When my old office monitor was swapped out for a TFT a few months ago, I had such an "OMG!" moment that I immediately went out and bought one for home, too. I love it! Of course, not all TFTs are created equal, so you need to go look at them before you pick the one you want. But it really was a big difference. Everything looked sharper and brighter, and that has made a big difference in icon making. Most of my older ones look decidedly crappier than I had thought previously.

I understand your comment regarding your laptop LCD, though. I have a laptop that's several years old, and I hate its screen. But even those have improved much since it was new, and the husband's newer one has fantastic image quality.