Any Viewsonic nerds on here.

Alright so I’ll say something unpopular but I can’t help it. I hate huge old crts they are just massive and take up way to much space for the my level of graphic need. I much prefer flat panels, but I’d like to find one that is sufficiently vintage looking so that it doesn’t look super weird next to my old beige machines. I saw Viewsonic made some early style beige flat panels but there are several models and the prices are all over the place. I’m just wondering if anyone can give me a rundown on what models are possible and what might be a good choice for me. Also open to other brands but I’m drawn to Viewsonic I remember seeing them advertised a lot in all my old computer magazines I used to read. Anyhow just wondering if anyone has any thoughts about a good one to shoot for.

Saw the title and read because I liked the old 15" and 17 Viewsonic CRTs. I can't help you with info on the LCD panels, unfortunately.

Back in the day, their CRTs were a great value in terms of quality vs. price.

Also, if you sent them the serial number of your monitor, they would send you back a free UniMacFly Mac to VGA adapter.

One time I ordered about 50 Viewsonic monitors for my division at work. All PCs. Went around and noted down all the serial numbers, faxed the list to Viewsonic and got back a box of 50 Mac to VGA adapters. Sold them on the Trading Post for about $3 each for several years.

So I'm not the biggest fan of CRTs either and usually look for 4:3 LCDs. What's wild is you'll see people ask like $200 for the beige ones, but you can also find them literally on the side of the road.



Unfortunately, I can't give you an exact run down of what models to look for.

This is what I do though. I will just search very basic terms like "monitor" or "screen" on classifieds sites. If you can find the model number, Google it and look for the supported resolutions.

I went and picked this one up back in June because I wanted one that would support old Macintoshes.



Pulling up the manual online, I was able to find that it supported some of the different resolutions. A lot of cheaper LCDs won't support than 832x624 resolution and I really wanted to be able to use my Performa 6116CD with it.



Personally, I am on a lookout for the NEC MultiSync LCD 1525v in it's glorious beige color.



I distinctly remember it being the first LCD monitor in my family and it just has a great beige color that matches the 90's Macintoshes. It doesn't support the 832x624 I want, but that was more of a requirement if I was going to be getting a non-beige monitor. If I'm going to be using a black or silver monitor, I at least want it to be versatile.

In general, any LCD display old enough to be beige will probably work fine with a Mac.

What Macs are you looking at in particular? Starting in ~1993-1994 or so Macs started having multisync compatibility so you can pretty much just hook a through adapter to, say, a Quadra 800 or 840 and get 1024x768@60Hz out of it.

The Mac LC will do 640x480@60 but some of the other Macs and video cards from before then like to limit themselves to some of Apple's higher refresh rates.

Dell UltraSharps and the newer P-series do great with old Macs too.

What Mac(s) are you looking to use it with? The one thing to be aware of is that prior to the PCI PowerMacs (7200/7500/8500/9500 and newer) most Macs could output a max of 1152x870 on their built-in (or, say, powermac x100 AV/HPV card) graphics. A display like an UltraSharp 170x/190x or a P19xx (non-wide version) will support 1152x870, probably even at "weird" refresh rates, but if you are a 1:1 pixel enthusiast the easy answer is to get a display that does 1024x768, which is most 15-inch LCDs.

I was in the same boat a while back, the period CRTs are nice but awkward to physically setup/store. While more modern LCDs can work for some older Macs the aesthetics aren't great. Another important consideration if you want to be able to use early Macs video out (like with a IIsi) is getting an LCD that supports sync on green.

I actually did get a 15" ViewSonic VG150 LCD to check those boxes!



Although I have since upgraded to a 18" NEC 1850E LCD mainly since the Viewsonic been acting a bit flaky.

Pretty much any and everything is what I use, I have an 8100 that would probably be

Fizzbinn said:

I was in the same boat a while back, the period CRTs are nice but awkward to physically setup/store. While more modern LCDs can work for some older Macs the aesthetics aren't great. Another important consideration if you want to be able to use early Macs video out (like with a IIsi) is getting an LCD that supports sync on green.

I actually did get a 15" ViewSonic VG150 LCD to check those boxes!

Although I have since upgraded to a 18" NEC 1850E LCD mainly since the Viewsonic been acting a bit flaky.

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Ohh! Yes that's exactly the kind of setup I'm looking for, that looks awesome.

With regards to what machines, I use a little of everything, I have 8100, 7600, IIsi, Mac II, LCIII, etc etc. I'm not super picky, I'd like it to be versatile, but I mainly plan to use it on my 8100 and my 7600. Kinda want something sufficiently impressive to use with my 8100 it's a bit of a show piece for me.

Also I'm really glad I'm not the only one that finds CRT's impractical, I was expecting more ridicule.

Fizzbinn said:

I was in the same boat a while back, the period CRTs are nice but awkward to physically setup/store. While more modern LCDs can work for some older Macs the aesthetics aren't great. Another important consideration if you want to be able to use early Macs video out (like with a IIsi) is getting an LCD that supports sync on green.

I actually did get a 15" ViewSonic VG150 LCD to Although I have since upgraded to a 18" NEC 1850E LCD mainly since the Viewsonic been acting a bit flaky.

View attachment 36073

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Oh man am I jealous of that NEC 1850E. That is basically what I am looking for and settled on my vx1950.

I did forget to mention the sync-on-green thing as well. You can usually find it inside the manuals.

macuserman said:

Also I'm really glad I'm not the only one that finds CRT's impractical, I was expecting more ridicule.

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I have a few Apple CRTs, I do really like the way they match the CPUs, especially the front bezel curve (e.g. IIsi and 12" Monochrome Display). I'll pull them out for my magazine shoot.

Looks like there is a NEC 1850E up on eBay now:

I don't share much love for CRTs either, @macuserman finding them hard to store and keep running reliably. TBH just look out for any beige 15 or 17" LCD which will be a reasonable match for a beige Mac - they are hard to find now, will never be a perfect match, but passable.

The only CRTs I have/use are those inside computers. You are by no means alone.

macuserman said:

With regards to what machines, I use a little of everything, I have 8100, 7600, IIsi, Mac II, LCIII, etc etc. I'm not super picky, I'd like it to be versatile, but I mainly plan to use it on my 8100 and my 7600. Kinda want something sufficiently impressive to use with my 8100 it's a bit of a show piece for me.

Click to expand...

Not sure if you've already found a solution or not, but I recently picked up a NEC 2090UXi, which is 1600x1200 native (4:3). It comes in black & silver; the silver version looks right at home with my vintage Macs IMO. Especially the Snow White vintage machines. I almost wish I had picked up a black one to pair better with my NextStation, but oh well. I can take some pics tomorrow.

Be aware that many of the mid-sized, relatively modern LCDs (like the NEC 1850E mentioned above included) have a native 1280x1024 resolution, which is 5:4 rather than 4:3. So you'll either deal with distortion or black bars when scaling up common 4:3 resolutions (640x480, 800x600, 1024x768). Your 8100 is probably capable of driving it at its native res, so not a concern necessarily for your use case. Just something to keep in mind.

Here it is; the 2090UXi next to a IIci. The base is white not silver; not an exact match but looks at home with Mac stuff.

gcp said:

Here it is; the 2090UXi next to a IIci. The base is white not silver; not an exact match but looks at home with Mac stuff.

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Yeah that's not bad, slightly more modern looking than most but it fits decently overall.

macuserman said:

Yeah that's not bad, slightly more modern looking than most but it fits decently overall.

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Oh, agreed, it doesn't scream early 90's But I like the way the vents match up with the 'Snow White' design language. And there's nothing overly 'modern' about it to the point where it would look anachronistic (IMO of course).

Good option for those who require > 1024x768 resolutions (like my use case), but if you don't need to go higher than that there are other vintage options for sure.

gcp said:

Oh, agreed, it doesn't scream early 90's But I like the way the vents match up with the 'Snow White' design language. And there's nothing overly 'modern' about it to the point where it would look anachronistic (IMO of course).

Good option for those who require > 1024x768 resolutions (like my use case), but if you don't need to go higher than that there are other vintage options for sure.

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For sure, I think I'm really after something that just punches you in the face with the 90s vibe, lol. But also isn't super impractical in cost or space consumed.

I kept a few CRTs around mostly for PCs, none of them viewsonic I think.

I could have just been lucky, but any LCD monitor new or old I have tried I have gotten to work with my handy dip switch mac to VGA adapter. I forget the name, but they are on ebay. You can move the switches to support pretty much anything.

1600x1200 displays usually look fairly good because they were high end when new. However, the max res the 8100's built-in graphics will do is 832x624. The max resolution the AV or HPV graphics cards for the PDS slot will do is 1152x870. If you cared about pixel accuracy or your display handled non-native resolutions poorly, you could drive such a display at 800x600 for the least bad scaling. Some high end displays also have a 1:1 option for showing all outer borders, but few 1280x1024 displays were high end, and not all 1600x1200 displays bothered to implement that, because not all of them were high end within that specific, high end segment. (Yes i know.)

Some NuBus graphics cards will do higher, which is also an option.

Support for 1280x1024 is extremely common among Macs that can do that many pixels with their onboard graphics (7200+ with video ram upgrades, typically) as well as in NuBus and PCI graphics cards that have support for resolutions that high. It was a common resolution before Macs.

W/re those adapters with switches on them: What those are doing is simulating a specific display setting, usually invoking a more widely compatible mode. Mac LCs and newer included a 640x480@60Hz mode for use with cheap displays, for example, and most machines newer than roughly speaking the LC III support higher end resolutions at 60Hz.

The other possible mode for those adapters is all open at which point you're relying on the information from the display to determine what's possible. Most Quadras and newer can do that. (most Quadras and newer can also drive most newer monitors using a no-pins adapter.)


I have low standards for most things but in my experience, Mac resolutions look "basically fine" on most decent business-oriented LCD monitors, like Dell UltraSharps or newer Dell P-Series.