Old $20 of yesteryear looks better than current monitors.

[AFKHero]

Good Day,

 

Now I imagine anyone who is going to read this is wondering what kind of monitor this guy got for $20 and how/where did he get said monitor for $20.  I got this monitor at a PC recycling center here in my city.  I discovered them looking for used PC parts,  I was mainly looking for a case to transplant parts from an old PC that I was upgrading that I planned to turn into a back-up.  I called several PC shops looking for used parts and had no luck until I though of recycling centers... afterall I just needed and empty case.  I called Sensible Recycling to inquire about cases and they invited me down to see what they had.  https://sensiblerecycling.com/  I met the 2 guys running operation on a Saturday morning and I may as well have walked into Disney World.  They had what I needed and MUCH MUCH more.  Most of their stock is old business equipment (servers/workstations/switches/laptops/peripherals/etc.).  I was there for at least 3 hours looking over thousands of recently and long since outdated relics.  I think this place would be a wet dream for scrapyard wars contestants. 

 

Recently, I wanted a 2nd monitor for work, but, my employer was unwilling to purchase one so I called up my guys over the recycling center (noting I had looked at hundreds of old screens the last time I was there).  They again told me to they have lots of monitors and come check out what they have.  I went down and my goal was to find a monitor that had a HDMI input and was 1080p.  After-all this was just for something to increase my productivity at work a bit and I knew what they had would likely be dated.  After glancing over literally hundreds of monitors I came across the subject of the post.  It stuck out a bit because it had a nice stand.  A Gateway FHD2400...  I looked at the inputs and it met my requirement of HDMI... it also had about every input known to man underneath with the exception of Display Port.  It had DVI and VGA (expected), but it also had S-video, Composite, and component inputs...  At this point I am wondering at what point in our history was this monitor made with all these inputs?!  The guys at the recycling center let me plug it in and test it to make sure it worked and told me it was $20 for the monitor and any power/input cables I wanted to go with it.  A heck of a deal for any monitor that works.  

 

I got the monitor back to the office and set it up.  The tags on the monitor indicate it s a 1920x1200 monitor rather than 1080p.  I haven't gotten Windows 10 to find a resolution for it and Windows seems to think that 1080p is the native resolution so I have just rolled with it.  But as I used it, I don't know why, but, this monitor seems much more crisp and the colors seem... better than my much newer work-provided screen  and even my 144Hz gaming monitor at home.  I feel like I got a steal on thing. 

 

For some reason, after watching me do something simple like having a spreadsheet open on one screen and being to be able to use that information on another screen. My boss was ready to pony up to buy himself a second monitor.  He was ready to pony up about $300-400 for his after looking at monitors on amazon.  I told him to keep his money in his pocket and we went down to the recycling center together and picked him out a decent monitor.  He went to pay and when he was given the price he asked me to pick out a 2nd monitor for every employee on staff!  I asked the guy at the store how they can charge this little for all the monitors (forgetting it is a recycling center). They said the get a bit more charging us $20 than they do selling it as scrap e-waste and they would rather see them get reused rather than recycled anyway.  I have been back many times and always walk out with something I need.  Except the one time I dug a GTX 680 out of literal vat of video cards.  I didn't need that, it is now an antique on display on my desk at home (I haven't tried to see if it works yet).

 

Anyway, this mostly pointless post was more about supporting your local electronics recycle centers than a $20 monitor and if you are still reading I applaud you.  And if you have any reason why this old hunk of junk has such a nice picture let me know.

Thank you for your time,

AFKHero

[gbergeron]

6 minutes ago, AFKHero said:

Good Day,

 

Now I imagine anyone who is going to read this is wondering what kind of monitor this guy got for $20 and how/where did he get said monitor for $20.  I got this monitor at a PC recycling center here in my city.  I discovered them looking for used PC parts,  I was mainly looking for a case to transplant parts from an old PC that I was upgrading that I planned to turn into a back-up.  I called several PC shops looking for used parts and had no luck until I though of recycling centers... afterall I just needed and empty case.  I called Sensible Recycling to inquire about cases and they invited me down to see what they had.  https://sensiblerecycling.com/  I met the 2 guys running operation on a Saturday morning and I may as well have walked into Disney World.  They had what I needed and MUCH MUCH more.  Most of their stock is old business equipment (servers/workstations/switches/laptops/peripherals/etc.).  I was there for at least 3 hours looking over thousands of recently and long since outdated relics.  I think this place would be a wet dream for scrapyard wars contestants. 

 

Recently, I wanted a 2nd monitor for work, but, my employer was unwilling to purchase one so I called up my guys over the recycling center (noting I had looked at hundreds of old screens the last time I was there).  They again told me to they have lots of monitors and come check out what they have.  I went down and my goal was to find a monitor that had a HDMI input and was 1080p.  After-all this was just for something to increase my productivity at work a bit and I knew what they had would likely be dated.  After glancing over literally hundreds of monitors I came across the subject of the post.  It stuck out a bit because it had a nice stand.  A Gateway FHD2400...  I looked at the inputs and it met my requirement of HDMI... it also had about every input known to man underneath with the exception of Display Port.  It had DVI and VGA (expected), but it also had S-video, Composite, and component inputs...  At this point I am wondering at what point in our history was this monitor made with all these inputs?!  The guys at the recycling center let me plug it in and test it to make sure it worked and told me it was $20 for the monitor and any power/input cables I wanted to go with it.  A heck of a deal for any monitor that works.  

 

I got the monitor back to the office and set it up.  The tags on the monitor indicate it s a 1920x1200 monitor rather than 1080p.  I haven't gotten Windows 10 to find a resolution for it and Windows seems to think that 1080p is the native resolution so I have just rolled with it.  But as I used it, I don't know why, but, this monitor seems much more crisp and the colors seem... better than my much newer work-provided screen  and even my 144Hz gaming monitor at home.  I feel like I got a steal on thing. 

 

For some reason, after watching me do something simple like having a spreadsheet open on one screen and being to be able to use that information on another screen. My boss was ready to pony up to buy himself a second monitor.  He was ready to pony up about $300-400 for his after looking at monitors on amazon.  I told him to keep his money in his pocket and we went down to the recycling center together and picked him out a decent monitor.  He went to pay and when he was given the price he asked me to pick out a 2nd monitor for every employee on staff!  I asked the guy at the store how they can charge this little for all the monitors (forgetting it is a recycling center). They said the get a bit more charging us $20 than they do selling it as scrap e-waste and they would rather see them get reused rather than recycled anyway.  I have been back many times and always walk out with something I need.  Except the one time I dug a GTX 680 out of literal vat of video cards.  I didn't need that, it is now an antique on display on my desk at home (I haven't tried to see if it works yet).

 

Anyway, this mostly pointless post was more about supporting your local electronics recycle centers than a $20 monitor and if you are still reading I applaud you.  And if you have any reason why this old hunk of junk has such a nice picture let me know.

Thank you for your time,

AFKHero

It's your eyes. Any 20$ monitor at recycle places is..... a 20$ monitor. Nothing more.

 

Yes a monitor that sold for 400$ 6 years ago might look better than a brand new 120$ monitor.

 

But don't trick yourself, new 400$ monitor looks WAY better than your 20$ junk.

[Master Disaster]

21 minutes ago, AFKHero said:

Snip

 

I'm guessing you somehow work for them and are trying to advertise because thats not a normal post.

[lookpuppy]

Damn y’all are going hard on him. Nice find mate. Good luck at work.

[AngryBeaver]

This whole article just reminded me of the deal I saw at sams for black friday but never went back to get..... 60" LG 4k OLED tv for less than 1k.... sigh.

 

Anyways I still have some older IPS monitors that look way better than current TN gaming ones, but then again they aren't as smooth and aren't great for gaming. They do make good side monitors though.

[AFKHero]

1 hour ago, Master Disaster said:

I'm guessing you somehow work for them and are trying to advertise because thats not a normal post.

Not at all.  I don't think they would ever ship you anything.  They don't have an online store and I am guessing they don't even keep an inventory.  So the only way I would be advertising is if you live in the Jacksonville FL area which would be a long shot.  I am guessing a majority of people who read this will not.  I was just happy with my experience and decided to write about it.  I am hoping other people have similar access to an electronics recycling center in their own area that is similar and could get a similar experience.  Especially those who might be on a tight budget and can give an old computer/monitor/peripheral a new life an benefit from it.

[TetraSky]

I wish there were places like that here.. But we just have regular recycling centers, can't buy from them... And rip off stores that sell used crap from 10+ years ago at a massive markup. Like 50$ for a 500GB used harddrive... not even worth it.

[lookpuppy]

I’m getting a job at my local ecycling center that’s literally 8 blocks away. It’s where I got both of my 1080 p monitors

[gbergeron]

It's nice for cheap monitor $$$

 

But go see real nice colors before you think you have amazing monitor just cuz u have 1080p 60 hz

 

That being said, a nice working 1080p monitor for 20$ is a steal  n1