How long do LCD monitors typically last?

[bagelred]

I have my LCD monitor for over 3 years and flirting with idea of getting new one. I figure I can sell my current LCD while it still works well before it simply "goes" eventually.

How long does your LCD typically last? How often do you replace them? Thanks........

 

[zmatt]

i have an LG unit from 2003 that's still kicking. I also have a lot of old 90's era laptops that still work. It depends a lot on who made it and how well it was taken care of. A desktop unit will likely last longer since it's stationary and rarely comes into contact with other objects. The biggest killers for LCD screens isn't outright failure, but pixels dying or discoloring or the back light going out. Those two would make it much less usable and would be reason to replace it.

 

[RichM499]

I'd say the 2nd biggest cause of LCD death is the power inverter circuit. I have replaced more than my fair share of those ****** things.

 

[zmatt]

I have never had that happen to me. is there a particular brand that you experience that with often? Here we deploy almost exclusively dells, so the monitors tend to be of Samsung design. they are pretty good.

 

[RichM499]

I get it from lots of different brands, but not often is it a Samsung. I think Samsung tends to make better LCD TVs and monitors than most.

I've got 2 with busted caps sitting in my shop right now. As a matter of fact a lot of the computer issues I get (aside from less-than intelligent people and their horde of malware and trojans) are busted caps, or overheated components. For some reason people like to press the power button and ignore it for a few years.

That's fine with me though, I charge a premium for the "labor" involved in replacing a components

 

[CalcProgrammer1]

Caps seem to be a problem with electronics. I've seen bad caps on motherboards and power supplies and fixed a few things by replacing them. What methods do you use to tell if caps are bad? My old desktop is acting up (won't boot past the XP loading screen) and I'm thinking the issue is with one of the capacitors (it makes a squealing noise which is probably in a capacitor-inductor circuit). The only problem is none of the caps look bad (no leaking electrolyte or bulging bottoms).

As for LCD monitors they seem to last a while, though CRT's may actually last longer (I have a CRT TV from the 80's that my parents gave me, still works fine) and most of my monitors from the 90's are in good shape still. All my LCD's are newer (my w2007 from early 2008 works fine and I just bought 3 Dell st2210's for Eyefinity, hope they last a long time).

 

[patonb]

The usual expected life is said to be 100,000hrs. Which ish like 27yrs at 10hr days... or about 11yrs of 24/7 use.

 

[bagelred]

The usual expected life is said to be 100,000hrs. Which ish like 27yrs at 10hr days... or about 11yrs of 24/7 use.

Wait...what? That can't be true. Doesn't the backlight go dim within 4-5 years?

Are you thinking LCD TV's?

 

[CalcProgrammer1]

I'd think the LCD panel itself will greatly outlive the backlight, the component that will die first will most always be either the backlight inverter or the backlight bulb. Inverters are easily replaced in many cases and inside of that it's usually capacitors (or "caps") that fail so that one component can be replaced to keep the monitor going. I would think that the LCD panel would last much longer than 100,000 hours, it doesn't really wear out under use and isn't put under much stress.

An LED backlit LCD should last much longer (LED's last practically forever, they don't "burn out" like other lights do, just get dimmer over time, they only burn out under excessive voltage/current).

Also, LCD TV's and PC monitors are one in the same, both consist of an LCD panel (a glass panel with liquid crystal material in it and ribbon cables to attach circuitry along the edges), some filters/polarizers that go behind or in front of the panel, and some sort of backlight (most monitors/TV's use small fluorescent tubes, bigger displays use more tubes, smaller ones use only one or two [most monitors use either one or two, TV's sometimes more]). If the backlight is fluorescent (or electroluminescent) it needs an inverter to step up the low voltage to high voltage that drives the light. This circuit is under fairly high stress compared to the rest of the monitor and is one of the first components to fail. LED backlit TV's and monitors do not have an inverter (LED's run at low voltage) and thus do not have this failure issue.

 

[redfish]

Right now i'm using a 2004 monitor that has taken the abuse of many small children. It's cracked but still works until I can get a better one.