Learn about Monitors

Is it crazy to spend more on the monitor than the PC?

The more you use computers the more you'll come to the realization that your monitor should be considered the most important part of the PC system purchase. Too many first time users and novices fall into the trap of getting overly focused on PC specs and buy monitors as an afterthought.

Consider this example:
User #1 bought a $2000 Pentium II 500 system in 1998 and paid $350 for a 15" monitor. Today neither item is source of amazing performance by 2002 standards.
User #2 bought a $2400 Pentium III 800 system in 2000 and paid $800 for a 19" monitor. Today the 19" monitor is still great! And a new, much faster PC is $800.00!

Conclusion: "Invest" in the biggest and best monitor you can. It turns out to be the smarter long-term purchase.

CRT's vs. Flat Panel (LCD) Displays

CRTs offer higher resolution: CRTs still offer functionality that flat panels do not.

For example, CRTs can display higher resolutions such as 1600x1200 while flat panels are generally limited to 1024 x 768. If you require higher resolution than 1024 x 768 CRTs are still the way to go.
Cost! A high performance Acer 19" CRT is now less than half the cost of an Acer 15" flat panel display.

You can get a much larger display area for your money if you choose a CRT. Like all information technology products the price of flat panels will decline over time as supply and manufacturing economies of scale increase. However, we do not anticipate a big price drop on flat panel monitors right around the corner. It will take many years for FPD to be price competitive with CRTs.
Brightness

Flat panel image quality and brightness continues to improve and $1K will get you a very impressive 15" flat panel display. However CRT's still offer a brighter and more vivid image.

Dot Pitch

Dot pitch depends entirely on the monitor you buy; this is not something that can be changed by the user. The CRT's screen is made up of small elements of red, green and blue phosphorous material, called dots. The dot pitch is the distance between adjacent sets of red, green and blue dots. The smaller the distance between each picture element the finer the image will appear.

Good Rule of Thumb: The smaller the dot pitch, the sharper the image.

Size of display and their uses

Remember! Monitor screens, like TV screens, are measured on the diagonal. So a 15" monitor is 15" from corner to corner not across.
15" Monitors - The main attraction to 15" monitors is their low cost. Typically these monitors are found as bundles with PC's and are targeted for the first time buyer. A 15" monitor is a good match for people only interested in word processing or small spreadsheet applications.
17" Monitors - 17" monitors offer an upgrade from the smaller 15" monitor and are found in a wide range of prices. 17" monitors are ideal for web surfing and Internet applications as well as common word processing and spreadsheet applications. For price vs. image size 17" is the most popular specification at this time.
19" Monitors - 19" monitors are perfect for the amateur graphics designer or hardcore gamer. If you are worried about space on your desktop, check out the new short-length monitors, which take up less desk space than a 17" but offer the benefits of a 19"!
21" Monitors - 21" monitors are the best bet for a professional graphics designer. These monitors generally offer a high resolution and refresh rate, two features that are important to the graphics design professional. To improve the display of the 21" a BNC Cables can be usually be ordered for an additional charge. (For more information see BNC Cable).

Resolution

Setting your resolution depends primarily on the size of your monitor. Setting a high resolution on a small monitor will place added strain on your eyes.

The standard settings are:
14" or 15" - 800 x 600
17" or 19" - 1024 x 768
21" - 1280 x 1024 or 1600 x 1200

Higher resolutions are often desirable for running multiple applications when more of information must be displayed for a given area of screen size.

User Tip: If the user's eyesight is not so good lower resolution (640 x 480) will result in larger fonts and icons that will be easier to read.

Colors

Basically the more colors you set your monitor for the better image quality you will see. Your color settings are dependent on your video card not your monitor.

Here is an easy way to find out what colors are the best to use for your video card.
Horizontal Resolution x Vertical Resolution x Bytes per Pixel = Amount of Ram Required (in bytes)
16 Colors = 0.5 Bytes per Pixel
256 Colors = 1 Byte per Pixel
High Color = 2 Bytes per Pixel
True Color = 3 Bytes per Pixel

Example:
To find out if your video card supports True Color at 1024 x 768:
1024 x 768 x 3 = 2,359,296 bytes (2.4 MB).

Because video cards run in increments of 1,2,4 and 8 MB you must have a video card with 4 MB of video RAM to run True Color at 1024 x 768.

Refresh Rates

The refresh rate of a monitor tells you how frequently the screen is redrawn by the electron guns within the CRT. This number is measured in hertz (HZ) or cycles per second. A refresh rate of 70 indicates that the screen is redrawn 70 times per second.

A low refresh rate may result in a "flicker" of the image on your display. Most people will notice a flicker if the refresh rate is below 60hz. Some people will notice this flicker with a refresh rate between 60 and 72hz. And a few people will even notice a flicker with a refresh rate above 72hz.

Refresh rates depend on the resolution of your monitor. A lower resolution will allow you to run at a higher refresh rate. Common refresh rates are between 67hz and 85hz.

Good Rule of Thumb: The higher the refresh rate is the more comfortable the display will be on your eyes.

Extra Tip: The long, tube-like fluorescent lights found in many workplaces or commercial environments operate at about 60Hz. Under this lighting condition a monitor with a slow refresh rate of only 60Hz will appear to flicker and can make your eyes uncomfortable. If you are working under fluorescent lights be sure to give consideration to a monitor with a high refresh rate such as an Acer Graphics or Professional Series monitor. No Acer monitors, not even the lowest cost 14," operate at less than 66Hz at their higher resolutions. If your current monitor (from any manufacturer) appears to flicker try reducing the resolution to increase the monitors refresh rate and reduce flicker.

"Natural Flat" CRTs:

Not to be confused with flat panels, natural flat CRTs have a flat glass face. The face of the glass is flat rather than curved. This offers several advantages.
Less glare because the curved screen has more angles and will pick up more background reflections.
Because display size is measured corner to corner and along the surface area of the glass "natural flat" tubes offer truer absolute screen size measurement.
Curved glass causes some slight image distortion; Natural Flat Monitors do not suffer such an effect.
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Aperture Grill vs. Shadow Mask CRT Monitors

There are two major types of glass tube monitors, aperture grill and shadow mask.

Aperture grill monitors offer brighter and more vivid/accurate colors. A designer who is concerned with matching colors perfectly or a user who just wants great color would probably want an aperture grill monitor. Aperture grill CRTs are more expensive but offer noticeably better color and brightness.

Shadow Mask based CRTs are lower cost and are the most common type of CRT. The shadow mask is a metal plate with many tiny holes that guide the electron beam to line up on the phosphor elements that glow to produce images.

While shadow mask does not offer the same color performance as aperture grill it can offer a finer text image with less fuzzy black and white edges than aperture grill. Shadow mask CRTs are less expensive and good for word processing and spreadsheets and common, typical work related applications, which explains their popularity. Aperture Grill tubes are common in monitors such as the Acer professional series CRTs, designed for graphic professionals or anyone who appreciates how important the monitor is.

Warning: Before you change your refresh rate it is important to find out what refresh rate your monitor will support. Setting a refresh rate above the support level could cause irreversible damage to your monitor.

Screen Savers

Screen savers were invented to prevent "ghosting" on older monitors. When an image is displayed for a long period of time the phosphor on the CRT would actually be burnt in to the display. After the monitor is turned off or the display is changed a faint outline of the previous image can be seen. Screen savers were invented to change the image on the screen to prevent this from happening.

Today, most monitors are manufactured to prevent ghosting from day one. As a result screen savers are really unnecessary yet still beneficial. Screen savers can be used for security purposes as well as entertainment value.

BNC Cables

BNC cables are generally used for high-performance monitors to provide a higher quality image. This special coaxial cable has a standard 15-pin connector for the video card on one end, but contains separate wires with BNC connectors on the other end for the monitor. BNC cables contain 5 wires, one for red, green, blue, horizontal sync and vertical sync. The BNC cables can be ordered for a small additional cost.

Monitor Safety

For your safety as well as to prevent further monitor damage please keep the cover on your monitor. If your monitor requires repair beyond what you can do without opening the monitor contact your local monitor repair shop.

Try these links for additional information;

Liquid Crystal Display (LCD)

Cathode ray tube ( CRT)