24 from Thatcham, Berkshire, UK. Please take time to read my Riu Negril (Jamaica) review. Catch yo...
24 from Thatcham, Berkshire, UK. Please take time to read my Riu Negril (Jamaica) review. Catch you soon Scott :)
Member since:18.12.2003
Reviews:47
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PICTURE QUALITY Absolutely awesome, crystal clear. Some of the older TFT’s I’ve seen used to be a bit fuzzy but this is great, I always get a really really clear image.
IMAGE SIZE IN RELATION TO TUBE SIZE I’m taking this section to be in relation to the same size monitor in a CRT range. The image is just the same size, perfect replication. However you do benefit from having a flat screen which gets rid of the distortion seen on a standard monitor making for a much clearer and crisper picture.
COLOUR SENSITIVITY Running on Windows XP the colours are really bright but without getting a blur. Like the “Start” button with it’s bright colours but the windows logo on the button is just so clear, as
is everything. When playing back a DVD or film clip you can really see all the colours. Previously on some CRT’s I’ve seen them looking like a TV signal where the colours tend to blur in a bit. No such trouble here.
DESIGN Right OK, here we go. Now you remember that nice big desk you got when you got your PC? Well where exactly did all that space go? Right there under that monitor that’s where, if you’re still running a CRT one. That’s the first thing you notice about this (and really any other TFT) is just how much space they give you on the desk. It takes up barely any room at the back of the desk allowing you to do all your paperwork on the desk again without hanging the keyboard off the side of the desk while you write. In addition to that this unit also has built in speakers saving you even more room and comes complete with a sound lead to go straight from your PC to the monitor. The design looks very swish and posh and the buttons are all set out in a very usable form making navigating the on-screen menu’s extremely easy.
EASE OF INSTALLATION Simply plug the included monitor cable into your graphics card and into the monitor, followed by doing the same with your soundcard lead (plugged to the speaker out on the sound card). Then lastly the mains power supply and you’re ready to turn on. Now you can use generic monitor drivers but to get the best quality you will want to install the included drivers from the included driver disk. So when you get into windows just put the disk in and it will auto run for you and you just follow the on-screen instructions.
SPEED WHEN REFRESHING AT CHOOSEN SCREEN RESOLUTION I was a bit unsure about getting a TFT as I remember a long time ago hearing about them not refreshing very well when your playing a game and causing a jitter and a blur and messing the whole game graphics up. However I saw this one just after I’d heard that they were supposed to have got round the problem so I thought I’d give it a try. Hey they shop offered a 14 day money back if I wasn’t happy, what did I have to loose? So I got it and I’m glad I did. Running Grand Prix 4 and Project IGI 2 it’s never locked up or caused any problems (damn my PC has more problems than the monitor does!!). It also doesn’t matter what resolution you run it in it still performs excellently right up to the 1280 x 1024@75 Hz for a flicker free performance. Of course to run high spec games at that resolution you will need a high spec PC to cope with it, otherwise you will get glitches.
MANUFACTURER SUPPORT Wonderful, all the contact details in the manual and also on the CD included for the website details. Never had to actually contact them but going by the manual I think they would be helpful.
INSTRUCTION MANUAL Easy to follow step by step instructions and troubleshooting guide. Shows exactly where each lead goes and how to navigate the menu’s to set it up just as you want.
VALUE FOR MONEY Really you’re looking, as far as I’ve seen, anything from £400 up. But for what you get it is great. Just think of the desk space, the speakers built in and it’s 17 inches of lovely monitor.
MY OPINION I’d get one for sure. Oh look I did. You can get cheaper monitors so I’d recommend looking at others too before jumping in. But personally I love it.
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