Brighter pixels help.

[dsrtao]

My new work setup: 1680x1050 20" LCD on the left, 1920x1200 24" LCD on the right. These are both much crisper and brighter than the 20" 2048x1536 CRT I used to use with a 1280x1024 LCD companion.

General recommendation: Sceptre LCD monitors. Cheap, reliable, pretty high quality.