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There's some good news for monitor buyers these days. Prices have dipped to the point where a quality 17-inch monitor can be picked up for about $700 (U.S.) or less. This is within the budget constraints of many office users. Larger 21-inch monitors provide an even bigger computing window, but at a cost of around $2,000 (U.S.).
These big-screen monitors, reserved in the past for serious imaging, graphics and CAD applications, now find themselves on the desks of mainstream users. With the space to display multiple windows, users can drag-and-drop with greater speed and precision.
NSTL tested 28 monitors with 17 to 21 inches of screen real estate. NSTL tested twenty-four 17-inch monitors and fourteen 21-inch monitors. However, TIG is only highlighting four products from each category. In this side-by-side comparison, NSTL broke down the monitors into two categories: the best 17-inch monitors and best 21-inch monitors.
To be included in this roundup, the monitors had to support at least 1280 by 1024 pixel resolution and a 75 Hz refresh rate.
The pixel, an abbreviation for picture element, is the smallest element of the picture that can be displayed on the screen. The smaller the pixel size, the better the resolution. In non-interlaced mode, the refresh rate represents the diameter of the pipe carrying picture data to the screen. The larger the pipe, the more often the screen is refreshed. Monitors with faster refresh rates reduce the dreaded flicker -- very rapid variations in print intensity caused by the finite time it takes for the electron beam to scan a picture onto the screen. Excessive flicker can be harmful to a user's eyes.
To choose the best monitors, we ran a suite of picture-quality tests that measure sharply defined text and graphics, brilliant colors, as well as flicker-free and distortion-free images on the monitor screens. Best picture quality kudos went to ArtMedia's TN-1885T and Nokia Display Products' Multigraph 447Xi in the 17-inch category. Four 21-inch monitors shone in the image-quality tests: the NSA/Hitachi SuperScan Elite 802, the NEC MultiSync P1150, Cornerstone Imaging's Color 50/115 and the ViewSonic P815.
One common aspect among the monitors is the picture tube manufacturer. About two-thirds of the monitors incorporate either Hitachi or Sony tubes, but differences in the individual...