through dedicated transistors, and not by a scanning electronic beam that 'refreshes' the screen at a certain frequency per second.

The pixel information changes as needed with an LCD because there is no electron beam it has to wait for to display the change on the next sweep.

This is why one's eyes tend to not get as tired as quickly with an LCD - no flashing.

The closest thing to a refresh rate would be dictated by the speed of the GPU - how fast can it get the pixel information to the transistors in the display, ergo the distinct advantage of a digital feed: The GPU controlls the screen directly without having to wait for digital-to-analog-to-scan conversions as well as the afore-mentioned refresh rate.

I hope that helps.

(edit) the only time I've heard of an LCD refresh rate even mentioned was with machines who feed their LCD's with an analog signal. A number of Gateway machines do this, like the Profile 4.
 
Re: apple lcd refresh rate?

Originally posted by fluke
yo

does anyone know the refresh rate of apple lcd monitors? they don't list it in the specs. should be under system preferences.

thanks
Click to expand...

The LCD in my iMac G4 refreshes at eleventy-twelve bajillion hertz!
 
As others have said LCDs don't have a refresh rate, but the pixels do have a measure response time (how long it takes them to change to the correct color). It used to be that LCDs weren't very good for gaming or watching movies because of ghosting issues due to the slow pixel response time. But newer LCDs have faster response times which eliminate the ghosting issues.


Lethal
 
everything is said,
could please somebody tell me why windows asks for a refresh rate ;-) while linux doesn t? ;-)
 
To add: You should get a monitor with a 20ms response time (or less) if you plan on gaming or something with fast moving pictures. There is an LCD (or several LCD's) that have a response time of 16ms that are even faster.
 
Originally posted by Abstract
To add: You should get a monitor with a 20ms response time (or less) if you plan on gaming or something with fast moving pictures. There is an LCD (or several LCD's) that have a response time of 16ms that are even faster.
Click to expand...

I recently read a review of 16 and 20ms LCDs and the reveiwer(s) found that the manufacturer of the 16ms units "cheated" a bit to achieve that response rate. They only display 262,000 colors. If they have to display a shade not in the pallete, they alternate quickly between the two closest shades. This type of cheat caused an uproar in the PDA world when color PDAs were introduced. You'd think tech manufacturers would have learned...

Ah. Here's the article on Tom's Hardware.

Basically, go with a 20ms unit.
 
Re: apple lcd refresh rate?

Originally posted by fluke
yo

does anyone know the refresh rate of apple lcd monitors? they don't list it in the specs. should be under system preferences.

thanks
Click to expand...

Windows and Macs use a refresh rate of 60hz (times a second), although the actual refresh rate depends on the quality of the monitor. If you use video mirroring it should say the refresh rate.

All LCD monitors I have come accross use 60hz.
 
thanks for the feedback, especially on response time.

does the refresh rate then only apply to monitors with a VGA connection? if using DVI or ADC the refresh rate doesn't apply?

is it worth getting an LCD with a DVI or ADC connection vs. VGA?
 
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