A computer monitor is the least thought about piece of hardware. The amount of thought that goes into selecting monitor is a fraction of what goes into selecting a complete computer system. Monitors affect computer users in a much more direct way than any other piece of hardware, because every time the computer is switched on the monitor is used.
Any computer user is required to look at the monitor for the entire duration of his or her work on the machine. Therefore, it is imperative that every user use a standard and reputed monitor brand, in order to avoid eye strain, migraines and other problems.
One must be familiar with the following terms before reading any further
CRT? Refers to Cathode Ray Tube displays, normal picture tube displays.
LCD? Refers to Liquid Crystal Display technology.
Plasma? Refers to Plasma display technology.
SCREEN RESOLUTION? An image being displayed on a monitor comprises of a number of very fine dots called pixels, increasing the density of these pixels in a given area, results in a finer more pleasing and better defined image. The total number of these pixels that make up an image on a monitor is called its resolution. The following are a few examples of some resolutions of a typical computer monitor(any display technology, LCD, plasma or CRT)? 640X480, 800X600, 1024X768, 1152X864, 1280X768 etc. The first numeric value refers to the total number of pixels contained in one row and the second refers to the total number of pixels contained in a column of the displayed image.
A monitor has one native display value, which is the highest resolution it is capable of displaying, lower resolutions are achieved by simply creating groups of individual pixels and treating them as one single pixel.
- REFRESH RATE? Measured in Hertz(Hz) or cycles per second, this is the number of times the image on the screen of a display device is re-displayed. More technically it is the number of times the electron beams scan(vertically) the whole display area of display device(in case of CRT) in one second. As the refresh rate is increased the image becomes progressively steady, a higher the refresh rate results in lower eye strain. Any refresh rate below 70Hz for a monitor is simply UNACCEPTABLE. Anything lower than 70Hz causes severe eye strain.
It must be noted that as the resolution of a typical monitor is increased, the CORRESPONDING refresh rate drops. I.e. for example if a 15? entry level monitor supports 800X600 @ 85Hz, then it will support 1024X768 @ less than 75Hz(usually for an entry level 15? display), an entry level 17? monitor will usually support 800X600 @ 100Hz, and 1024X768 @ 85Hz, and an entry level 19? monitor will support 1024X768 @ 100Hz, and beyond. It must also be noted that a flat monitor will not always support higher resolutions/refresh rates than its normal non-flat counterpart.
For a normal every day user who needs to use his/her machine for browsing the internet, word processing, occasional gaming, and watching DVD?s, a 15? display will suffice. All monitors available in the market in the 15? category(including most which come with reputed?branded? computers) have a maximum resolution of 1024x768 @ 60Hz to 65Hz, and 800X600 @ 85Hz. Thus rendering them more or less inoperable at resolutions higher that 800X600 @ 85Hz. However resolutions higher than 800X600 are usually NOT required for the applications that I have already mentioned. If there are no budget constraints(the difference between an entry level non-flat 17? and 15? monitor is usually in around Rs. 2, 500) and of course there are no space constraints one must go for a 17? monitor or even a larger display.
Things get a bit more complicated for people who want to use their machines for gaming. There can be two types of gaming machines?
a. Those with a built-in(on-board) AGP adapter such as Intel motherboards which come with Intel extreme graphics(nothing extreme about them, believe me) or N-Vidia controllers(both of which share memory with the precious little RAM one has) are more or less useless for playing any of the newer games above 640X480. Therefore, any 15? monitor will do most support 640X480 @ 100Hz and 800X600 @ 85Hz. At resolutions above 640X480, game play tends to become extremely jerky, (low fps) and at 1024X768 it is sheer torture(both to the machine as well as the user).
b. For the lucky few who have a good motherboard with an AGP slot and use an AGP card such as NVIDIA GeForce FX or ATI Radeon series and whose hardware can support game play at resolutions above 800X600, a 17? monitor is a necessity. Results are incredibly awesome when a good monitor is paired with a good video card, and if one can spare the dough, then an even larger flat screen monitor is pure ecstasy. However, it must again be noted that a flat screen 17? monitor is not going to be very visually flat as a non-flat 17? monitor; the difference in flat and normal displays is usually more evident as the display size increases, most evident as monitors approach TV dimensions like 19? or 21?.
Those who intend to use their machines for graphics designing or CAD or photo editing a monitor with a high resolution and correspondingly high refresh rate is essential. For preserving geometrical dimensions, a flat screen is preferable. A 15? monitor will simply not do, at least a 17? and preferably 19? monitors must be used.
Lastly the question which arises is should one buy an LCD monitor? Well, if one has the money, and does not play games its pretty ok, any size should do, LCD monitors cause very little eye strain compared to CRT monitors, because only that portion of the image which changes is refreshed unlike a CRT monitor in which the whole image must be redrawn, so refresh rate is not a hassle, however gamers might see ghost trails in heavy duty action packed games.
Response times of typical LCD monitors are much lower than CRT monitors, and they cannot match the contrast ratio of the good old picture tube. LCD monitors are very light and consume much less electricity than their CRT counter parts.
LCD and plasma are rival technologies, and plasma displays have higher response times than LCD but are much more expensive, and are prone to pixel burning, so one might find that after using their plasma panel for some time, the start button is forever impinged on their bottom left corner of their screen!
However, LCD and plasma displays cannot hold a candle to CRT displays as far as contrast ratio and sheer affordability is concerned. Every technology has its pros and cons.
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