FLAT SCREAM
Flat screen liquid crystal displays look great on your desk. They use less electricity, boast vibrant colors, and generally will replace that tube you've been using for the past odd-many years. However ...
We've been looking at the displays at local electronic stores and have made a discovery. The LCD screens are harder to read than traditional CRTs, as cathode ray tubes are otherwise known. We haven't decided exactly why, and it's not an excuse not to shell out the money. They just don't read right.
At first we thought it might be the video source. Surely a nice LCD screen hooked up to the correct computer would make a picture-perfect display. Nope. The letters are fuzzy. We even looked at the famous Macintosh video. With the exception of the older design iMac, all of the Apple platforms use LCD -- and all of them have fuzzy text.
OK, here's the test: we start a word processor or notepad. We type in the alphabet and a few words describing the Internet-ready refrigerator a few aisles over in 10-point Verdana font at 100-percent magnification. We examine the text. Fuzzy. Hmmm? How about the regular monitor? The CRT version with so-called flat screen? Whoa! Crisp lettering. So we go back to the LCD screen and start something with graphics. This time the LCD screen performs pretty well, although the refresh seemed slow. Back to the CRT screen with the same program and once again -- superior graphics.
We're a little outraged here. We want thin screen that looks good and "reads" well.
In terms of usability, the Mac with the big (including price tag) screen delivered the best view for general work. We could get used to it and perhaps select a larger magnification. But we also could purchase three screaming PCs for the same money. What we are using now is a Trinitron monitor sold under the IBM label. You can tell a Trinitron, by the way, by the very fine black line the goes across the screen about one-third of the way up. It actually a wire that somehow figures into the picture quality. The Trinitron is about five years old, but at least it displays crisp text.
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