The View’s Finer on an LCD Monitor
As far as I’m concerned, a PC’s monitor is its most important component. I don’t much care whether I have the fastest PC on the market, but I do care about the appearance of a screen that I stare at for several hours a day.
You don’t have to pay an arm and a leg to feast your eyes on a good monitor. There are several excellent standard cathode-ray tube monitors on the market for as little as $300.
But if you don’t mind the added expense, you can get one of the new flat-panel liquid crystal display screens. If you’ve seen a laptop, you already know what an LCD looks like. They’re flat, they’re thin, and, instead of a big TV-like picture tube, they have what is called a thin film transistor panel, which consists of millions of transistors sandwiched between two pieces of glass.
One advantage to LCD displays is that they use less than half the power of equivalent CRTs. They are also a bit easier on the eyes because LCDs don’t have the “flicker” effect that you get with some CRTs. Unlike a CRT, which uses a gun that moves back and forth across the screen, an LCD has millions of tiny transistors that turn on and off to display an image.
Another advantage of an LCD is that there is no wasted space on the screen or on your desk. Some CRT screens display black areas that can’t be used for images. On an LCD every inch is used to display information. As a result, a 15-inch LCD screen gives you almost as much viewable area as a typical 17-inch CRT. Speaking of space, LCD monitors are typically about 2 inches thick, compared with about 16 inches for an equivalent CRT.
As I write this column, I’m staring at a Samsung SyncMaster 570P Plus TFT LCD monitor, and I like what I see. The 15-inch (diagonal) monitor, which has a retail price of about $1,250, not only displays computer data but can also be connected to a VCR, DVD player or any other standard video source. I connected it to my VCR, and, when I’m not using the computer, I can use it as a very expensive but cool-looking TV set. It also has a “picture in picture” feature that lets you display a TV image in a small window while still viewing your spreadsheets, Web sites and other images from the computer. An on-screen button lets you hide the TV image in case your boss walks by.
The monitor is mounted on a swivel stand so it’s possible to position it into “portrait” mode, for a taller and narrower display. This orientation lets you view an entire 8 1/2-by-11-inch page, great when you’re laying out documents. It also lets you see a lot more of a Web page, so you don’t have to scroll as much. You can easily swivel it back when you want the screen to appear as normal, but I find myself leaving it in that mode because it makes word processing and Web surfing a lot more pleasant. Samsung also makes the less expensive 570S TFT model ($968) that’s identical except that it doesn’t connect to a VCR or other video input.
I wasn’t able to review it for this column, but ViewSonic also makes a monitor with the same features as the Samsung 570P, plus a few extras. The ViewSonic VP151 not only connects to a VCR or other standard video source and a regular PC display adapter, but it also works with a digital video adapter. Most PCs don’t have them, but a number of video board manufacturers make digital display adapters that are optimized for LCD flat-panel displays.
Other LCD screens with digital inputs that I’ve tested are slightly brighter than those with analog connectors. The ViewSonic LCD monitor also has a built-in USB hub, which means you can plug a USB keyboard, mouse, scanner, digital camera or other device directly into a socket on the monitor.
Before you mortgage the house for a flat-panel display, consider buying a “flat” standard CRT monitor. These monitors don’t have the ultra-thin screens and they take up about as much desk space as a standard monitor, but the screen isn’t curved. The result is less glare and a more pleasant-looking image. ViewSonic’s 17-inch A75f “PerfectFlat” CRT monitor looks great and, at $329, is about a third the price of a 15-inch LCD screen.
I also like Sony’s 17-inch Multiscan E200 CRT (about $379), which has what Sony calls a “virtually flat” high-resolution screen. Aside from being a lot cheaper, standard monitors are also better for high-end graphic applications. The colors are a bit truer than those displayed on LCDs, and they are capable of displaying much higher-resolution images.
Whatever monitor you choose, try to see it in action before you buy. Different monitors with the same specifications don’t look the same to the naked eye.
Also, don’t base your decision only on how it displays graphics and moving video. It’s easy to make graphics look good but harder to display crisp text. I always bring up a small font (like 10-point Times Roman) to see if the letters are crisp and legible.
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Technology reports by Lawrence J. Magid can be heard between 2 and 3 p.m. weekdays on the KNX-AM (1070) Technology Hour. He can be reached at larry.magid@latimes.com. His Web site is at https://www.larrysworld.com.
