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.