My 19" Samsung LCD died after about 7 months. They replaced it. To increase its life, should I turn it off if I'm not going to be using it for a half hour or hour, or keep it on? Thanks.

NeedKarma

Half an hour? Nah, no need. Make sure you have a screensaver or adjust your settings to allow the monitor to sleep. Of course, having said that, it's much to power off and power on LCD screens versus the old CRT ones so that option is available to you.

Rob

Yes, it has a screensaver, as did the old one. So if my leaving it on was not a problem, any idea what is normal life of an LCD is?

NeedKarma

Here is the one I am using right now from work: HP L1702 LCD Monitor reviews - CNET Reviews

The first review is from 2003! No washed out colours, no dead pixels....yet.

butterbar77

Any electronic component is like a lightbulb. Everything has a life 'expectancy'. It's just an estimate of how long it is expected to last. That's only an average.

Have you ever noticed some lightbulbs last longer than others? It's a crap shoot sometimes. I leave my LCD T.V. on all the time until I go do bed or leave the house for extended periods of time. Treat them the same way you would a lightbulb and don't beat yourself up when it does die.

Rob

What I was wondering was, which is worse for the lifespan, keeping it on or turning it on and off?

butterbar77

Good question. I think your concern arises from an old myth (which had a little truth to it) that only pertained to the standard monitors back in the day. You know, the ones that weighted 75lbs and took up 65% of your desk space. The ones that furniture manufactures invented a unique breed of malformed office desks around to accommodate these beasts.

The myth was that it would shorten the life-span of the monitor to turn it on and off frequently than to just leave it on all the time. Kind of like a vehicle - starting a vehicle is harder on the engine because the oil has settled to the bottom, so there is a little more friction until the oil gets up to the pistons. However, in my infinite wisdom and 20 years experience with computers, my opinion was the same as it is with flat-panel monitors (and televisions); they are designed to be on of very long periods on time.

They don't over heat. They have no moving parts. So, leave it on if it makes life easier for you. The old monitors had the same function as today's monitors to. If you notice that when you press the power switch to turn it of that it takes a couple seconds? Well, that a power swith function that automatically prepares the tube (old monitors) or the crystals (flat-panel) for the flow of electricity. So, turning the monitor on and off is no worse than leaving the monitor on. I don't recommend you sit there hitting the power switch on and off repeatedly for the fun of it (like my son does).

Ultimately, turn it off when you're not using it to save your power bills some pennies (since they use about the same as a 100watt bulb). Do what most convenient for you and try to relax. Put the issue far in the back of you mind and rest easy. There are far more important things to fret about like which emails to not open that contain viruses that literally fry your harddrive But that's a different issue.

Hope this helps; and P.S. I don't really think I have infinite wisdom...I was joking