Monitors Without Limits
Many business applications are becoming more graphics intensive, making larger, high-resolution displays a necessity. Corporate portals, for example, provide a single gateway into multiple document repositories and often give you multiple windows for each system to be viewed side by side. A 21” monitor lets users work more efficiently within these applications by allowing you to display more information at once. Monitor performance is at an all-time high this year. Cornerstone (www.bigmonitors.com) is at the top of the scale with a maximum resolution of 2,048 x 1,536 pixels@72 Hertz (Hz). Some others boast maximum resolutions of 1,920 x 1,440 @76 Hz, including NEC (www.nec.com), Princeton (www.princetongraphics.com) and KDS (www.kds.com). Hitachi (www.hitachi.com) is at 1,856 x 1,392 @ 85 Hz. Most of the other 21” monitors in our test run at maximum resolutions of 1,800 x 1,440 @ 80 Hz or 1,600 X 1,200 @ 85 Hz. Of course, without the proper graphics card you will not be able to enjoy these fine resolution and refresh rates (See “Display Sidekicks” on page 47).
The monitors we looked at from Mitsubishi (www.mitsubishi.com), Compaq (www.compaq.com), Sony (www.sony.com) and NEC featured virtually flat CRT screens. These monitors employ an undetectable curve to reduce the concave effect sometimes found on a totally flat screen. Flatter screens reduce glare and geometric distortion.
Also important to many is the actual size of the monitor. A monitor with smaller width, height and depth can fit on a smaller desktop or tight shelf. Many manufacturers further enhance usable space by placing the video input and power connectors underneath the monitor chassis, allowing it to be placed flush against a wall.
If cost is a concern, you will be happy to know that the price of 21” monitors continues to fall even as performance is on the rise. The street prices of the monitors in our test ranged between $557 (KDS) and $1,584 (Sony).
Test Procedure
We tested all 15 monitors in the Imaging & Document Solutions Lab. Our performance tests relied on DisplayMate for Windows Multimedia Edition Version 2.0 from DisplayMate Technologies (www.displaymate.com). DisplayMate is a video utility that presents a variety of test patterns pinpointing specific monitor characteristics such as screen geometry, focus, and color and grayscale display. The software is also helpful for setting up or fine tuning a monitor. It provides descriptions of what to look for with each test pattern and tells you how to adjust the monitor settings to optimize performance.
Our test bed was a 333 MHz HP Vectra PC. The PC was equipped with a Revolution IV 32 MB, 250 MHz DAC, AGP graphics card from Number Nine Technologies (www.nine.com). The board supports 2D graphics resolutions at up to 1,920 x 1,200 @ 77 Hz refresh rate. We tested all the monitors at 1,600 x 1,200 @ 75 Hz with a 32-bit color depth (16.7 million colors).
The first step was setting up each display. DisplayMate offers a set up utility that provides a uniform set-up procedure. Each monitor was finely tuned using every available control. The monitor controls should give you enough features to adjust and correct any problems in the image. They should also be intuitive and easy to navigate on screen.
The standard controls to look for are brightness, contrast, geometry (parallelogram, trapezoid, and pincushion), size (horizontal and vertical) and position (horizontal and vertical). Most high-end monitors also include controls for moiré, color temperature and manual degaussing. Degaussing demagnetizes a monitor’s tube to reduce picture distortion. More extensive controls include corner focus and convergence (horizontal and vertical). The more controls you have, the more you can fine-tune the image and picture quality.
Next, we reviewed each monitor’s performance in the DisplayMate Video Obstacle Course. If a problem persisted, we used any automatic adjustment or factory reset, if available, to return the monitor to the original default settings.
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Graphics Cards: The Essential Sidekick
A superhero can’t perform at his or her best without a trusty sidekick. This is also true for monitors. Without a high-performance graphics card, you often lose the more advanced capabilities you paid for in a large, high-resolution display. Graphics cards are not just for gamers. Sure, you most likely will not need blazing 3D performance, but a high-quality card will also provide better 2D graphics and support your monitor’s maximum resolution and refresh rate for flicker-free performance and deeper color depths.
Given that more Web sites and business applications are adding 3D graphics, you may want to splurge on a card that is overkill for now but may serve a longer useful life. For good 3D performance you want at least 16 MB of SGRAM.
At a minimum, there are plenty of inexpensive graphics cards on the market that are geared toward business users. Most provide a higher level of performance than the plain vanilla card that came with your workstation, and they can enhance everyday office applications and improve productivity for image-intensive applications.
How do you know if you need a new graphics card? If you use a 19” or larger monitor and you have a graphic- or image-intensive application, you will definitely benefit from a higher-performance graphics card. Here are a few reasonably priced cards that should fit the bill.
—Liz Levy
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Monitor Performance
The DisplayMate Video Obstacle Course includes 26 different test patterns that pinpoint important monitor characteristics. The more important characteristics are described below.
Average Picture Level (APL):
A higher intensity of white raises the APL and can affect the intensities of blacks and grays.
Black Level:
Monitors should be able to produce a true black while also handling the most subtle variations or scales of gray.
Color Balance and Convergence:
If one of a monitor’s three electron guns (red, green, blue) is turned up higher than the other two, you will get a color imbalance and see a tint on the screen. The three CRT beams must also converge precisely to produce a single color image without loss to image detail.
Color Saturation and Tracking:
This tests the monitor’s ability to display gradations of color intensity without altering tint.
Focus, Contrast and Legibility:
Images should appear in focus from the center of the screen to the corners. There should be a minimum of color streaking and halo, which undermine contrast. Text should be legible at various point sizes on white and black backgrounds.
Grayscale Shift:
This measures the change in the brightness in gray areas when an adjacent area alternates in brightness.
Geometry:
This refers to the monitor’s ability to reproduce various shapes without distortion. Problems with geometry include poor linearity, shape variations and a disproportionate aspect ratio.
Moiré:
These are undesirable wavy lines or ripples that can be caused by a mismatch between the pattern of a monitor’s shadow mask or aperture grille and a horizontal line pattern on an image. They are also caused by natural magnetic interference.
Screen Regulation:
This gauges the affect of brightness on display stability. A high intensity of white can cause images to expand or contract.
Screen Uniformity:
When displaying a solid color, the screen should look the same from the center to the corners without dark spots or tints.
Video Bandwidth:
This is the monitor’s ability to refresh the screen in a given amount of time. A high bandwidth translates into support for higher resolutions and higher refresh rates.
White Level Saturation:
The brightest whites should not be saturated, and the monitor should be able to display a range of white intensities. U
And The Winners Are...
Our selections for Editors’ Choice shined in all categories, including design appeal, control comprehensiveness and ease of use, and performance (see “Test Procedure” on page 46). The same factors were considered in our Best Buy selection, but we weighed performance against price to spot the monitor that gives you the most bang for buck.
Our Editors’ Choice was a tie between the Compaq P110, with an estimated street price (ESP) of $1,150, and the Cornerstone P1700 (ESP $1,347). Both monitors displayed sharp text and uniform, well-focused images with high contrast and few screen defects. The Hitachi SuperScan 814 (ESP $1,352) performed comparably to the Cornerstone, however, Cornerstone offers a longer warranty and a software bundle including scale-to-gray, automatic scaling of screen fonts and icons, and application-independent color correction.
Our pick for Best Buy was the Nokia 445xi Plus, which delivered solid performance at a competitive street price of $806.
It’s important to note that monitors are subject to atmospheric interference and possible shipping damage. It is best to test each individual monitor before you accept delivery.
—Liz Levy
Model: Voodoo3 2000
San Jose, CA, 408-935-4400
www.3dfx.com
Street price: $103
Chipset: Voodoo3 2000 AGP
Memory: 16 MB
Bandwidth (RAMDAC): 300 MHz
Max Res./Refresh Rate at 32-bit color: 2048 x 1536 @ 60 Hz
Features: Up to two cards can be installed in one desktop for dual monitor display. Controls include many 3D-effect tweaking options.
ProductInfo no. 265
Model: Gemini
Redmond, WA, 425-882-2020
www.appian.com
Street Price: $399 (MSRP)
Chipset: S3 Savage/MX
Memory: 16 MB
Bandwidth (RAMDAC): 230MHz
Max Res./Refresh Rate at 32-bit color: 1600 x 1200 @ 85Hz
Features: Dual monitor output from one PCIslot. Two cards may be used to support four monitors. Supports independent resolutions and refresh rates for each monitor.
ProductInfo no. 266
Model: ImageAccel 5 AGP
Fremont, CA, 510-580-8900
www.bigmonitors.com
Street Price: $290
Chipset: Matrox MGA-G200
Memory: 8 MB
Bandwidth (RAMDAC): 320 MHz
Max Res./Refresh Rate at 32-bit color: 1,600 x 1,280 @ 87 Hz
Features: Includes on-the-fly resolution and color depth switching, scale to gray, instant brightness and contrast, G4 and JBIG decompression, pan/zoom, hot keys and independent application color correction.
ProductInfo no. 267
Model: Millennium G400
Quebec, Canada, 514-685-7230
www.matrox.com
Street Price: $180
Chipset: Matrox G400
Memory: 16 or 32 MB
Bandwidth (RAMDAC): 300 MHz
Max Res./Refresh Rate at 32-bit color: 2048 x 1536 @ 85 Hz
Features: DualHead Display outputs two separate images simultaneously on to two different displays.
ProductInfo no. 268
Model: SR9
Lexington, MA, 781-674-0009
www.nine.com
Street Price: $88
Chipset: S3 - Savage4 processor
Memory: 16 or 32 MB
Bandwidth (RAMDAC): 115 kHz
Max Res./Refresh Rate at 32-bit color: 1600 x 1200 @ 60 Hz
Features: Controls for contrast, hue, saturation, brightness and gamma, on-the-fly resolution and color exchange, 2 x 2 virtual desktops, true hardware pan and zoom, hot keys and color calibration.
ProductInfo no. 269
Model: 211C
Street Price: $895 Viewable Area: 20”
Dimensions: 20.2” x 20.0” x 20.2”
Max Res/Refresh: 1600 x 1200 @ 91 Hz
Optimal Res/Refresh: N/A
Horizontal Scan Frequency: 30 - 107 kHz
Pitch: 0.26 mm USB: 1 up, 4 down stream
Video Input: 15-pin D-sub, BNC, Mac adapter
Warranty: 3 years parts, labor and CRT
Description: Based on a Hitachi CRT with anti-glare, anti-reflection, anti-static coating.
Controls: H/V convergence, moiré, brightness, contrast, geometry, H/V size, H/V position. “I-key” for automatic calibration.
Performance: Using “I-key” was ineffective. Some moiré patterns were visible. Accurate screen geometry. Good color registration and color convergence, however, there was poor white-level regulation. Fair text readability at 6.8 points. Some ringing and overshoot effects were also apparent.
ProductInfo no. 249
Model: Microscan 6G
Street Price: $856 Viewable area: 20.0”
Dimensions: 19.6” x 19” x 22.1”
Max Res/Refresh: 1600 x 1200 @ 75Hz
Optimal Res/Refresh: 1280 x1024 @ 85Hz
Horizontal Scan Frequency: 30 - 95 kHz
Pitch: .22mm(h), .28mm(d) USB: None
Video Input: BNC, 15-pin D-sub
Warranty: 4 years parts, labor and CRT.
Description: Flat square, shadow mask CRT. 90-degree deflection. Anti-reflection, anti-glare and anti-static coating with low electromagnetic field.
Controls: Flip-down control panel. Brightness, contrast, H/V size, H/V position, pincushion, trapezoid, overscan, degauss, pin-corner, parallelogram, pinbalance, H/V linearity, H/V convergence, moiré.
Performance: Accurate screen geometry. Good rendering of grayscales and variances of white. Colors were vivid. Some haloing effects. Text readability was fair at 6.8 points. Vertical line brightness was poor.
ProductInfo no. 250
Model: P110
Street Price: $1,150 Viewable area: 19.8”
Dimensions: 20.1” x 20.6” x 19.8”
Max Res/Refresh: 1600 x 1200 @ 85 Hz
Optimal Res/Refresh: 1280 x 1024 @ 85 Hz
Horizontal Scan Frequency: 30 - 107 kHz
Pitch: .25 - .27 mm USB: Hub
Video Input: 15-pin miniature D-sub, BNC
Warranty: 3 year parts,1 year on-site labor, 48-hour direct replacement.
Description: Flat screen, aperture grill monitor. Ambient light sensor.
Controls: 3 navigation keys, separate contrast and brightness dials. H/V size, H/V position, pincushion, trapezoid, color temperature, degauss, parallelogram, overscan (on/off), moiré, H/V convergence.
Performance: Convenient controls. Uniform display and perfect geometry. High text readability in normal and reverse video. Good distinctions in grayscale and white-scale display. Clear details with vivid colors.
ProductInfo no. 251
Model: P1700
Street Price: $1,347 Viewable area: 20.0”
Dimensions: 19.3” x 19.5” x 18.8”
Max Res/Refresh 2048 x 1536 @ 72 Hz
Optimal Res/Refresh 1600 x 1280 @ 97 Hz
Horizontal Scan Frequency: 31 - 130 kHz
Pitch: 0.22 mm USB: None
Video Input: Dual 15-pin mini D-Sub
Warranty: 5 years with First Year Next Business Day On-Site Replacement.
Description: Short-neck cabinet design with right-angle cables. High contrast, anti-glare, anti-reflection, anti-static coating.
Controls: Degauss, brightness, contrast, size, centering, moiré, geometry, color temperature, convergence.
Performance: Excellent grayscale and contrast, sharp text rendering at 6.8 points, finely focused images and detailed lines. Good geometry. Vivid colors, accurate color convergence. No loss of detail on perimeter.
ProductInfo no. 252
Model: FX-E7S
Street Price: $1,295 Viewable area: 19.7”
Dimensions: 19.5” x 19.2” x 20.5”
Max Res/Refresh: 1600 x 1200 @ 87 Hz
Optimal Res/Refresh: 1280 x 1024 @ 102Hz
Horizontal Scan Frequency: 30 - 110 kHz
Pitch: 0.28 mm USB: Hub optional
Video Input: 15-pin D-Sub, BNC, Mac
Warranty: 3 years CRT, parts and labor
Description: Anti-reflective coating. Feature for non-interference with other monitors.
Controls: Auto-sizing, brightness, contrast, H/V size, H/V position, pincushion distortion/balance, trapezoid, parallelogram, rotation, degauss, H/V convergence, H moiré, color adjustment, input priority switch.
Performance: Grayscale appeared to have violet overtones. Whites suffered from lack of brightness. Overall clarity was impressive and images were sharp and focused. Some loss of detail at the periphery of the screen. Good geometry and easy adjustment.
ProductInfo no. 253
Model: SuperScan 814
Street Price: $1,352 Viewable area: 20”
Dimensions: 19.2” x 19” x 18.5”
Max Res/Refresh 1856 x 1392 @ 85Hz
Optimal Res/Refresh 1600 x 1200 @ 85 Hz
Horizontal Scan Frequency: 31 - 125 kHz
Pitch: 0.22 mm horizontal USB: None
Video Input: 15 pin D-sub
Warranty: 3 year parts, CRT, labor
Description: Flat, square, shadow mask CRT. High contrast, anti-static, anti-glare coating.
Controls: Brightness, contrast, H/V position, H/V size, rotation, pincushion, right pincushion, trapezoid, right trapezoid, degauss, H/V moiré reduction, color temperature.
Performance: Nice overall design. Controls were easy to use and included fine adjustment options for pincushion and trapezoid. Produced true blacks and pure whites with vivid color display. Color registration was accurate. Sharp focus and no noticeable geometric distortion. Text was crisp at 6.8 pts. Moiré distortion was minimal.
ProductInfo no. 254
Model: VS-21e
Street Price: $557 Viewable area: 19.9”
Dimensions: 19.9” x 20.9” x 19.1”
Max Res/Refresh:1920 x 1441 @ 78 Hz
Optimal Res/Refresh: 1600 x 1200 @ 85 Hz
Horizontal Scan Frequency: 30 - 117 kHz
Pitch: 0.26 mm USB: None
Video Input: 15 pin D-sub or BNC
Warranty: 3 years on parts and labor
Description: Shadow mask CRT. Anti-reflective, anti-static coated.
Controls: Four-way navigation pad. Contrast, brightness, H/V size, H/V position, color temperature, H/V pincushion, H trapezoid, H/V convergence, rotation, degauss.
Performance: Intuituve controls, however, geometry was difficult to adjust for optimal accuracy. Grayscale and whitescale displays were sharp, color display was vivid. Text suffered under 9.0 pts. Edges of screen were slightly less focused, especially in reverse video.
ProductInfo no. 255
Model: 2020u
Street Price: $1,240 Viewable area: 20”
Dimensions: 19.7” x 19.7” x 19.0”
Max Res/Refresh: 1800 x 1440 @ 75 Hz
Optimal Res/Refresh: 1600 x 1200 @ 85 Hz
Horizontal Scan Frequency: 30 - 121 kHz
Pitch: .25 mm - .27 mm USB: 2 up, 3 down.
Video Input: D-Sub 9-15 HD, Mac adapter
Warranty: 3 years parts and labor
Description: 22” (20” viewable) flat-screen, aperture-grill monitor. USB port is located in front. Anti-static and anti-reflective coating.
Controls: H/V size, H/V position, pincushion, H/V convergence, H/V moiré, degauss, trapezoid, parallelogram, color temperature, brightness, contrast, corner correction.
Performance: Good range of grayscale and whitescale rendering. Text focus could be better. Geometry controls were comprehensive and monitor exhibited good geometry. Screen regulation was below average.
ProductInfo no. 256
Model: FP1350
Street Price: $1,300 Viewable area: 20”
Dimensions: 23.2” x 25.5” x 25.7”
Max Res/Refresh: 1920 x 1440 @ 76 Hz
Optimal Res/Refresh: 1600 x 1200 @ 85 Hz
Horizontal Scan Frequency: 31 - 115 kHz
Pitch: 0.25 - 0.27 mm USB: Hub optional
Video Input: 15-pin mini D-SUB, BNC
Warranty: 3 years CRT, parts and labor
Description: 22” (20.0” viewable image size), 90º deflection, flat screen, aperture grille CRT, multi-layered, anti-static screen coating.
Controls: Degauss, brightness, contrast, H/V size, H/V position, pincushion, trapezoid, rotation, align, moiré reduction, convergence, corner correction, linearity, sharpness.
Performance: Convenient controls. No noticeable defects in geometry. Uniform screen, however, edges of screen appeared less focused. Sharp grayscale and whitescale representation. Vivid colors. Poor text readability with less contrast. Accurate color registration and tracking.
ProductInfo no. 257
Model: 445xi Plus
Street Price: $806 Viewable area: 19.6”
Dimensions: 20.1” x 19.2” x 21.2”.
Max Res/Refresh :1600 x 1200 @ 88 Hz
Optimal Res/Refresh: 1280 x 1024 @ 100 Hz
Horizontal Scan Frequency: 30 - 110kHz
Video Clock Frequency:270 MHz
Pitch: .22 mm horizontal USB: None
Video Input:: 15-pin D-SUB, BNC, Mac
Warranty: 3 year limited.
Description: Shadow mask display. Anti-reflective, anti-static coating.
Controls: Dual-input select switch. Three dials. Brightness, contrast, H/V size, H/V position, rotation, pincushion, trapezoid, orthogonality, color temperature, RGB control, H/V convergence, moiré cancellation, degauss.
Performance: User-friendly controls. Excellent geometry. Sharp contrast with good grayscale and whitescale display. Vivid color with accurate convergence. Good screen regulation. Very fine text readability. Focus was sharp and uniform across screen with minimal loss of detail at corners.
ProductInfo no. 258
Model: Pro P110
Street Price: $890 Viewable area: 20.0”
Dimensions: 19.9” x 19.2” x 20.4”
Max Res/Refresh: 1800 x 1440 @ 71 Hz
Optimal Res/Refresh :1600 x 1200 @ 75Hz
Horizontal Scan Frequency: 30 - 115kHz
Pitch: 0.25 mm USB: 1 up, 4 down stream.
Video Input: 15-pin mini D-sub
Warranty: 3 year limited, 1 year onsite swap
Description: Slot-mask, flat-square CRT. Anti-glare, anti-static coating.
Controls: Contrast, brightness, degauss, recall, H/V position, H/V size, V pincushion, trapezoid, parallelogram, rotation, color temperature, display frequency, video level, input select, H/V moiré cancellation, H/V convergence, focus.
Performance: Accurate geometry. High text readability at 6.8 pts in normal and reverse video. Delivered true blacks with sharp contrast. Vivid colors. Good screen regulation. High video bandwidth. Minor moiré.
ProductInfo no. 256
Model: EO 2000
Street Price: $742 Viewable area: 19.9”
Dimensions: 19.3” x 20.4” x 20.3”
Max Res/Refresh 1920 x 1440 @ 76Hz
Optimal Res/Refresh 1600 x 1200 @ 85Hz
Horizontal Scan Frequency: 30 - 115kHz
Video Clock Frequency: 300 MHz
Pitch: 0.26 mm diagonal USB: 1 up, 4 down
Video Input: 15-pin mini D-sub, BNC
Warranty: 3-year parts, CRT and labor, 1-year 48-hour advance replacement
Description: Flat-square, shadow mask CRT. Anti-reflective, anti-static coating.
Controls: Brightness, contrast, degauss, H/V size, H/V position, color control, corner pincushion, V linearity, moiré reduction, pincushion, trapezoid, parallelogram.
Performance: Geometry was difficult to adjust perfectly. Impressive grayscale display. Sharp text readability. Minor ghosting and streaking in black and white images.
ProductInfo no. 260
Model: AlphaScan 912S
Street Price: $780 Viewable area: 20”
Dimensions: 20.0” x 20.9” x 20.2”
Max Res/Refresh 1880 x 1440 @ 65 Hz
Optimal Res/Refresh 1600 x 1200 @ 85 Hz
Horizontal Scan Frequency: 30 - 110 kHz
Pitch: .25mm USB: Optional
Video Input: 15 pin D-sub
Warranty: 3 years parts and labor.
Description: Flat-square, shadow mask CRT with dynamic focus and anti-glare coating.
Controls: Brightness, contrast, H/V position, H/V size, rotation, pincushion, trapezoid, H/V moiré cancellation, degauss, RGB mode, color temperature, parallelogram, pinbalance, recall.
Performance: Minimal geometric distortion and moiré. Some ghosting and streaking. Poor Average Picture Level with blacks effected by adjacent brightness. The screen appeared dim, effecting contrast. Text had good readability at 9.0 points. Corners were less focused.
ProductInfo no. 261
Model: 1000P
Street Price: $938 Viewable area: 19.7”
Dimensions: 20.2” x 19.9” x 21.7”
Max Res/Refresh: 1600 x 1200 @ 85Hz
Optimal Res/Refresh: 1280 x 1024 @ 85Hz
Horizontal Scan Frequency: 30 - 107 kHz
Pitch: 0.25 mm vertical USB: Optional
Video Input: 15 pin female D-sub, BNC, Mac adapter included.
Warranty: 3 Years
Description: Shadow Mask. 90 degree light deflection (glare reduction).
Controls: Four-way navigation pad. H/V position, H/V size, pin balance, pincushion, trapezoid, parallel, rotation, color selection, color control, moiré cancellation, contrast, brightness, manual degauss.
Performance: Geometry was difficult to adjust for optimum performance. Grayscale display was good, but gradations of white were not as vivid. Text was clear and easy to read at 6.8 pts. Some shadowing was noticeable at corners. Controls were well designed and intuitive.
ProductInfo no. 262
