[onemoretime]

I might purchase ViewSonic VT2430.

Its a 24" LCD TV/PC monitor.

I want (and need!) a monitor with a durable glass
screen.

Two Questions:

Is the glass physically bonded to the liquid crystal
substrate? What I don't want is a plastic screen
with a sheet of glass hung or clipped to the screen.
These are often sold as "screen protectors." I've
tried a couple of screen protectors. I don't like
them at all.

Is the glass rugged? I'm sure most of you started
your computing life with a CRT monitor. Some glass
cleaner and a sheet of paper towel (like Bounty)
was all you needed to clean a CRT. Is the VT2430
glass durable enough to be cleaned without using
microfiber cloths and expensive cleaning products?

[smax013]

You will likely need to contact ViewSonic with your questions...especially that first one.

My guess is that it is NOT bonded to the LCD plastic, but that is a pure guess.

As to cleaning, in the past, it was probably not the glass itself that had durability issues, but rather the things like anti-glare coatings they may have put on the glass. Since CRT's tended to have curved glass, they tended to require some sort of anti-glare coating to cut down on reflections and glare. I don't know if the same is true of LCD screens with glass as they will be flat.

In general, these days the general recommended procedure for cleaning a screen is a lint-free cloth and maybe some water. It is generally recommended NOT to use glass cleaner. But, then these recommendations tend to assume you are doing a plastic LCD screen, not glass (although I will note that this is Apple's recommendation and just about all their screens these days, if not all, have glass: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3226).

[onemoretime]

I contacted ViewSonic. No reply, so far. I always feel like a fool when I send an email to
tech support at any company. If they reply at all, the response usually has nothing to do
with the questions you've asked.

The glass doesn't have to be bonded to the substrate. All I want is glass that is sealed off so
dust or debris will not get behind the screen. That's why I hate screen protectors.

I use those silky microfiber cloths and eyeglass cleaner on my plastic screen monitors.
Its never damaged my polycarbonate eyeglass lenses, and it seems to do a good job
on those soft plastic LCD screens.

[smax013]

onemoretime said:

I use those silky microfiber cloths and eyeglass cleaner on my plastic screen monitors.
Its never damaged my polycarbonate eyeglass lenses, and it seems to do a good job
on those soft plastic LCD screens.

That might be OK...just as long as it is not "glass cleaner" (aka Windex or its ilk...i.e. anything with ammonia).

But, be aware that it is generally recommended that you only use water...and if you clean it with something that the manufacturer does not recommend, then if it damaged, you might be on your own.

[smax013]

onemoretime said:

I contacted ViewSonic. No reply, so far. I always feel like a fool when I send an email to
tech support at any company. If they reply at all, the response usually has nothing to do
with the questions you've asked.

I understand...such answers are usually from some script and as such really don't address your problem. This also assumes that they even bothered to fully read your question and the person responding actually understood the question.

[coastie65]

I have an old Amdek monitor from the 80's and the antiglare thing was actually a woven fiber thing over the glass tube. Over time it got a tear and I got tired of looking at it. I then proceeded to remove it (Tear it out) entirely, so all I had was the shiney glass screen.