Choosing a monitor for your home PC

2024 Author: James Gerald | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 14:00

(beginning, continued)

Continuing the recently started conversation about choosing a personal computer for the home, one cannot help but focus on choosing a monitor, perhaps the most important part of any personal computer.

The wrong choice of this device can not only ruin the joy of working at the computer, but also negatively affect your vision. Therefore, the choice of monitor must be approached with great care.

Today, all monitors can be divided into two types: conventional (on a cathode-ray tube), which take up a lot of space on the desktop, and liquid crystal panels (TFT or LCD monitors), flat and elegant, one of their kind can decorate any room.

Fortunately, it's time to forget about negative radiation from monitors. The thick protective screens that disfigure the monitor are a thing of the past. Modern strict standards for the certification of monitors (MPR-II, approved by the Swedish Department of Standards, and TCO-92, TCO-95, TCO-99, adopted by the Swedish Confederation of Trade Unions), which any, even the smallest and little-known manufacturer, must comply with, allow When choosing a monitor, do not think about anything other than image quality, which has become the main indicator of the quality of these devices. Believe me, all electromagnetic, X-ray, ultraviolet, infrared, also visible, radio-frequency radiation of the monitor is much lower than the levels that can have any negative biological effect on your body. However, increased flickering of the image on the display, low contrast and increased brightness may well damage your vision.

Manufacturers today offer a wide selection of monitors from small to large. The larger the diagonal, the more pleasant and convenient it is to work at the computer (up to a certain size, of course), and the higher the price of the monitor. The best option is a monitor with a diagonal of 17"

To keep your eyes from getting tired, not watering from overvoltage, choose a monitor with the highest possible frame rate. The minimum acceptable sweep frequency is considered to be 75 Hz. But at this minimum, many users notice flickering and shaking of the image - and this increases the strain on the eyes, and, therefore, can lead to visual impairment. Experts recommend buying monitors with a refresh rate of 85 Hz, or better from 100 Hz in the main resolution mode (for 15 "monitors, this is 800x600 pixels, for 17" - 1024x728 pixels, for 19 "- 1280x960 pixels). in any light, the image on the screen will be clear and high-contrast.

An important indicator is the step of the point. The dot pitch is the diagonal distance between two dots of a phosphor of the same color, for example, from one point of blue to another of the same color. The smaller the dot pitch, the higher the monitor quality: the image looks clearer and sharper, the lines are smoother.

Another important component of a CRT monitor is the CRT mask. Today, there are two types of masks: the shadow mask and the aperture grille (or slit mask). Both of them meet all standards and provide high image quality on the screen, but they differ slightly from each other. So, the aperture grille allows you to achieve a brighter image and rich, saturated colors, and the shadow mask allows you to more accurately display all the details of the image, which is indispensable when creating drawings and drawings on a computer. Therefore, the choice of a mask will depend only on the purposes for which you are buying a PC.

Also pay attention to the plane of the monitor screen. A completely flat screen not only does not distort the image, but there are practically no light reflections on it.

Difficulties can arise when deciding which monitor to prefer: conventional or liquid crystal. Resisting the temptation of a slim, sleek, handsome LCD monitor is undeniably difficult. But these monitors have one major drawback - the high price. As a rule, an LCD monitor is almost two (or even more) times more expensive than a regular one with exactly the same parameters (diagonal size, screen frequency, etc.). In addition, most LCD monitors, unfortunately, do not have a high refresh rate, especially with a diagonal of more than 15 . Of course, there are LCD monitors with a large diagonal and a refresh rate of 100 Hz or more, but its price can exceed the cost of all the rest of your computer combined.”Experts advise to purchase a regular monitor, but with a higher performance than the liquid crystal.

For comparison, I chose two monitors from SONY:

	Conventional monitor 17 "MONITOR 0.24 SONY E250 TCO" 99	LCD monitor 17 "MONITOR SONY SDM-X72 (TFT, 1280 * 1024, + DVI, TCO" 99)
Visible diagonal	17 "(43.2cm)	17 "(43.18cm)
Point step	0.24 - 0.25 mm	0.264 mm
Horizontal Frequency	30 - 96 kHz	28 - 92 kHz
Vertical Frequency	48 - 170 Hz	56 - 85 Hz
average price	231$	622$

As you can see, a cathode ray tube monitor has a higher performance and a much lower cost.

The best manufacturers of monitors are rightfully considered to be firms SONY and NEC … And also, experts recommend monitors with a picture tube of the company MITSUBISHI (for example, 19 '' MITSUBISHI Diamond Pro 930) - it is the CRTs of this manufacturer that are used by companies that produce "professional" monitors designed to work with color and graphics, which requires particularly high quality indicators for the image on the screen.

This concludes my story about monitors and move on to the keyboard and computer mice

A wireless mouse and keyboard are very convenient. Extra wires do not get confused under the hands and do not get in the way on the table, and data transfer from these devices to the computer occurs through a special receiver. The only thing is that these devices run on regular batteries, so do not forget to keep a spare kit in your desk drawer (they tend to run out at the most inopportune moment) or a cheap and simple spare mouse. When choosing such a mouse and mouse, be sure to pay attention to the maximum distance from the receiver at which they work. The larger it is, the better.

Some people prefer the option of a wired keyboard and a wireless mouse, which also has its advantages.

Optical mice, both wired and wireless, are very popular today. They do not have the usual ball-manipulator, but replace it with scroll wheels. But ordinary rugs do not suit them. You need a perfectly flat matte surface.

Experts, on the contrary, do not recommend IR mice. The signal from the IR receiver is very unstable and has a narrow range.

Among the manufacturers of computer mice, firms have proven themselves well LONGITECH, GENUS and A4-TECH … And among keyboards - MITSUMI … While many professionals prefer the old simple (non-touch) keyboards, they are more durable. And they do not recommend newfangled, especially ergonomic, curved shapes. If only because you will have to get used to the unusual arrangement of keys and letters again, and any subsequent collision with a simple keyboard will cause difficulties.

And finally, a few words about the rest of the periphery

If power outages occur in your city, do not be stingy and get an uninterruptible power supply (UPS), especially if you are buying a good expensive computer. For example, firms APC, and the power you need, check with the seller - it will depend on the configuration.

Choose a system unit with the largest number of USB ports that are very popular today, otherwise you will have to buy a USB hub.

Concluding the conversation about choosing a personal computer for the home, I want to supplement the PC configuration tables that I started in the first article.

"Office" economy computer

Equipment	Options	Manufacturer
Monitor	17 'LG 710BH FLATRON 0.24, max. [email protected], TCO'99	Lg
Keyboard	Keyboard, PS / 2, BTC, 5107 / (5197)	BTC
Mouse	Mouse, PS / 2, MITSUMI, 2btn Scroll bulk	MITSUMI
Rug	Mouse Pad Cork (Made of natural material (cork), antistatic, environmentally friendly, during use, the edge of the mat does not bend up)
Frame	ATX Midle Tower CODEGEN 60XX-XX (under P4 250W) w / USB

"Gaming" super-computer

Equipment	Options	Manufacturer
Monitor	SONY G420 19 "FD Trinitron L-Sagic, 1600x1200 / 89Hz	SONY
Keyboard	Keyboard, PS / 2, Mitsumi	MITSUMI
Mouse	Mouse, A-4 Tech RFSOP-35 PS / 2 + USB, (radio frequency-optical mouse), 3btn + 1 scroll + charger (RFSOP-35)	A-4 TECH
Rug	Mouse Pad Cork
Frame	ATX Midle Tower CODEGEN 60XX-XX (under P4 250W) w / USB
UPS	UPS APC BACK 475VA CS

"Compromise" (medium) option with the possibility of further modernization

Equipment	Options	Manufacturer
Monitor	17 'LG F700P 1280x [email protected] c, USB (4/1), TCO 99	Lg
Keyboard	Keyboard, PS / 2, Mitsumi	MITSUMI
Mouse	Mouse, A-4 Tech WOP-35 (WOP-33) OPTICAL PS / 2	A-4 TECH
Rug	Mouse Pad Cork
Frame	ATX Midle Tower CODEGEN 60XX-XX (under P4 250W) w / USB