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They're sleek, light, and ready to replace your clunky old CRT-at a price
THEY STARTED IN SCIENCE fiction, then found a place on technology pundits' wish lists, and now flat-panel monitors have finally edged into the mainstream. Desktop liquid crystal displays (LCDs) have attracted ample attention for their stylish looks, crisp images, and hefty price tags. But do they mean business?
Yes and no. If your home office is nothing more than a section of table or countertop, you'll enjoy a flat panel's diminutive, space-saving footprint. And if you demand the
sharpest view of graphical applications, an LCD will often provide you with a better picture than a conventional cathode-raytube (CRT) monitor.
Something else to consider is actual viewing area. While a "I 5-inch" CRT offers a viewable area of something under 14 inches measured diagonally, with similar subtractions applying to larger models, LCD monitors don't hide part of their screens under a bezel. Hence, 15-inch flat panels provide almost the same viewing area as standard 17-inch CRTs-and look fine at 1,024 by 768-pixel resolution, which we consider a bit of a squint on a traditional 15-inch CRT montior.
But if cost is an issue, you'll likely have to stick with a CRT: Despite falling prices, flat-panel monitors-which use the same active-matrix or thinfilm transistor (TFT) technology as notebook PC screens-can cost two to three times as much as traditional CRT monitors.
To help you decide if a flat-panel display is right for you, we tested five 15inch models that represent the best and brightest available today. They all offer similar basic features and viewing areas, but we found several differences between them that can affect your buying decision.
Most of the flat-panel monitors in this roundup are analog displays-compatible with the same 15-pin VGA connectors as most CRT monitorsbut two are digital.
If your current graphics adapter doesn't support digital output, you'll need to replace it with one that does. (The two digital LCDs we tested come bundled with digital graphics cards.)
The added hassle and possible expense of replacing your graphics card is worth it: Digital displays are sharper than any analog display we've seen. But be aware that digital flat panels aren't the best choice if you're addicted to games...