Summary
- CRTs are still supported in Windows and macOS for a nostalgic experience using VGA or adapters.
- CRTs are easier on the eyes with a softer glow compared to modern panels.
- Despite worse color and brightness, CRTs display SD content like music videos with an amazing aesthetic appeal.
I had the opportunity to pick up a nice little 17-inch Samsung SyncMaster CRT monitor a while ago, which I bought specifically for retro gaming—which worked out pretty well. Then, I got the idea to relive my college years and actually do some work on the little tube.
I literally last worked on a screen like this in my first year of university, so spending a day back in the year 2006 seemed like a fun way to pass the time, and you know what? It wasn’t bad at all.
Support for CRTs in Windows and macOS Is Still Awesome
The first thing that really surprised me is that neither Windows 11 nor the latest version macOS had any issues providing the right signal to my CRT. Of course, none of my computers have a proper analogue VGA output anymore, but even using a USB-C to VGA adapter, everything worked correctly out of the box.
It Felt Better on My Eyes
This particular monitor, which happens to be the same model I was using before my first LCD, supports a maximum resolution of 1280 x 1024. That’s quite usable even on modern systems, but unfortunately the monitor only supports this at a refresh rate of 60Hz. That’s fine on an LCD flat panel, but on a CRT I’m one of those people that can see a distinct dimming and flicker at that refresh rate. So I had to settle for the much more cramped 1024×768 resolution, at a bright and flicker-free 85Hz.
I used the screen as my secondary monitor for reading websites and other sources, and even at this “low” resolution, the text was nice and legible and didn’t look low-res at all. Perhaps even better, the CRT felt much less harsh on my eyes. It has a soft glow that my LCD panels can’t create even at low brightness and with one or another flavor of night mode on. In short, reading Wikipedia articles and blogs felt significantly more comfortable on the CRT. Who’d have thought?
The Colors and Brightness Are Much Worse Than Modern Flat Panels
I had this set up next to my M4 Pro MacBook Pro and my M2 iPad Pro, both of which are equipped with superb mini-LED screens. While playing video games on the CRT results in much better motion clarity than the 120Hz panel on my MacBook, there’s no comparison for the color and contrast of these modern displays.
That being said, the CRT will still knock the socks off the average LCD screen that most people are using in this department, and it’s only recently that OLED and mini-LED technology (among others) have started to rival what CRTs could already do decades ago. Also, that’s not to say that the CRT looks bad in isolation; it looks superb! It’s just dull in direct comparison.
SD Content Looks Amazing
I can’t just work all day, and this is in the interest of science, so I also spent some time watching 4:3 old-school music videos via Apple Music.
Suffice it to say that videos such as Metallica’s One and Safety Dance by Men Without Hats look gorgeous on a CRT monitor like this, and dare I say I prefer how they look here compared to flat panel displays. Even my LG OLED. I have quite a few old TV series from the 90s in my backlog, and when I don’t feel like slinking off to my office-slash-mancave where my 34-inch CRT TV lives, I might just catch up on some old Star Trek episodes on this little guy.
The Resolution Is Surprisingly Usable
The 1024×768 resolution is cramped in the horizontal axis, but I actually found it’s more than enough for websites which scaled to that size pretty seamlessly, so that I didn’t have to think about it. Funnily enough, macOS fared the best here, because on Windows 11 I often had an issue where a window was fine when maximized, but would blow up too large when windowed.
I’d be perfectly happy running this as a YouTube or web browser secondary screen as a daily-driver tool, but not as my main screen.
I Think I’ll Keep It Plugged In
I was planning on tucking this little screen away somewhere and only trotting it out when I felt like playing some retro PC games, but this short experiment using it as part of my workflow has made me consider giving it a permanent spot on the corner of my main work desk, next to my 34-inch ultrawide monitor.
I’m not entirely sure what its main job would be, but I’m tempted to simply load up my massive Apple Music video playlist and hitting that shuffle button, if nothing else!
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