[techtalk] Monitor Size

[Linda Walsh]

> I only have a 15" Philips monitor (very nice by 15" standards, but still
> only 15") and thought it was the limiting factor. Then I bought myself a
> new TNT2 card and the improvement in visual quality was _very_
> noticeable. It's no good seeing your monitor in the shop if the shop has
> a much better video card than you do :-)

----
    Also -- cables and cable length make a difference -- unshielded long cables
result
in bleeding and/or fuzzy character.

    Another thing on 'seeing better' -- a larger monitor will definitely help
*if* you don't
increase the resolution.  The problem I'm seeing, for example, on my laptop, I
have a 15.4"
screen and 1280x1024 resolution.  Even a 100dpi font is too small, since the
actual resolution
of the monitor is about 135 dpi.  Windows, at least, allows easy scaling in the
display section.
There is a scaleable font package on linux, but I haven't been motivated enough
to track
that down.  Even so, in things like netscape, some sites use their own fonts,
overriding
the user's default settings resulting in itty-bitty text.  The alternative is
tell netscape to
always use the user font -- this helps alot, but results in some sites not
displaying correctly.

I had one app (Virgin Megastore player under windows) that refused to play
unless I set
the font size back down to the default 'normal (96 dpi)'.  Each change of the
font size in
windows results in a necessary reboot (what doesn't?).

    Another option -- flat panels of the same size are usually sharper imaged
than CRT's.
The CRT's almost always have some skew at the edges and it's difficult to keep
all 3 guns
in perfect alignment -- resulting in character fuzz -- on a flatpanel, there
are no guns to
keep in alignment.

    And maybe lastly -- make sure your video card and monitor can support 72Hz
refresh
rates or above -- 60Hz (except on a flat panel, most of which will only work at
60Hz) rates
often result in noticable flicker and even if not consciously noticable, leads
to increased eyestrain.

Good luck...
-linda



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