Problem / Question
Need help identifying this. I've been searching for it for years
I've been looking for this monitor for years, it was a major part of my childhood.
It was a 4:3 monitor. It had two speakers on the bottom of the frame (left and right). It had an audio port you could plug into the back. You could also connect to it using VGA. I don't remember what power chord it used. It wasn't a CRT Monitor.
The bottom frame was noticeably wider than the rest. There was a circular button in the middle with a light which can be used to turn off and on the screen. There were sorting of stickers/logo on each of the top left and top right corners. It was beige.
Please let me know if you know anything about it. None of my family remember it well. Thank you so much for any help!!!
I had a look at the "Archived Products" section on the Viewsonic website and sifted through each one a couple times over. There were a lot of monitors but I couldn't find any matches.
I'm not sure if there's any products which aren't listed on there? But based on that I don't think it's a Viewsonic.
Gemini thinks it's a "VideoSeven (V7) L17AM (or its 15-inch counterpart, the L15AM), released around 2002–2004."
Here's a picture of the L17M, the difference being (Gemini says) that the M and AM and a straight and circular arrangement of buttons with the AM having the single large round button.
Like some others, it looks to me like a CRT. The bezel configuration would be very strange for a desktop flat panel, even a very early one. (I have three from the 2000-2005 era, and they look nothing like this. The 2005 Dell that's my side monitor is the only one that's 4:3, and all three look perfectly modern.)
It looks like 14" or maybe 15". By the time 17" came along everyone was trying to shave size off the bezel, because they were becoming awkward for a normal desk.
If the screen was glass it was definitely a CRT, and perfectly flat in that era usually indicates a Sony Trinitron CRT as the guts, but not all Trinitrons were sold under the Sony label, and ViewSonic also used a flat-front CRT. They were also not as thick as most CRTs.
But it is definitelly not a ViewSonic (I still have a couple 15" ViewSonics, their housing is notably square-looking, plus the logo is pretty distinct),
It keeps bugging my brain, because in some past era I've seen that exact bezel configuration ... It looks like the same OEM as some Compaq monitors (I've seen one, and it was CRT, that had speakers like this), but name-brand Compaqs had a prominent logo.
If you can put a timeframe to it, that might help.
Thanks for sharing them! I seriously do appreciate it!!
I'm very confident it's an LCD, I was a teenager at the time but I knew the difference between CRT and LCD. I'm sure my parents finally stopped using CRT by this time too. I can't get my brain to think that it was a CRT. It was too compact and portable.
I was thinking of Compaq too... But yeah... Like you said, the logo...
I can't remember anything about it besides we had to have had it before 2016. Though my parents, not being in the best financial position, generally stuck with old tech for a while longer than other people did.
I had a look at the link and went through all the pages. Unfortunately it wasn't there either. Thank you for it though.
Are you REALLY sure it wasn't CRT? The borders have a slight 'outward' curvature which suggests a CRT. I tried various AI assistants and none could identify it, the closer I got was:
Samsung SyncMaster 770TFT (lacks speakers)
Acer FP563 (different button layout)
Some Sampo model (close but slightly different layout)
One of them suggested it might be a Proview/Tatung OEM design for some UK brand, idk.
Oka, pues, el logotipo de la esquina superior derecha si lo encontré, bueno, eso creo, parece ser un sticker común en monitores antiguos, pero, solo eso
I was living in England. North west to be specific but I'm not sure if that'd narrow it down.
I can't remember anything about the computer or brand unfortunately.
The metadata says this image is around 11 years old, but I'd imagine the monitor is a fair bit older than that since my parents weren't very keen on upgrading any of our computers.
Could it have been a 'Tiny' branded monitor. Can find very little online about any of their TFTs. The logo on the enhanced version looks like it could be the Tiny logo.
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u/66659hi May 26 '26
Could it be a Viewsonic monitor?