Monday, April 03, 2006
Moving to a Digital LCD Monitor
I finally bit the bullet: I retired my Sony CRT monitor (a MultiScan 200SX) and replaced it with a ViewSonic VA712b -- an LCD with a digital input. A handful of things pushed me into the LCD camp:
Price. At $229 (after rebates, plus tax and California e-waste fee) the monitor was a great deal.
Convenience. I had gotten tired of waking up the computer and waiting for the screen to warm up.
Quality. I looked at a lot of LCDs and read a lot of reviews, and this one seems to have a large number of contented customers. Many LCDs don't -- customers seem to run hot or cold on them. The main thing folks aren't happy with on this monitor is its speaker system, but I'm not using the machine for movies or games -- and anything's an upgrade from the Mac Mini's internal speaker.
Complete package. The monitor came with a digital cable. A little thing, but a nice thing.
Flexibility. I wanted a monitor I could attach to a VESA arm, and this one will.
Energy savings. The monitor is EnergyStar qualified. Gotta get EnergyStar stuff before the federal government pulls the plug on the program. (Yes, my comment is hyperbole, but the program is under attack, the timing of which baffles me.)
Company. I have a tradition of buying stuff from companies I've written about. A few years ago I had a chance to interview some ViewSonic executives for Oracle's PROFIT magazine, and was impressed with their seriousness and sincerity.
So now the monitor's on my desk, and -- an hour into its life -- I'm very pleased. I find no dead pixels, and the image is very sharp and bright. I definitely have more screen real estate with a 17" LCD than I had with a 17" CRT.
My only gripe is with software. The monitor worked perfectly without any software added, but I decided to launch the ViewSonic CD because it said it had something for Macs. (Yes, I know better -- no need for drivers if something's working fine.) Double-clicking the installer launched the Classic environment, and things got a little weird. If you're considering this monitor for use with a Mac running OS X, don't bother with the installer -- just use the CD to get to the manual.
So now the monitor's on my desk, and -- an hour into its life -- I'm very pleased. I find no dead pixels, and the image is very sharp and bright. I definitely have more screen real estate with a 17" LCD than I had with a 17" CRT.
My only gripe is with software. The monitor worked perfectly without any software added, but I decided to launch the ViewSonic CD because it said it had something for Macs. (Yes, I know better -- no need for drivers if something's working fine.) Double-clicking the installer launched the Classic environment, and things got a little weird. If you're considering this monitor for use with a Mac running OS X, don't bother with the installer -- just use the CD to get to the manual.
