lisa,
OT--monitors
I read the CS upgrade guide last night and was disappointed in the article.
Monitors they recomended (all 17") are:
AcerView 78ie
NEC M700 & P750 (M700 has cheesy speakers built in -- yuck)
Nokia 447Xav (speakers)
Panasonic P17
Princeton Graphics e75
Sony 17seII -- trinitron definately
Utobia EV400
Viewsonic PT775 -- probably trinitron
No spec's in article, so I don't know if which ones have seams.
Here are some thoughts:
Aesthetic considerations really matter. It is a compromise for manufacturer's to deliver anti-glare screens vs. really black blacks.
NEC for instance has no antiglare coating on the screen at all which makes it look really cool turned off and impressive in pure graphical applications. However, if any natural light is present or florescent light shines on screen, it turns into a mirror. Then you have to hang this ugly antiglare sreen on the front of the monitor which is sometimes free or costs $100. This is just an example of why it is important to try to view what your buying.
Uhhhh, Viewsonic has a monitor for $1500 (pt 813) and says it has aperture grille technology...as if it is a good thing.
Like Kevin Walsh says, most people aren't bothered by the seams. To me they are defects. A couple of years ago, Sun switched the monitors they shipped with their high end work stations to trinitron tubes. We had customers complain about the seams. When I approached Sun, they said non-trinitron monitors are now considered an upgrade. This is on a 40K work station. Really pissed me off.
I am going to add a strong vote for the 21" in the great monitor debate. The really nice thing about them is that you can view two side by side complete pages in word. This is really nice for some one that does alot of work with documents. And, since you don't care about cost that much, really impressive technology does not make its way into the 17"'s. Would be a bad marketing move.
When you view the 21", make sure you are using 1280x1024. 1024x768 is too low a resolution and makes things look artificially large. Dual 17"'s, now that's an interesting idea. I need the 21 for schematic work and definately don't have room for another.
Oh, yeah the pt813 is 21".
Thanks for the CPQ info. Good luck. |
