High quality LCD monitors get closer to affordability

High quality LCD monitors get closer to affordability

Zatni Arbi, Columnist, Jakarta, zatni@cbn.net.id

I requested a loan of the new TFT5030 LCD (liquid crystal
display) monitor from PT Compaq Indonesia the moment I read
Compaq's news release on this product. My lucky day finally came
two weeks ago, when Nita at Compaq Indonesia called me and told
me that the demo unit was on its way to my home.

I immediately unplugged my seven-year old 20" Sony monitor and
made way for this Compaq monitor. When it arrived, I placed it on
the monitor stand and keyboard drawer that used to support the
weighty and fat Sony monitor. Although I had expected it, I was
nonetheless amazed to see how much free space I now had on my
desk.

Features: The 15", Active Matrix TFT (thin film transistor)
monitor uses a power adaptor like the one that we see on most
notebook computers. The design itself, as can be seen in the
accompanying picture, is truly attractive. The two-toned sleek
casing is in silver and carbon colors, and there are only a few
buttons to control everything. Too bad I was not the first to get
the opportunity to test drive this unit, so there was no CD-ROM,
printed manual or setup brochure in the box. I had to figure out
everything myself.

And my excitement quickly waned when I saw nothing happening
as I pressed the monitor's power switch. Frantically, I called
Compaq's technical support, but it was already lunchtime and I
could not get any help.

After some closer inspection, however, I realized there was no
real problem. I suspected an unplugged power connector when I
shook the power cable that went into the cabinet and heard the
sound of a loose part. I carefully opened the back panel, which
required no tool at all, and my suspicion was confirmed. The
power cable had been accidentally pulled from its jack. I plugged
it back in, reconnected the cable to the power adapter, pressed
the switch and -- bingo! Its power LED lit up.

I had to lower the refresh rate of my graphics card to 60 Hz,
which is the standard VGA, and I had an XGA resolution (1024 x
768) on the display. The TFT5030 has a 20 ms pixel refresh rate,
which is very fast and good for viewing videos. Its maximum
brightness level is 300 nits and its contrast ratio is 400:1.

Great Display: An LCD monitor should preferably use a digital
connection to the computer, while a CRT (cathode-ray tube)
generally uses an analog connection (Viewsonic is perhaps the
only one so far with a CRT monitor that uses a digital signal).

However, to get a digital video signal from the computer, we
will have to use a different kind of graphics card, one that uses
the so-called Digital Visual Interface (DVI) standard. The Compaq
TFT5030 accommodates both the digital and analog signals, and
therefore I was able to use it on my computer without having to
replace my graphics card.

The first LCD monitor I ever played around with was the one
made by Siemens Nixdorf. It was a great monitor for its time, but
now the TFT5030 offers a far better display for people like
myself who, because of our limited vision, have to be very close
to the monitor to read the text. Unlike on the Siemens Nixdorf
monitor, I was able to read all the text anywhere on the screen
without any real problem. The higher level of contrast makes the
characters stand out better. The TFT5030's anti-glare panel
hardly reflects any light.

One of the key specs of a good LCD monitor is whether we can
still view the screen from a broad angle. Compaq claims that this
monitor has a 170-degree viewing angle. Subjectively, I found the
viewing angle wide enough. The high quality display may be the
result of the fact that Compaq uses Sharp Microelectronics' All-
in-one Integrated LCD Module with Pixelworks' Imageprocessor ICs.
In fact, the TFT5030 was the first monitor to use the new
technologies from both Sharp Microelectronics and Pixelworks.

Colors, however, are not as saturated as I would like to see.
There is software that we can download from Compaq's Web site
that could help us optimize the quality of the TFT5030's display.
Still, it is more likely the use of the analog signal that causes
the paleness of the displayed colors. A test by CNet confirmed
that using a digital signal would produce far better colors on
this monitor.

The technical problem with the analog signal and LCD monitors
comes from the fact it has to be converted twice (the computer
produces a digital signal and the LCD monitors accept a digital
signal, but the connection is analog). If we use a digital
interface, the computer can directly address each pixel in the
monitor, giving us a much better display result.

What other downsides did I find besides color saturation? To
tilt the monitor required quite a lot of effort because the hinge
is too tight, and I was always afraid I would break it if I
exerted too much force. The color paleness and the tight tilt
hinge were about the only downsides I could find, though. On the
other hand I like the clear and well-organized on-screen menu.
The unit also has its own serial number, so your colleague cannot
easily swap his with yours while you are out of your office. You
can also use a Kensington security cable to tie the monitor to a
fixture, so it will not be so easy to steal.

Will I buy this monitor to replace my Sony monitor? I could,
but I guess I will wait until I save enough money for a larger
one, perhaps the new US$1,299 18.1" Compaq TFT8030.

Compaq is by no means the only player in town. There are also
great LCD monitors from Acer, HP, IBM, NEC Sony, Toshiba and
other computer makers, some of them costing much less than the
TFT5030. There are also other companies that make high-quality
monitors, such as Eizo, NEC, Panasonic, Phillips, Samsung and
ViewSonic.

However, if you are concerned right now about the
electromagnetic radiation emitted by your current CRT and its
energy consumption, and you want to replace it with a monitor
that will last long into the future, this $600 monitor is
certainly an excellent candidate.