New Monitor
LCD monitor prices are finally coming back to sanity. So its time to make an investment in my eyes. I find after a day looking at my Philips 109P that my eyes can often be quite tired. Conversely when back when I used my Toshiba Tecra 8100 everyday I found the 14″ LCD screen very easy to look at.
There are a few choices out there. The many thing is getting something with a fast response time, so if I want I can fire up Half-Life 2 or whatever and have an enjoyable game. The other thing to decided is monitor size, 19″ or 20″? That of course is a cost decision, certainly the price difference between the 17″ and 19″ is such now that the 19″ is the better buy. I’m used though to using 1600×1200 with a large font on my CRT monitor and of the that I’d need a 20.1″ LCD. Question is, should I pay the 1K more for that 1″?
So far, these look interesting: Philips 190S5FB (12ms response and 500:1 contrast), Philips 200P4VB/00(pricespy), and the Viewsonic VP201B.
Some articles and comments that struck me as interesting as I was doing research into this:
LCD monitors and dot pitch. Particular this comment:
I happen to prefer larger dot pitch screens like the current 19″ monitors. The reason? … Text scaling using windows on an LCD stinks. If you buy a low dot pitch screen, the native fonts will be quite small. Some people thrive on the extra room this provides for running multiple programs, editing pictures, CAD, etc… others find reading text quite an eye strain. Just go into any thread of new Dell 2001FP owners and someone will be returning it because they dislike the small text. I’m only 25 and while I can easily read these smaller characters, there is noticably less eye strain for me reading larger characters… especially after a couple of hours in front of the screen.
and this detail:
15″ Monitor, 1024×768 native resolution, 297mm dot pitch
17″ Monitor, 1280×1024 native resolution, .264mm dot pitch
18.1″ Monitor, 1280×1024 native resolution, .2805mm dot pitch
19″ Monitor, 1280×1024 native resolution, .294mm dot pitch
20.1″ Monitor, 1600×1200 native resolution, .255mm dot pitch
23″ Monitor, 1600×1200 native resolution, .294mm dot pitch
Whole lot of good comments in this thread: Fast 19″ LCD Round-Up!
Usually I don’t like Sony, but this comment is compelling.
I think its funny reading about cleartype now. I had tried out several other LCD’s before buying my Sony SDM-HS94p and went through the whole cleartype ordeal… adjusting cleartype on Microsoft.com and agonizing over which tiny difference in setting made the text look better. It was kind of like going to the eye doctor and going through the “does it look better with lense #1 or #2” experience. In the end you get something that you think looks good… then you turn cleartype off and you start agonizing over whether that is better or not… arggggghhhhh
With the Sony, text is sooooo clear… turning on cleartype is almost funny (why would I want that fuzzy text on my screen)… Buying the Sony is like getting your first pair of glasses… (oh… so that’s what it’s all supposed to look like….:-)