I agree with Pinsanity.  I do tend to look at the DMD, after you play a few games, you know where to glance, and also for games that are new, they offer a lot of help for what to do in the modes.

I reckon the JJP idea is fantastic - once you know where to look, it can let you know how far along the game you are.

So from a players perspective, i think it is quite important to have colour as a minimum, followed by higher definition colour same size as the DMD, but ultimately i think the full (or most part) backglass as a screen is the go.

I always wonder if the blokes that were into pinball in the 70s debated about moving from reels to electronic displays, then the 80s alphanumeric, then in the 90s DMD and the relative merits of each one!

For people replacing DMDs, they are $330ish a pop - it is cheaper to actually get a RGB LED display, and with a bit of mucking around you can get a single colour (any colour), or basic 4 colours, or if you are really keen to colourise yourself, can get full colour. Look up pin2DMD on VPuniverse - a guy there developed a board.  I am mucking around with a few of them now.