Introduction
Generally, the most important issue in cathode ray tube (CRT) displays is the refresh rate at the resolution you plan to use. Cheaper 15" and 17" monitors may be limited to a maximum resolution of 1280 x 1024 or even less -- sometimes at a maximum refresh rate of only about 60 Hz. At 1024x768 resolution (which a good graphics card and monitor combo can easily exceed), you should look for a refresh rate of 75 Hz or faster (our in-house CRT systems run at 90 Hz), for a stable, non-flickering image.
We recently polled a panel of experts on which monitor they would recommend and, lo and behold, three out of three computer gurus recommended Viewsonic monitors. Currently, Samsung monitors -- especially the company's excellent flat-panel models -- are on our short list, as well. We've also had good results from most Sony Trinitron-based monitors, although our own 1995-era 15SF recently gave up the ghost after several years of reliable service.
Five to seven years is a reasonable length of time to expect a monitor to last, although some monitors will provide service for much longer than that. (We were able to get our defective Sony Trinitron unit repaired for $60, however its sharpness was not quite as good in later life.)
Cheap monitors (Proview and Voxon are the classic examples) may fail in a year or less, most commonly due to a failure of a part known as a flyback transformer. Use Extreme caution if you are ever attempting to repair or diagnose a monitor. The voltages can be lethal, and the units can hold a charge even when disconnected from AC power. In the case of our notorious examples, or several others listed in the "not recommended" category later in this article, it's probably not worth repairing. Buy a better model and chalk it up to experience.
Repairing
If you look in local computer papers, you will probably be able to find advertisements for "flat rate" monitor repairs. Typically, 15" or smaller monitors will cost about $60 - 80 to repair, while 17" and larger sizes cost a little more. Before you spend the money, consider that decent-quality refurbished 14" or 15" monitors can be bought for as little as $45, and used monitors often go for even less. As noted above, we had an older Sony monitor repaired, but the fact is: after a few years, the effect of the earth's magnetic field and the deterioration of the phosphors in a colour monitor naturally cause the picture quality to diminish slightly, even on the best CRT monitors. It no longer sports the razor-sharp images it once did, and the colour fidelity isn't as good as it once was. Still, it's as good or better than most $200 monitors and suitable for almost any task that doesn't demand absolute colour accuracy. The decision to repair or replace is up to you. If, as we recommend, you invest in a good monitor to start with, you're more likely to find repairs a worthwhile option to consider in the years to come.
Upgrading
If you are upgrading to a new computer and already have a monitor, you may be able to use your old display. Provided that the monitor's sharpness and brightness are still adequate (phosphors fade eventually, and the earth's magnetic field can eventually cause a CRT monitor to lose some sharpness), it should work fine with your new system.
Cheap Monitors
Our shopping experiences in 1998, 1999 and 2000 led us to discover that many PC clone retailers were selling "bargain" computer systems with extremely cheap, poor-quality monitors. Brands such as Orchextra, AAmazing and (especially!) Proview monitors suffer abnormally high failure rates and, even at the best of times, sub-par image quality. While this trend has lessened somewhat in the years since then, it's still a factor to consider. We'd advise spending a little more on a better monitor (beware, however, of low-cost Voxon monitors -- they may look good initially, but the failure rate is unusually high!). Hansol is a popular low-cost brand of 15", 17" and 19" monitors that most users are happy with. In 19" monitors, the KDS VS195 (with an 18'' viewable area) is a low-cost model that is surprisingly good for its price. Daytek 15" and 17" models, although a little more trouble-prone that higher-priced brands, are also a decent low-end choice (the latter was a CCW Editor's Choice). In general, the adage "you get what you pay for," holds true in most cases. Currently, our favorite "cheap" monitors are those from Samsung and AOC.
Tested Displays
The following list describes our experiences with various monitors we have encountered.
In Alphabetical Order:
Apple 1710AV and Apple AV 15"
Pros: audio-enabled.
Cons: poor quality control, high price.
Former MacWeek editor Henry Norr called the 1710 the "worst product Apple ever made" and we're inclined to agree, despite our experience with the PowerBook 5300 (another quality-control nightmare). Apple's 15" monitors from the 1994-97 era are of similarly poor manufacture (the online website www.macintouch.com recently reported a 62.5% DOA rate!) and often emit a high-pitched whine. In several units we've seen, the on-screen image is tilted excessively -- not an easy thing to fix, as the AV 15" has no front-panel controls for this adjustment. Caveat Emptor.
Apple got its act together in the late '90s, as evidenced by a Editor's Choice award in the (now-defunct) CCW mag for its blue and white Apple Studio Display model and the numerous awards handed out to the company for its Apple Cinema Display - probably the closest thing to the perfect balance between art and science that most of us will ever see in a display (and at the price it sells at, it ought to be!). With that said, we personally find LCD displays very poor for jobs requiring accurate colour matching. Due to the display characteristics and limited viewing angle of active-matrix LCD technology, colours simply don't look the same when an object is more than about six inches from the center of your field of view. This makes photo retouching and editing highly impractical on an LCD. We strongly recommend a CRT with color-calibration features from LaCie or other respected manufacturers for the best results.
With that said, some LCDs are better than others at displaying accurate colours from oblique angles. This so-called viewing angle varies widely between models and brands. The 20-inch Apple Cinema Display, for example, has a 170-degree viewing angle that makes the unit much better than models with a narrower viewing angle at displaying accurate color to more than one observer. (This issue doesn't affect CRTs, by the way.)
We currently have one other Apple monitor in our test labs: an old (1994 era) Apple Multiple Scan 15 Display. This monitor uses shadow mask CRT technology and suffers from a large dot pitch, delivering mediocre display quality at best. To its credit, it hasn't broken or misbehaved in more than seven years of service.
CTX 17 inch.
Daytek 15"
Daytek Vista V17
GVC 15" - Low radiation, MPR II compliant, reasonably crisp picture. Not well supported by colour calibration utilities. Our unit was a reliable performer for four years; it failed to turn on one day in its fifth year.
Hansol 701P 17"
Here's a link to Hansol's U.S. web page http://www.hansol-us.com/ for detailed product specs.
HP Ergo Ultra VGA - well supported by Plug and Play OSes, and a good quality image. It's better than many of the other monitors we see coupled with PCs from the "big name" brands. Recommended.
KDS VS-195 This 19" monitor, sometimes sold at Costco for under C$500, and available at BestBuy and many other outlets in the US for less than US$350 features a 0.26mm display and is, according to owners who've had one for more than a year, a bargain. Recommended.
Mag Innovision
Just because a company has a reasonably well-respected name in monitors doesn't mean that every monitor it makes is good. For example, the Mag Innovision 14" DX1595 is, in our view, not a very good monitor. We do not recommend it, due to excessive blooming and image-edge distortions.
However, the US$575 Mag Innovision DX700T 17" monitor is much better. It's not as good as its US$729 predecessor, the DX17T, but it's still a very good monitor. The DX700T uses Trinitron technology to produce a dot pitch equivalent of 0.25 via its aperture grille. In Canadian dollars, the Mag is about $200 less money than an equivalent Sony.
Another excellent monitor at about the price of a Sony is the Iiyama 8617. Iiyama users cite its much better image quality than the cheaper Mag model. As always, you get what you pay for.
MAG also sells an inexpensive (about US$250) Trinitron-based model called the XJ700T. This is a bargain priced 17" .25 Trinitron display but, judging from the number of complaints we hear, the quality control seems poor.
In general, our MAG experiences are consistent with many others who've found that MAG quality control isn't very
good. As one Usenet poster noted, it'll be fine if you get a good one (be aware that ALL 17" Trinitron tubes have two dark lines running across the screen!) but the possibility of getting a bad one means you should be sure to get it from someplace where it would be easy to return it.
Here are some comments from Usenet:
Other monitors, including several competing Trinitron and Diamondtron models are reviewed elsewhere on this site.
Iiyama 8617
Another excellent monitor at about the price of a Sony is the Iiyama 8617. Iiyama users cite its much better image quality than the cheaper Mag model. As always, you get what you pay for.
Panasonic PanaSync E70i (17")
The entry-level Panasonic E70i is approximately on par with the NEC E700 in terms of picture quality -- not great, but definitely above average. And, like the NEC model and those of most other big-name manufacturers, the price is a bit higher than that of lesser-known competitors. We tested 16 of these Panasonic monitors and found no defective units and no significant variances in any of the displays. Recommended.
PRINCETON EO705
(info supplied by vendor)
Princeton has announced the release of the EO705 (15.9-inch viewable) ultra high resolution, 17-inch monitor. This addition features a sleek ergonomic new design; bringing high style furniture to the desktop. "This new design reduces desktop intrusion because it has the footprint of a much smaller monitor," said Charlie Pai, Princeton's Product Manager. The company says its inventive user controls, convenient new auto setup feature, coupled with Windows 95 Plug and Play compatibility, ensures quick, easy installation, set up and monitor adjustment. The EO705 has a C$479 MSRP.
NEW ERGONOMIC DESIGN
The EO705 is at the head of its class with its sleek new ergonomically designed housing. This monitor has the footprint of a 15-inch monitor with all the specifications and viewable size of a 17-inch. The EO705 is digitally controlled and features a multi-language PreVu sm OSD (English, Spanish, German, French, Italian) for non-English speaking users and regions.
The EO705 was designed for Windows 95 to ensure compatibility with Windows Operating System and graphics sub-system. Supporting the latest VESA 85Hz ergonomic standards, the EO705 reduces fllicker and eye strain. With a .28mm dot pitch, non-glare, etched, flat square CRT, maximum resolution of 1280 x 1024 non-interlaced and inventive user controls (including the new auto setup feature), the EO705 is a great choice for a first monitor and applications involving word processing, data entry, and spreadsheets. PreVuô ON-SCREEN DISPLAY PreVuTM on-screen display for easy, user-friendly control adjustments are featured with the EO500 and EO710. Digital user controls include brightness and contrast, with PreVuTM on-screen display featuring horizontal position and size, vertical position and size, pincushion, trapezoid, rotation (tilt), V-moire, H-moire, degauss and parallelogram. Advanced features include ColorightTM Technology, a color temperature control with Red, Green and Blue Gain adjustments and Advanced Screen Geometry Controls (trapezoid, pincushion, rotation/tilt).
PLUG AND PLAY
The EO705 incorporates Plug and Play technology to support Microsoft's Windows 95 operating system and VESA's new communication standard for the Display Data Channel (DDC1 and DDC2b). Plug and Play is a communication tool that enables a monitor to identify itself to the computer and automatically set itself, when using a compatible video card, producing an optimal match between the system's capabilities and the monitor's performance. Custom setups are eliminated and resolution switching is "on the fly" with Windows 95's user-friendly control panel. The EO705 is compatible with Apple and SunSparc systems with an adapter.
ENVIRONMENTALLY SOUND
The EO705 is environmentally sound and meets or exceeds the EPA's Energy Star program for power savings and SWEDAC MPR II guidelines for low electromagnetic and static emissions. In compliance with VESA's Display Power Management Signaling (DPMS) for power management, the EO705 powers down to sleep mode when not in use.
48-HOUR REPLACEMENT PROGRAM
In the event of equipment malfunction, Princeton provides a hassle-free warranty to ensure that a replacement monitor is delivered within two days. This 48-Hour Replacement Program covers the first year of ownership on the EO705.
Proview 15"
Proview 15"
Optiquest Q71
Subjectively, this unit started off with image quality slightly better than that of the comparably priced Samsung 750s monitor. However, within a month, the Optiquest Q71's picture quality deteriorated by perhaps 10 percent, resulting in an image approximately on par with the Samsung unit. Still, we'd give at least one thumb up for this unit, to those looking for a 17" monitor under C$250.
Samsung 17" 750P
This model, which, at C$319, costs about $60 more than the Samsung 750S model of comparable size, has significantly better picture quality. Recommended. See the list of Best 17-19" monitors you can buy for less than $300 bucks at the bottom of this article for a few other Samsung recommendations.
Samsung 17" 170MP
This stylish LCD monitor includes a built-in TV tuner, speakers and multiple inputs, allowing the display to handle VGA, S-Video/Composite and TV inputs, and switch between them. Picture-in-picture mode is supported. The integrated display stand folds flat, allowing the unit to be hung on the wall. Image quality is excellent. At this writing, it sells for about C$950. Recommended.
Seanix 17" (also sold as Priceton EO74T)
We bought one of these monitors and have been reasonably happy with it. Its combination of low price and Mitsubishi Diamondtron tube technology (based on Sony's Trinitron aperture grille design) adds up to a great value. A Mac adapter is included.
Sony 15sf, the Sony 15sf II and Sony 17sf II
The Sony 15sf, 15sf II and 17sf II are very similar, with the latter models having on-screen digital controls for easier interpretation of the effects of the front-panel pushbuttons. All offer excellent picture quality -- to our eyes, the Sony tubes continue to be superior to the Mitsubishi Diamondtron or shadow-mask "equivalents."
Note, however, that all aperture grille tubes have one (15") or two (17") noticeable dark horizontal lines traversing the picture tube. This is normal and, we think, a small price to pay for such outstanding clarity and color fidelity.
We've owned Sony monitors for more than a decade and have found them to be among the most reliable monitors on the market. They are also well supported by most popular operating systems -- a plus, if accurate colour calibration is important to you. Recommended.
Complicating the situation, however, is the news that Sony is planning to discontinue its 15", 17" and 19" CRT monitors, citing increased demand for LCD technologies. This leaves several companies that previously relied on Sony tubes scrambling to find alternate suppliers. At this writing, only Mitsubishi makes aperture grille CRTs in those sizes. (Read more....)
TVM Low Radiation 3A 14" monitor
Voxon 15" and 17"
Contact the distributor at www.startek.bc.ca
Not Recommended
Aamazing monitors were fairly good value for the money, but we do not recommend them currently, as the company is in receivership, and service/support is likely to be a problem.
Apple AppleVision series monitors (pre 1998) - this is how you spell trouble. 1995-97 models suffered from terrible quality control and high failure rates.
Apple eMac (2002/2003) displays suffer from high failure rates. Not recommended.
CTX - reports of service problems are frequent.
Mag DX1595 - noisy switching between display modes, poor geometry, significant phosphor blooming.
Proview 15" and 17" - Picture quality is only fair. Severe blooming. Quality issues.
TVM Low Radiation 3A - this unit, like many low-cost monitors produced during 1990 - 1995, is suitable for use at 640 x 480 resolution only.
Voxon 15" and 17" - Frequent malfunctions; poor quality control.
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