upgrading my monitor - follow-up

[Rodney Peters]

On Sunday 25 August 2002 02:00, Felix Kaprfen wrote:

> To: Canberra Linux User Group <linux at lists.samba.org>
> Subject: Upgrading my monitor - follow-up
> Reply-To: felixk at webone.com.au
>
> In my attempt to be intelligent about my upgrade project, I have
> dutifully attempted to follow up the numerous bits of helpful l advice
> that has been offered.  Given the wealth of info offered, I thought it
> fair to report what I have found to date.
>
> I have opted to take on board the less-than-enthusiastic comments about
> the new monitors offered at the recent Computer Fair and looked further.
>
> To date I have failed in my attempts to track down details of the new
> models that attracted favourable comments and looked as though they
> might be in my price range.  One suggested monitor got muted support in
> PC World review, but I failed to evoke a response from the NZ maker
> (according to Google) about who distributes their products in Australia.
> Others new options remain to be examined.
>
> The prices of second-hand monitors offered at the Computer Fair are not
> startlingly different from the quoted prices of the Canberra computer
> retailers; the prices of new monitors were quite different - even
> though the manufacturer | distributor was the same (the models may have
> been different).
>
> And I am totally confused by the published info on the Pickles and
> Hymans auctions.  I simply do not know enough to interpret the supplied
> Pickles info.  The Hymans info gives some more details - if I could only
> understand what it says.
>
> And this brings me to the crunch point of this posting.  Attached is a
> short extract from the last Thursday's Hymans auction:
>
> HP ULTRA VGA D2835 17 INCH DIGITAL _SVGA MONITOR_
>
> _BASE OK_. DATA CABLE. (B) [1998] [WORKING] _S/n_
>
> KR81391105 - _ARH_
>
> I have marked the comments that I currently find obscure.  In
> particular, I noted that some offerings are listed as "ARH" and others
> as "MIC" (my hunch is that "S/n" refers to speakers;  I am uncertain
> about how the description "SVGA" relates to the <scan rate|refresh
> rate>, but suspect that the specs applying to each model exist
> somewhere).
>
I've bought only a couple of monitors from Hymans and the descriptions in 
their catalogues evolves.  I would say that:

"SVGA Monitor" - most will be so listed, to (hopefully) distinguish the 
majority from the few Mac, Sun, EGA etc monitors which don't work with PC

"Base_OK" - some monitors are missing the tilt/swivel base

"ARH, MIC" are the initials of the cataloguers ?

as far as I can see, resolutions/refresh are never listed - its really up to 
the buyer to ascertain that from the manufacturer's web site.  You can test 
how individual monitors shape up prior to the auction.

"S/n" (serial number) means exactly that.

> Lastly, in view of the unfavourable comments that Acer monitors have
> attracted, I found it revealing that by far the largest number of
> monitors offered at auction were "Acer".  Possibly, the original owners
> of these monitors concur with the adverse product assessment.
>

Hmmm, there's a lot of 15" monitors being replaced by 17" in corporate/gov 
sites - regardless of brand.  The Acers might be hardest to shift.

I much prefer Trinitrons to shadow mask monitors - I have a 17" 
of each type - expect to pay more for a Trinitron.

Other factors not mentioned by previous correspondents are:

	at resolutions above 800 x 600 the quality of data cable becomes 
increasingly important.

	I find that 1024 x 768 is the highest resolution usable for text 
on 17" AND 19 " monitors, even thou most will display 1280 x 1024.

	AFAIK, there is a whole spectrum of "Mitisubishi" monitors ranging from 
entry-level to up-market and using technologies from shadowmask to 
Trinitron-clone - a summary of specs is advisable if contemplating purchasing 
this brand.

	0.25 mm dot pitch (0.26mm is the equivalent for 
Trinitron), is probably standard on contemporary models, but it's worth 
confirming for older monitors, particularly if you expect to make a lot of 
use of the monitor  - XFree86 supports "100 dpi fonts".




Rod