Monitors
CRTs offer the largest display for the dollar, even
after you subtract the space hidden behind the bezel
(a typical 19-inch CRT’s viewable diagonal size is
comparable to that of a 17-inch LCD). CRTs do
better than flat panels at scaling smoothly between
resolutions; LCDs look somewhat pixelated at anything
less than their native resolutions.
Still, LCDs win on points: They take less desk
space, are easier to move around or mount on a
wall, and use less energy. They’re also less likely to
suffer from distortion or electromagnetic interference
from nearby components, and their thin bezels
make them ideal for side-by-side, multiple-monitor
setups. LCDs’ individually illuminated pixels mean
less eyestrain and more flicker-free viewing than the
continually refreshed phosphors of a CRT. For CRTs,
look for a refresh rate or vertical scanning frequency
of at least 75Hz; most LCDs look fine at 60Hz.
Speaking of side-by-side setups, many designers
choose a 20-inch or larger monitor that can show a
two-page spread full size. Increasingly, flat panels are
ditching the familiar 4:3 aspect ratio for HDTV-style
widescreen, topped by Apple’s lust-object Cinema
HD Display—a 30-inch, 2560 x 1600-pixel whopper
that costs $2,999 and is too much for most graphics
adapters. If you’re on a budget, you can find desktop
LCDs that rotate between landscape and portrait
orientation, with software that flips the image 90
degrees so you can see a single page. Look, too, for
height- and tilt-adjustable bases. A swivel base is a
must for CRTs; most LCDs are light enough that
you can swivel or move the monitor.
In addition to resolution and refresh rate, the
buzzwords for monitors are brightness (measured
in candelas per square meter, or nits), contrast ratio
(ranging from 300:1 or 400:1 to a color-popping
1000:1 or more), and dot pitch (CRT) or pixel pitch
(LCD), with tighter spacing or smaller pixels yielding
sharper images. This has become less of an issue since
cheap, fuzzy displays have been pushed to the very
bottom of the market in recent years.
SIDEBAR: Before you buy
1. LCD vendors wooing
PC gamers tout
lower response times
such as 8ms versus
25ms, meaning how
quickly a display
can change colors
to minimize ghosting
or streaking of
fast-moving objects.
That’s not a big issue
for still-image editing
and desktop publishing.
Manufacturers
also brag about 170-
degree-plus viewing
angles, meaning how
far off center you can
be before the image
assumes the look of
fellow passengers’ inflight movie screens.
2. Designers are going
to be interested in
a monitor’s colormatching
or calibration
options, such as
adjustment of gamma,
hue, saturation, and
color temperatures
(e.g., 5400K versus
6500K or the Adobe
RGB versus sRGB
color space). For serious
prepress work,
calibration software
and display adjustment
devices such
as colorimeters and
spectrophotometers
help match what’s on
screen to what leaves
your printer.
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Top: Planar PX1710M; bottom: Samsung
SyncMaster 204T
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