LCD monitor??

[DocDon]

Need one for office use (word processing, spread sheet, etc). Lack of desk space and wanting to make this a "modern" office dicates an LCD. Question, which one is the best??

 

[Gosharkss]

Just a couple things you should know about LCD monitors.

All LCD monitors are fixed resolution devices. LCD monitors use a matrix of cells so the pixels are in a fixed location and therefore define the native resolution of the monitor. For example a typical 18" LCD monitor with a dot pitch of 0.2805mm and a horizontal viewable area of 359mm has a native resolution of 1280 in the horizontal direction. Math is simple, 359 divided by 0.2805 equals 1279.85 or 1280 if you account for the small rounding error. Same calculation can be made in the vertical direction. What happens at resolutions other than the native resolution is that the electronics must scale the smaller image up to the maximum size of the matrix or cells. The scaling is relatively easy if you are dividing or multiplying by 2 (going from 1280 to 640 for example, the height and width of the pixels are halved) but difficult when scaling by a non-integer. When the scaling factor is not an integer its not possible to uniquely assign data to a singe pixel or cell. The mathematical rounding errors can create the fuzziness or clarity problems you see. Most LCD monitors today have complex circuitry to reduce this phenomenon however the odds are you will still see some artifacts at resolutions other than the native resolution.

LCD monitors are famous for having dead pixels (pixels that are either always on or off). Contact the manufacturer and ask them what their policy is on dead pixels.

I hope this helps

 

[ScottG]

SGI's 1600sw with multilink adp. Its currently on sale for about 1500 which is 1k less than retail. The GOOD part is that it can display 2 full size pages at once and has better resolution than any lcd display (except the new uxga 15inch laptops comming out), the bad part is (other than price) that the video card selection is limited. If you just are looking for 2d quality then by one of the panel/video card packages. If you want 3d (gaming) as well then by the multilink package and purchase the Matrox g 400 with the add. $60 dollar DVI-out daughter card, or purchase the ATI wonder radeon and wait untill (if they ever) write the drivers for the 1600 by 1024 res. (which is what I just posted on this forum). Either card will only be temp. for 3d because the frames-per-second will still at best be only around 25 fps for the ATI at 1600 by 1024 resolution.

 

[ScottG]

Apparently I was wrong about the 2d/3d card issue for the SGI w/ multilink, you can have your cake and eat it to. The Hercules 3d Prophet Ultra will give around 60 fps in 1600 by 1024 with digital out - and superior 2d quality as well.

 

[hans007]

get an nec 1810 18.1 inch or the 1525x 15". they are dvi and analog compatible. Combo ones i'd say are the best as the digital interfaces dont have the gitter from the double analog to digital conversion