Specifications

Monitor Selection Criteria
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onboard or, if you have motherboard chipset-based video, how much system memory is allocated to
your video function. If you switch to a larger display and you can’t set the color depth you want to
use, a new video card with more RAM is a desirable upgrade. Video cards once featured upgradeable
memory, but this is no longer an option with current models.
Which resolution do you want for your display? Generally, the higher the resolution, the larger the display
you will want. Why? Because Windows icons and text use a constant number of pixels, higher display res-
olutions make these screen elements a smaller part of the desktop onscreen. By using a larger display (17''
or larger), you can use higher resolution settings and still have text and icons that are readable.
To understand this issue, you might want to try various resolutions on your system. As you change from
800×600 to 1024×768 and beyond, you’ll notice several changes to the appearance of your screen.
At 800×600 or less, text and onscreen icons are very large. Because the screen elements used for the
Windows desktop and software menus are at a fixed pixel width and height, you’ll notice that they
shrink in size onscreen as you change to the higher resolutions. You’ll be able to see more of your doc-
ument or Web page onscreen at the higher resolutions because each object requires less of the screen.
If you are operating at 800×600 resolution, for example, you should find a 15'' monitor to be comfort-
able. At 1024×768, you probably will find that the display of a 15'' monitor is too small; therefore, you
will probably prefer to use a larger one, such as a 17'' monitor. Table 15.3 shows the smallest monitors
I recommend to properly display the resolutions users typically select.
Table 15.3 Recommended Resolutions for CRT and LCD Displays
Minimum Minimum
Recommended Recommended
Resolution CRT Monitor LCD Panel
800×600 15'' 15''
1024×768 17'' 15''
1280×1024 19'' 17''
1600×1200 21'' 18''
If you compare the recommended resolutions in Table 15.3 with those listed in Table 15.1, you’ll
notice that the recommended resolutions are not necessarily the limits of a given monitor’s capabili-
ties. However, I recommend these resolutions to help ensure a comfortable computing experience. On
small monitors set to high resolutions, characters, icons, and other information are too small for most
users and can cause eyestrain. Low-cost CRT monitors and those bundled with many systems often
produce blurry results when set to their maximum resolution and often have low refresh rates at their
highest resolution. Low refresh rates cause screen flicker, leading to increased eyestrain.
Whereas CRTs can produce poor-quality results at very high resolutions, LCDs are always crisp and per-
fectly focused by nature. Also, the dimensions advertised for the LCD screens represent the exact size
of the viewable image, unlike most conventional CRT-based monitors. In addition, the LCD is so crisp
that screens of a given size can easily handle resolutions that are higher than what would otherwise be
acceptable on a CRT.
For example, many of the high-end notebook systems now use 14'' or 15'' LCD panels that feature
SXGA+ (1400×1050) or even UXGA (1600×1200) resolution. Although these resolutions would be
unacceptable on a CRT display of the same size, they work well on the LCD panel built in to the lap-
top because of the crystal-clear image and because you generally sit closer to a laptop display. In fact, it
is for this reason that such high resolutions might not work on desktop LCD panels unless they are
larger 17'' or 18'' models.
Chapter 15
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