The $1, 800 Luxury Walnut Burl Monitor from 1999
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Date: 2025-10-11
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Comments and reviews: 20
Kraaketaer
Speaking as a hobbyist woodworker who really loves wood grain when executed well, it's honestly so fascinating just how fugly and horrendounsly cheap so many things targeting the wealthy can be. I mean, wood burl can look amazing if done right and in the right context, but - fake or not! - forcing it into a rigidly rectangular shape like this just makes it stand out in all the wrong ways. IMO this is what a lot of the contemporary mainstream-ish wood finish cases and the like do right (and the enthusiast SFF case and DIY keyboard spaces where they got the inspiration from): they actually make designs where the wood is a thoughtful inclusion that adds to the whole and elevates it, not just tacking it on as an afterthought. And, crucially, they don't go into the weeds of exotic woods and highly figured, complex patterns like this, which really require immense forethought and some amazing design work to look even halfway decent. (Not to mention the issue of loud wood patterns essentially requiring neutral surroundings to not become visually overwhelming noise, which really tends to go against the aesthetic sensibilities they're really appealing to)
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Speaking as a hobbyist woodworker who really loves wood grain when executed well, it's honestly so fascinating just how fugly and horrendounsly cheap so many things targeting the wealthy can be. I mean, wood burl can look amazing if done right and in the right context, but - fake or not! - forcing it into a rigidly rectangular shape like this just makes it stand out in all the wrong ways. IMO this is what a lot of the contemporary mainstream-ish wood finish cases and the like do right (and the enthusiast SFF case and DIY keyboard spaces where they got the inspiration from): they actually make designs where the wood is a thoughtful inclusion that adds to the whole and elevates it, not just tacking it on as an afterthought. And, crucially, they don't go into the weeds of exotic woods and highly figured, complex patterns like this, which really require immense forethought and some amazing design work to look even halfway decent. (Not to mention the issue of loud wood patterns essentially requiring neutral surroundings to not become visually overwhelming noise, which really tends to go against the aesthetic sensibilities they're really appealing to)
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Sedan57Chevy
Faux burl walnut has to be my favorite of the harvested plastic tree varieties. What surprised me the most about this is that it took until the late 90s for someone to really lux-up the computer market. I guess computers were still expensive up until that point, and as they started to gain widespread adoption, they decided to market these to be more exclusive. I can't imagine paying that much extra for fake wood grain. but you better believe I'd buy this in a heartbeat if I saw it in a thrift store! I'd love it if modern manufacturers could bring back this aesthetic.
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Faux burl walnut has to be my favorite of the harvested plastic tree varieties. What surprised me the most about this is that it took until the late 90s for someone to really lux-up the computer market. I guess computers were still expensive up until that point, and as they started to gain widespread adoption, they decided to market these to be more exclusive. I can't imagine paying that much extra for fake wood grain. but you better believe I'd buy this in a heartbeat if I saw it in a thrift store! I'd love it if modern manufacturers could bring back this aesthetic.
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T0nyGTSt
i first came across 15 LCDs in 2002 i bought one off a shady acquaintance who came across a pallet load missing from a famous brand. and then I bought a dell 2405 and then a 2407. that seemed to be quantum leap. i also ended up in the industry of course and by then 15-17-19 4: 3 monitors were worth nothing and we were instructed just to toss monitors in the skip after the contract ended as the NEXT contract had new monitors in the budget. of course these unwanted monitors went into to backseat of my car. and a new home at my folks and relatives' places
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i first came across 15 LCDs in 2002 i bought one off a shady acquaintance who came across a pallet load missing from a famous brand. and then I bought a dell 2405 and then a 2407. that seemed to be quantum leap. i also ended up in the industry of course and by then 15-17-19 4: 3 monitors were worth nothing and we were instructed just to toss monitors in the skip after the contract ended as the NEXT contract had new monitors in the budget. of course these unwanted monitors went into to backseat of my car. and a new home at my folks and relatives' places
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moomah5929
Well, 1999 most LCD/TFT monitors were still expensive and the 600 bucks up-charge for a different coloured plastic front was totally worth it! ;)
In 2000 I still bought a Sony Trinitron monitor (with flat tube, which I used until 2009. Now I regret letting my mother and brother get rid of it like 10 years ago. To this day I remember how on the CRT the character names above players' heads were clear and readable but with the 1680x1050 Samsung LCD I got as replacement names quickly became unreadable.
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Well, 1999 most LCD/TFT monitors were still expensive and the 600 bucks up-charge for a different coloured plastic front was totally worth it! ;)
In 2000 I still bought a Sony Trinitron monitor (with flat tube, which I used until 2009. Now I regret letting my mother and brother get rid of it like 10 years ago. To this day I remember how on the CRT the character names above players' heads were clear and readable but with the 1680x1050 Samsung LCD I got as replacement names quickly became unreadable.
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KB_Max
What a weird product. It started from Hollywood rich people getting hand crafted computer parts to then having a cheaper line that wasn't cheap at all ($1800) for this LCD monitor what a cool/weird time 1999. This is the stuff I LOVE to watch you put up LGR you bring me back to my childhood. It's funny how CRT's were actually better than LCD's for a while there until the LCD technology finally caught up and got better then LCD/LED now its LED and OLED QLED like it just keeps advancing.
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What a weird product. It started from Hollywood rich people getting hand crafted computer parts to then having a cheaper line that wasn't cheap at all ($1800) for this LCD monitor what a cool/weird time 1999. This is the stuff I LOVE to watch you put up LGR you bring me back to my childhood. It's funny how CRT's were actually better than LCD's for a while there until the LCD technology finally caught up and got better then LCD/LED now its LED and OLED QLED like it just keeps advancing.
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lazygamereviews
We used to have a Mitsubisihi TV in the 90s, I have fond memories of playing Sonic 1 and 2 on it, as well as Super Mario World. I actually only ever thought of the company as an eletronics manufacturer until about 5 or 6 years ago when watching a video by OutsideXbox and they mentioned Mitsubihsi Motors in a segment on a racing game. Next day I took the bus I had always taken in to town and itt passes by a Mitsubishi dealership. I am not a very observant man.
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We used to have a Mitsubisihi TV in the 90s, I have fond memories of playing Sonic 1 and 2 on it, as well as Super Mario World. I actually only ever thought of the company as an eletronics manufacturer until about 5 or 6 years ago when watching a video by OutsideXbox and they mentioned Mitsubihsi Motors in a segment on a racing game. Next day I took the bus I had always taken in to town and itt passes by a Mitsubishi dealership. I am not a very observant man.
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Thaleios
I don't know why but I just find it interesting that I'm sitting here on a high end display watching a low end display's lack of viewing angle and thinking, dang we have come a long way. I was 3 years into my first job out of school around this time so didn't even see a flat panel until the early 2000s and this lcd would have been crap compared to my 21 trinitron I had at work.
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I don't know why but I just find it interesting that I'm sitting here on a high end display watching a low end display's lack of viewing angle and thinking, dang we have come a long way. I was 3 years into my first job out of school around this time so didn't even see a flat panel until the early 2000s and this lcd would have been crap compared to my 21 trinitron I had at work.
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OpenMawProductions
I like the idea, but I have to be honest. These things look sorta cursed to me.
There's something about it. I can't quite put my finger on it.
now if someone wants to carve one out of brick and stone with a firery LED setup on the side. That would be pretty sweet. Make it look like a caveman computer or something with little drawings on the side.
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I like the idea, but I have to be honest. These things look sorta cursed to me.
There's something about it. I can't quite put my finger on it.
now if someone wants to carve one out of brick and stone with a firery LED setup on the side. That would be pretty sweet. Make it look like a caveman computer or something with little drawings on the side.
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ssokolow
Funny thing about soft. I grew up on laptops (mostly ThinkPads, so I always faulted the CRTs for being the inferior ones because of how soft they made text look. and now, I compare modern OSes unfavourably to how crisp the text looks like when I KVM one of my wing monitors onto my HP t5530 running Win98SE or my Mac Mini G4 running the MacOS9Lives-hacked Mac OS 9.
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Funny thing about soft. I grew up on laptops (mostly ThinkPads, so I always faulted the CRTs for being the inferior ones because of how soft they made text look. and now, I compare modern OSes unfavourably to how crisp the text looks like when I KVM one of my wing monitors onto my HP t5530 running Win98SE or my Mac Mini G4 running the MacOS9Lives-hacked Mac OS 9.
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ouch1011
This is such a product of the time, especially a Japanese product. Most luxury cars of the mid 90s to early 2000s had interiors with plastic wood, but Japanese cars seemed to really lean into it. My 98 Subaru had plastic wood almost identical to this all over the place. I’m guessing it was impressive at the time but it looks so cheesy now.
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This is such a product of the time, especially a Japanese product. Most luxury cars of the mid 90s to early 2000s had interiors with plastic wood, but Japanese cars seemed to really lean into it. My 98 Subaru had plastic wood almost identical to this all over the place. I’m guessing it was impressive at the time but it looks so cheesy now.
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yethiel
Digging the shirt!
I have a wooden Cherry G80-3000 (maple) by a similar company from Germany called NCS Holzkontor. They bought off the shelf components and built wooden enclosures for it. Even the keycaps are fully made of wood. They also made screens and mice. You can find it by searching for holzkontor holztastaturen und monitore
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Digging the shirt!
I have a wooden Cherry G80-3000 (maple) by a similar company from Germany called NCS Holzkontor. They bought off the shelf components and built wooden enclosures for it. Even the keycaps are fully made of wood. They also made screens and mice. You can find it by searching for holzkontor holztastaturen und monitore
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DanielLopez-up6os
The shimmering/shakiness you're seeing with veticla lines in the edit video is just something that exists in a VGA signal, CRTs usually just ignore that since they're such high frequency signals, meanwhile LCDs especially of that time showed everything that was given to it with no filter
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The shimmering/shakiness you're seeing with veticla lines in the edit video is just something that exists in a VGA signal, CRTs usually just ignore that since they're such high frequency signals, meanwhile LCDs especially of that time showed everything that was given to it with no filter
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HunterShows
This thing clearly belongs in a CEO's office so he can look at his spreadsheets at 40ms per glance. These early LCDs really suck when there's any motion. I was using a 2002 screen with a great picture but oh boy, you had to start using your imagination once a video started playing.
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This thing clearly belongs in a CEO's office so he can look at his spreadsheets at 40ms per glance. These early LCDs really suck when there's any motion. I was using a 2002 screen with a great picture but oh boy, you had to start using your imagination once a video started playing.
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woutermollema
I certainly get the wood grain esthetic. It screams for a more complete setup. That front of the wood grain 486 can use some more wood, and then some matching keyboard and speakers. I get why someone with tons of money would pay a lot for this look, especially in the beige era.
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I certainly get the wood grain esthetic. It screams for a more complete setup. That front of the wood grain 486 can use some more wood, and then some matching keyboard and speakers. I get why someone with tons of money would pay a lot for this look, especially in the beige era.
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MkfMtr
I can't seem to comment links, so lookup lagom clock and phase test on the internet. Whenever I want to auto configure any lcd monitor, I use this site. Make sure your internet browser is fullscreen. It works better that way. I'm not sure if that works for very old computers though.
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I can't seem to comment links, so lookup lagom clock and phase test on the internet. Whenever I want to auto configure any lcd monitor, I use this site. Make sure your internet browser is fullscreen. It works better that way. I'm not sure if that works for very old computers though.
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lastcarbon
I was watching a few episodes of Frasier today and I noticed a monitor with a woodgrain bezel in the background and I thought huh that's a strange prop. Few hours later I see a video from LGR on the exact same monitor and find out that it was a real thing.
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I was watching a few episodes of Frasier today and I noticed a monitor with a woodgrain bezel in the background and I thought huh that's a strange prop. Few hours later I see a video from LGR on the exact same monitor and find out that it was a real thing.
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60gregma
This is one of those products that you would have drooled over in the SkyMall magazine found in the seat pocket of most airplanes. The stuff they sold was crazy expensive and nothing anyone needed. It was like the Sears wish book for adults.
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This is one of those products that you would have drooled over in the SkyMall magazine found in the seat pocket of most airplanes. The stuff they sold was crazy expensive and nothing anyone needed. It was like the Sears wish book for adults.
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crimtsun
I'd take slightly wonky scaling over no scaling at all. A Toshiba laptop I got last week from about 2001 can't seem to upscale from lower resolutions and instead letterboxes the image down (to about the size of a post card for 640x480)
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I'd take slightly wonky scaling over no scaling at all. A Toshiba laptop I got last week from about 2001 can't seem to upscale from lower resolutions and instead letterboxes the image down (to about the size of a post card for 640x480)
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7_adm
while i like new LGR content as much as the next guy, a full video about some fake veneered monitor is not really that entertaining. feels more like a footnote type of product for an oddware episode about something more interesting
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while i like new LGR content as much as the next guy, a full video about some fake veneered monitor is not really that entertaining. feels more like a footnote type of product for an oddware episode about something more interesting
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doomdog92
What was the name of that game you were playing at the end of the video with the wizard and you were attacking a lizard monster, I have vague memories of playing that as a kid and I have always wondered what it was.
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What was the name of that game you were playing at the end of the video with the wizard and you were attacking a lizard monster, I have vague memories of playing that as a kid and I have always wondered what it was.
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