The LCD Panel vs. The Crossbow

Ev!LOnE was one of several readers to point out an interesting LCD stress test: "ASUS recently came out with Asus LS201 — a TFT monitor with a protective panel made of crystal-sapphire. What I didn't imagine was the amount of punishment that thing can take. Apparently some Ukrainians shared the same concern and went for a test." Translation not necessary, but some clues about the narration would be appreciated in comments.

hmmmm....

[DMoylan]

well if he can cock the crossbow with just his hand then it's not a very powerful crossbow. try a 90lb long bow and get back to me.

like that monitor though. wonder if it would survive a sledge hammer to the screen. i've seen monitors taking a few punches from angry windows users.

Re:Crossbow Strength

[wizardforce]

That crossbow seemed pretty weak.

even so, you probably wouldn't want this to happen your your flat screen monitor and that's the point, by the looks of it, this monitor is *better* at withstanding abuse in comparison to the average one most people would be buying.

I don't get it

[dangitman]

They make a nice monitor, with expensive materials, and then they put it on a shoddy non-tilting stand? WTF? What an insane world we live in. Why the hell does anybody even make non-tilting display stands?

Re:hmmmm....

[SuperBanana]

well if he can cock the crossbow with just his hand then it's not a very powerful crossbow. try a 90lb long bow and get back to me.

Try a compound crossbow and arrows that don't have wooden shafts and soft iron heads, and call me when the arrow doesn't pierce the monitor, punch through the wall behind it, and impale itself in a marketing intern.

It is pretty impressive that he can pound on it with a hammer, even lightly- that's far better than anything else...buuuuuut there were a lot of things going for the monitor that I noticed:

Wood is soft and compliant, as is cast iron (he showed the rather bent arrowheads)...and the crossbow he used didn't put that much force into it. Also, did you notice how floppy the stand was?

All of that adds up and helps spread the force of the impact over time...

Re:cNet UK review. We scratched it.

[Zironic]

About the jewelry, it was most likely diamond or another saphire, makes sense that that would scratch it. However it should resist all kinds metals.

Re:Crossbow Strength

[John Miles]

That looked a lot like the handmade crossbows fabricated by "Iolo the Bard," a well-known SCA figure in Austin circa 1990 (and inspiration for the character of Iolo in the Ultima games.)

Iolo's bows weren't made to be competitive with modern polonium-doped nanocrystalline bolt launchers or whatever, but to recall the craft of medieval weaponsmiths. Still more than enough to shoot your eye out with.

I agree with the other poster who suggested that these LCDs are coming to police riot shields near you. That's just too cool an idea to pass up. Shove enough images of flowers and frolicking puppies in their faces, and the Black Bloc crowd will surrender without a fight, right?

Re:I don't get it

[sheldon]

That's the nice thing about LCDs... There is a standard mount, and you can buy any stand you want.

Listen up, Lenovo!

[n1hilist]

.. and put this tech into the next Thinkpad! .. with LED backlighting, kthnx

Re:I don't get it

[dangitman]

Because most of us don't use a stand if you get a high end monitor. I use monitor arms,

I think you're kidding yourself if you think that most people do this, even most purchasers of a "high end" monitor. It is a distinctly minority item, even among high-end purchases. Personally, I do use a monitor arm in my office, but I'm one of the very few. And there are plenty of situations where a monitor arm isn't feasible or practical.

Re:Listen up, Lenovo!

[Valkarie70]

Or better yet, into replacement screens on current Thinkpads.

Re:Crossbow Strength

[Frnknstn]

I totally agree with your post, except for the general sentiment of it, your implied conclusions, and almost every single point you tried to make.

I guess that means I didn't really agree with you much.

Well, why not take your best crossbows and your superior bows and fire them at your own LCD screens and compare your results? You can use any background color you like.

You may need someone to help you aim, as your vision might not be as good as you think, otherwise you may have noticed some other things in that video. Things like the part where the marker is removed from a part of the screen that was displaying white, not red. Or perhaps the part where the same bolts that were able to disable the screen penetrate a half-inch into a sheet of wood. Or perhaps the part where the screen is struck with a hammer.

According to you, this screen fared poorly as "the deep red background that the screen displayed, for example, will tend to hide scratches". Seriously, try these tests yourself. See if any color except black will hide the scratches on your monitors.

Re:cNet UK review. We scratched it.

[rolfwind]

Sapphire Crystal has a hardness of 9 on the mohs scale -- it's hard to scratch. I assume that the piece of jewelry of had a diamond -- the hardest natural substance known. They may be other stones, that scratched it, but not many.

Re:OK, you win.

[Anonymous Coward]

I love your sig. Nothing says "I'm an annoying zealot" like that dollah sign.

Re:Mason Williams's Classical Gas

[gradedcheese]

and for what it's worth, he's speaking Russian the whole time, not Ukrainian.

Re:DANGER!

[Anonymous Coward]

What I want to know is how do you recycle it?

Re:Blendtec

[Anonymous Coward]

you've been here what a year or so and *this* was your first and only post? wtf?

Re:Crossbow Strength

[Torvaun]

You can see that the monitor was dented by the crossbow by looking at the reflections. Still, my monitors would have exit wounds, so it's still pretty impressive.