I bought my original Belinea monitor in 1999 from a discount computer supplier. My reason for purchase were:
1. Must be 17"
2. As cheap as possible
3. The 3 year on site warranty which was unusual in those days.
My previous experience with computers stretches back to a ZX Spectrum in ... Read review
I bought my original Belinea monitor in 1999 from a discount computer supplier. My reason for purchase were:
1. Must be 17"
2. As cheap as possible
3. The 3 year on site warranty which was unusual in those days.
My previous experience with computers stretches back to a ZX Spectrum in 1981. No matter how long I left a computer switched on or how hard I played with it nothing apart from a monitor has ... ...no worries, my friends at Belinea sent a new one out next day delivery - when it arrived I was even more impressed to find out they had upgraded me to their latest 17" model the 10 30 70.
I am now using this same monitor 3 years later. It never gets switched of although it goes into power save mode yet it has no faltered throughout.
Ok I was disappointed with 3 failed monitors but who can argue with the level of ... more
I bought my original Belinea monitor in 1999 from a discount computer supplier. My reason for purchase were:
1. Must be 17" 2. As cheap as possible 3. The 3 year on site warranty which was unusual in those days.
My previous experience with computers stretches back to a ZX Spectrum in 1981. No matter how long I left a computer switched on or how hard I played with it nothing apart from a monitor has failed. After owning about a dozen computers, 6 of them PC's I have had 5 failed monitors - that's why I bought this monitor and why I recommend to anyone to get one with a warranty.
Fab customer service --------------------
The actual monitor I bought original was the predecessor to the 10 30 70. It failed after around 3 months but this was no problem, I phoned up and easily arranged a swap by couriers for the next day. This happened but the new one was dead. I phoned again so they sent another by next day delivery, this time it worked fine.
Another 6 months further on it failed again - the pictured distorted badly again. But no worries, my friends at Belinea sent a new one out next day delivery - when it arrived I was even more impressed to find out they had upgraded me to their latest 17" model the 10 30 70.
I am now using this same monitor 3 years later. It never gets switched of although it goes into power save mode yet it has no faltered throughout.
Ok I was disappointed with 3 failed monitors but who can argue with the level of customer service, and the new one is brilliant.
So what does it look like? -------------------------- Fine, it's a Diamondtron tube so it's very clear, square and the colour balance is good. The usual two lines are visible (as on all Diamondtron monitors - they hold the fine grid up, used to focus the sharp image) but they are only visible now and then.
It runs at 1152x864x32 at 85Hz refresh and is easy on the eye. The picture is sharp, free from flicker and the colours are as expected.
Controls -------- There is the usual mind-boggling array of adjustments available to get just the size and shape of picture you desire, but I find the defaults combined with the automatic calibration work fine.
The auto calibration feature is excellent for sizing and positioning your picture for you automatically - saves a lot of time when switching between different resolutions.
The controls are tricky to use though, 2 buttons and a single jog wheel make it seem simple but the combination of menu and exit on the same button isn't intuitive.
Overall ------- Great monitor in it's day - still as good as most current flat screen Diamondtron displays, slightly tricky to use but should worry you as you don't need to mess with the controls to often. And finally absolutely outstanding customer service - no questions asked when honouring the warranty.
