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Subject: [OM] [OT] Computer monitors
From: "Lex Jenkins" <lexjenkins@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Mon, 05 Feb 2001 09:05:17
Dear listfolk,

I thought you might be interested in hearing about the most recent addition to my grandmother's household - a new computer monitor. Normally I wouldn't clog up the list with pooter talk but this merits an exception.

At 80-something grandma's eyes need more help than mere eyeglasses can provide and after talking it over and examining the size of her computer desk we estimated a 17" screen should fit and provide a much improved view.

The next step was to find something within her budget - around $300. Easy. But there are lots of mediocre monitors for under $200 as well. I didn't want her to waste money - her previous monitor, a Packard Bell, was barely out of warranty when it died and wasn't worth reviving.

And I knew that the difference between shadow mask and aperture grill monitors is something that must be seen, not explained. Since she's owned nothing but Sony Trinitron TVs for years, I knew she'd appreciate the difference once she saw it.

A bit of technical blah-blah for folks who might be interested: shadow mask and aperture grill are the two basic types of CRT (cathode ray tube or plain ol' picture tube to most of us)technology. Essentially, they just affect how the electron beams react when producing the display. In rough terms a shadow mask CRT is like a metal grid full of holes. An aperture grill is comparable to a fine-mesh window screen. Trinitron is Sony's proprietary name for their aperture grill technology and, like Mitsubishi which also makes aperture grill CRTs, they sell their tubes to many companies that assemble them into monitors.

Okay, pardon the digression...

Generally speaking an aperture grill monitor is regarded as providing a display with higher resolution and contrast. That's not to say that it is superior overall to shadow mask CRTs - I know of some folks who are serious about digital photography who don't care for the aperture grill "look". That "look" is best described as a display consisting of hundreds or thousands of tiny horizontal lines. If you have a Sony Trinitron TV and almost any other TV at home you can easily see the difference once you're aware of it. Other CRTs sacrifice a bit of resolution and contrast to gain a smoother overall appearance.

Naturally, an aperture grill CRT is probably better overall for most office type work - to borrow our hackneyed photo phrase, it's tack-sharp. However, if you're also concerned more about how your images appear to others than to your own eye on your own monitor, an aperture grill CRT may be the best choice for photo/imaging work. It can be totally unforgiving, showing every dust spot and any evidence of posterization or digital artifact. That can be a good thing.

Back to grandma. She'd settled on an NEC MultiSync monitor based on the advertised price of $200 and her eldest son's go-ahead. I took along a monitor test utility just to be sure - the toughest test is one in which the display switches between white on black and black on white in rapid succession. That test, like typical web browsing, can make vertical lines at the screen edges go nuts, resembling pincushion distortion followed by barrel distortion. The NEC monitor - a shadow mask CRT - which grandma planned to buy passed the utilities well and even did fairly well on the tough test.

But before paying I asked her to look at a nearby NEC monitor with a Trinitron tube. It was a 19" flat screen display and while she was very impressed, she wasn't impressed $500 worth.

Then the salesman said, "You like it? We have a 17" flat screen NEC Trinitron display for $270 this weekend."

Sold.

Here's a one-page summary from ZDNet's website review of several 17" flat screen monitors. The NEC MultiSync FE700 - the one which grandma bought - ranked at the top. I have to agree.

http://www.zdnet.co.uk/pcdir/content/2000/03/peripherals/eb_flat_pan_crt/desktop_qual.html

Frankly, I'm slobbering for one of these monitors now! The monitors I use on my PC and Mac Quadra 610 are no slouches, but they're eensy 12" displays pushing at least a decade old. This NEC is like a movie theatre screen.

A few caveats. First - and this applies to all Sony and Mitsubishi aperture grill CRTs - the technology requires "damper wires" which are actually fastened to the front of the picture tube and which are visible (just barely) as minute, hairline shadows stretching horizontally across the tube. The number of damper wires depends on the display size. On this 17" NEC two damper wires are used, each about 1/4 of the way into the screen. On my tiny Mac Color Classic display there's just one, about 1/3 up from the bottom. The purpose of the damper wire is to, as the term implies, dampen vibration of the aperture grill which would occur from being struck by the electron beams. Shadow mask grids are more rigid and don't need damper wires.

Some folks find these damper wires annoying. Once I knew what they were I never gave 'em another thought. But consider it before buying.

Another caution: reportedly, aperture grill monitors are more vulnerable to going out of adjustment due to rough handling. I haven't witnessed this personally and, in fact, the Mac Color Classic - being of the original compact Mac series - is evidence that the CRT can withstand moving and toting with reasonable care.

The ZDNet review noted a couple of minor flaws or quirks in their sample of the MultiSync FE700: "...it can only handle a
              maximum refresh of 66Hz at its top resolution of
              1280x1024. But it can manage a flicker-free 85Hz
              refresh at 1024x768 pixels."

Since I'd consider a 17" (nominal; actual viewing size is 16") marginally acceptable for 1280x1024 the above quibble is moot. The display is very, very good at 1024x768 and actually appears as sharp to my eye as at 800x600 (a phenomenon that I've heard explained by others better than I can manage to regurgitate).

ZDNet liked the multi-function controls while I think grandma would find them confusing. Toggling the cryptically marked "up arrow", "down arrow", "minus" and "plus" buttons will probably be quite effective at discouraging her from changing the factory defaults. Maybe they'll also keep others from monkeying with your carefully tweaked settings as well.

Sorry for the lengthy post but this monitor is definitely worth checking out if you're in the market. The only thing I cannot vouch for is long-term reliability. Grandma sprang for the 3-year extended warranty.

Lex
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