I currently use a 21" Hitachi CRT monitor(you know big old style monitor) And i do a lot of Photoshop work and such..
How do the new LCD's compare to CRT monitors as far as picture quality goes?
Picture quality is excellent, sharpness, crispness, etc... but color correctness has been somewhat lacking but it is getting much better. The higher light output and contrast ratios are improving the situation. One of the limitations on the older LCDs was that the backlighting florescents were not full spectrum... that has improved immensely in the last two years or so. Convergence, image shrinkage and magnetic distortion are not problems on LCDs.
There's no comparison. An LCD monitor is much, much better than a CRT. Your pictures and movies will be cinema-quality.