Intro ¯¯¯ We've had this monitor since Christmas and it's served us well ever since.
To start with, it is a TFT (Thin Film Transistor) monitor, so it doesn't have to accelerate electrons to high speeds so they smash against a phospher screen, creating light. Instead the light is provided evenly by what amounts to a couple of flourensent bulbs - and the colour is controlled in each pixel seperately with tiny electric fields.
It's a remarkable technology to get over A MILLION different pixels to work together and produce a life-like image... which is why TFT's are rather expensive and sometimes come with dead pixels.
This particular screen has a 17" viewable area (measured diagonally). Whilst the screen is fairly light, the base adds weight to the whole thing, so it weights 6.6 kg... still less than a normal CRT monitor (like a TV).
The
display contains 1280 by 1024 pixels and each pixel can display over 16 million colours... much beyond our eyes abilities. This screen is illuminated with 40W of light, compared to over 100W of light a CRT would use.
Installation ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ It connects to your computer like any other monitor, via the VGA plug into your graphics card, it's most often the blue plug. You must install special drivers on your computer so it can regonise the monitor and display the correct colours etc.
This is done with the Colorific™ software, and it's easy to install and easy to use. Once installed and connected you have to run through a brief set-up where it asks you to match certain colours/brightnesses/saturations with a special colour card you get with the monitor.
This only has to be done once, although you can go back and do it anytime you like afterwards. It takes about 10 minutes, but isn't difficult at all.
Usage ¯¯¯¯¯ There are 8 buttons on the front of the screen: Lightview / Menu Brightness Up / Brightness Down Contract Up / Contrast Down Autoselect / Power
The power button brings the monitor to life if it's switched off, and gains a green glowing ring when the monitor is active. In standby mode the ring becomes orange. Autoselect configures the monitor automatically, providing the perfect geometric setup for your resolution.
Brightness and contrast are obvious :D
The menu button pops up the OSD (on screen display) which is navigable via the brightness/contrast buttons. You can select various options regarding language, colour etc. but nothing you'd want to play about with too often... that's what the lightview button does!
This gem of a button scrolls through different modes of viewing, just pressing it moves through the modes. They are your personal one, which you set up with the colour card earlier, and Movie/Photos/Text for Daytime and Movie/Photos/Text for Nighttime! It works a treat and I use it most often for the stated modes.
Comparison ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Compared to other TFTs I have used, this seems to have an effective anti-glare coating. Also there is little in the way of "ghosting," whereby the pixels take a little while to change which is a positive plus for gamers like myself.
The contrast on a TFT will always be less than a CRT, but on the Flatron, it's not an issue. The screen is still readable in bright sunlight, but not direct sunlight.
The screen itself is wall mountable, but I personally wouldn't trust my screwing to hold up a £300 monitor!
The cables go in the monitor "up it's bottom" from behind (rather than in the back of the screen) and there is a helpful hole in the base to thread the cables through to keep things nice and tidy around the front.
The monitor can only tilt forward and back, it does not swival into a "portrait" mode nor move up and down.
The construction of the monitor is sturdy, it doesn't feel cheap or like corners have been cut quality-wise.
Conclusion ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ We've had no problems with it's usage in over 9 months and can't find fault with it apart from it's cost. The picture quality is perfect, and the colours are represented accuratly. I couldn't comment on the manufacture support as there have been no problems. As far as TFT's go, this one offers the best value for money, however when it comes to a CRT type monitor the TFT's are always more expensive.
I'd buy another one in an instant, all I need is 100,000 people to say this is a very helpful review =)
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
let me get this straight, you're a student and you have spent 300 quid on a bloody screen? are you insane?! I hope it was worth it! Great review though
drewboy 04.09.2004 16:41
LOL at the last comment, think we all want that!!! very good review though, had always wondered what TFT stood for. drew
MAFARRIMOND 04.09.2004 16:11
A vey stylish and effective monitor - well reviewed. Maureen
Sep 3rd, 2004
very helpful by (100%):
