Price vs Resolution vs Time

My first home computer monitor was a 13” black and white RCA TV which needed a special radio-frequency modulator card to get connected to my Digial Group Z-80-based system. It showed 24 lines of 80 ASCII characters. It cost $90. Of course, it also could get over-the-air TV signals, very useful for watching Johnny Carson late at night.

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About two decades later, I splurged on the state-of-the-art Silicon Graphics 1600SW, the first wide-screen flat panel display. It had a stunningly sharp, pixel-perfect display, compared the more common CRT displays, and cost $2,000 !!.

This past week, I bought a monitor for my notebook travel computer (since I’m rarely travelling for work anymore). It’s a random Amazon purchase, a curved-screen Samsung 24” FHD display. And it cost just over $100.