Specifications

Monitor Selection Criteria
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Note
One of the many reasons I don’t recommend low-cost computers sold by major retail stores is because they often are bundled
with low-quality CRT or LCD monitors. Although 15'' CRT monitors are now less common than 17'' CRT monitors, many bun-
dled monitors in either size have lower refresh rates, are bulkier, or have other deficiencies compared to high-quality third-
party monitors. If you buy the computer and monitor separately, you have a wider choice of displays and can get one of
higher quality. You can also opt for an LCD if space, rather than cost, is a major factor. Note that some vendors who make or
sell both computers and LCDs, such as Sony and HP, now bundle some of their computer models with LCDs.
Larger monitors are particularly handy for applications such as CAD and desktop publishing, in which
the smallest details must be clearly visible. With a 17'' or larger display, you can see nearly an entire
8 1/2''×11'' print page in 100% view; in other words, what you see onscreen virtually matches the
page that will be printed. Being able to see the entire page at its actual size can save you the trouble of
printing several drafts of a document or project to get it right.
With the popularity of the Internet, monitor size and resolution become even more of an issue. Many
Web pages are designed for 800×600 or higher resolutions. Whereas a 15'' monitor can handle
800×600 fairly well, a 17'' monitor set to 1024×768 resolution enables you to comfortably view any
Web site without eyestrain (if the monitor supports 75Hz or higher refresh rates) or excessive
scrolling.
Note
Although many monitors smaller than 17'' are physically capable of running at 1024×768 and even higher resolutions,
most people have trouble reading print at that size. A partial solution is to enable large icons in the Windows Display
properties (right-click your desktop and select Properties). In Windows 98/Me/2000/XP, select Effects, Use Large Icons.
Windows 95 doesn’t have an option to enlarge only the icons; you can use the Settings tab to select Large Fonts, but
some programs will not work properly with font sizes larger than the default Small Fonts setting.
Wide-Screen Monitors for Media Center PCs
A number of manufacturers are now shipping wide-screen (16×9 aspect ratio) LCD TV displays that
include TV tuners, AV inputs, built-in speakers, and VGA/DVI ports at sizes up to 30''. Compared to
conventional LCD displays (refer to Table 15.1), these units have relatively low resolution for the
panel size: 1280×768 (WXGA) is typical. However, these displays are intended primarily for home-
entertainment applications such as Windows XP Media Center PCs or DVD and VCR playback. At the
longer viewing distances used for TV and video viewing, the resolution is adequate.
Wide-screen plasma TVs that include VGA/DVI ports can also be used with Media Center PCs as well
as other video sources. These units range in size up to 50'' and feature HD-ready resolutions of
852×480 (up to 46'') or 1366×768 (50'').
Resolution
Resolution is the amount of detail a monitor can render. This quantity is expressed in the number of
horizontal and vertical picture elements, or pixels, contained in the screen. The greater the number of
pixels, the more detailed the images. The resolution required depends on the application. Character-
based applications (such as DOS command-line programs) require little resolution, whereas graphics-
intensive applications (such as desktop publishing and Windows software) require a great deal.
It’s important to realize that CRTs are designed to handle a range of resolutions natively, but LCD
panels (both desktop and notebook) are built to run a single native resolution and must scale to other
choices. Older LCD panels handled scaling poorly, but even though current LCD panels perform scal-
ing better, the best results with various resolutions are still found with CRTs.
Chapter 15
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