Monitors--they're big, and getting bigger. Not only do they take up lots of desktop real estate, they generate heat, give off a bit of radiation, and can give you headaches if you stare at them too long.

Cathode-ray tube (CRT) displays have been around a long time, and while some hardware components have been improved during that time (notably in size, resolution, and even reduced radiation), the underlying technology is more than 60 years old.

One of my pet peeves is how expensive monitors have remained relative to overall system cost. If you've been shopping recently, you know that there are some bargain monitors out there from companies such as Computer Technology Link, and while some of the downward price pressure can be attributed to competition, the real reason is the growing popularity of flat-panel displays. Before plunking down your hard-earned cash for a new monitor, there are many characteristics and features you should consider:

The migration to the newer monitors has been slow, hampered by their high cost. CRTs have (finally) become more affordable, and you can purchase a glass monitor much larger than a flat-panel display for the same money. Don't be confused by monitors labeled flat-screen and those labeled flat-panel. A flat-screen monitor is a classic glass-tubed CRT whose face is almost completely flat instead of the slightly rounded face found on most traditional monitors. A flat-panel is always an LCD screen.

Besides higher cost, LCD screens are not without a few problems of their own. Dead pixels can occur in screens used in laptop or desktop computers. A standard LCD screen can have an occasional dead pixel that will display as black or green--no matter what's displayed on the screen. Most video cards will work with flat-panel screens, but don't presume that to always be the case. Make sure that your specific video card is flat panel­compatible.

On the other hand, LCD screens use less power. A typical 17-inch CRT uses 100 watts, while an equivalent-sized LCD screen needs less than 40. Whether you can measure these savings on your electric meter each month is hard to say, but you will conserve more energy with a flat-panel display

Some companies have introduced short-length monitors that take up less space than traditional glass monitors with the same screen size. One of the most interesting is Samsung Electronics' SynchMaster 955SL short-neck monitor. The monitor has a 19-inch (18-inch viewable) screen, but occupies the same desktop space as a 15-inch monitor. While the makers describe the SynchMaster 955SL as being designed for business and corporate users, I'm eager to see what its graphics capabilities are. My view is that if monitor companies brought more compact CRT monitors (along with more aggressive prices) to market earlier, nobody would be using flat panels except well-heeled early adopters. Now it may be a case of too little, too late.

A lawsuit challenging this long-standing industry practice was settled by several companies including Apple Computer, Compaq, Dell Computer, IBM, Nanao USA, NEC, Samsung, and ViewSonic. Terms of the settlement state that all monitors built after Feb. 1, 1996 must be described in terms of their actual viewable area.

The settlement states: "Defendants cannot refer to the computer display as 15 inches unless the viewable area is also disclosed." One of the big differences between flat screens and glass CRTs is that LCD screens are measured by their actual size. That's why my AcerView F51 15-inch monitor actually measures 15 inches on the diagonal, while the 17-inch glass monitor on my Apple Power Macintosh G3 has a diagonal measurement of 15.8 inches. In general, a flat-panel monitor will always provide more usable work area than a CRT of the same stated size.

Resolution: This measures the degree of sharpness of what you see on the screen, and is measured by the number of pixels that are displayed across and down the screen. The ratio of horizontal-to-vertical resolution is typically 4:3, the same as television sets, but that's changing. Apple's Cinema Display is a 22-inch flat-panel screen that has a wide-format design similar to that used by HDTV, and has a resolution of 1,600-by-1,024dpi. This format allows the Cinema Display to show two pages of graphics or wide-screen movies without enduring a letterbox effect. The monitor has the same kind of striking design that imbues all of Apple Computer's current industrial designs, but my enthusiasm was dimmed by its $3,999 price tag.

Other than screen size and resolution, the next most important factors in evaluating your choice of monitors is dot-pitch, refresh rate, and whether the monitor is multiscan or interlaced.

Stop Glaring at Me

One of the biggest problems facing computer users is monitor glare. While more and more CRTs have some kind of antireflective coating, this feature is far from universal and even nonglare monitors experience some level of glare. In fact, one of the many advantages of flat-panel displays is that they produce much less glare than the shiny glass used on many CRTs.

Caused by monitor glare, Computer Vision Syndrome can create symptoms such as eyestrain, headaches, and fatigue. The best solution is to place your monitor where glare is not a problem, but this is not always possible. Glare can be solved with products such as Polaroid's antiglare filter, which features includes a conductive coating that also eliminates static and dust problems.

If you want more aggressive glare protection, consider a Circular Polarizer, which will eliminate 99 percent of the glare while enhancing contrast 18-fold. Polaroid's filters include a built-in grounding strap to eliminate static electricity.

3M's Expressions line of antiglare filters feature Scotchgard protection for easy cleaning, and have an antireflective coating on their glass surfaces to reduce glare. 3M's iMac filter is part of its line of office ergonomic products, and is endorsed by the American Chiropractic Association. When shopping for glare shields, also look for the American Optometric Association Seal of Acceptance.

Where you sit in relation to your monitor is important, too. Your screen should be between 18 and 31 inches from your eyes. When looking at the center of a screen, your head should be angled slightly downward. If you need to refer to another document, use a document holder to place it at the same height and angle from your eyes as the screen. If your monitor is too low, use a support to move it to a more comfortable height. Don't forget the very low-frequency and extra low-frequency radiation that comes from the sides and back of a monitor. These days most monitors adhere to Swedish Tjanstemannens Central Organisation standards for radiation emissions, but you should check your monitor's specifications to ensure that they meet or exceed TCO standard.

The Sharper Image

So many monitors, so little time. What's a poor computer user to do? I use a CRT with my Power Macintosh G3 computer and a flat panel with my Prime-built Windows computer. One of the reasons I keep a CRT on the Mac is that all of the LCD screens that I've tested--and that's by no means all of them--have been less useful for photographic manipulation, because the image quality seems to fall apart in high magnifications of shadow areas. Nevertheless, the best of the flat panels provide sharp images for word processing and colorful display of images for Web surfing. I have no doubt that in the future we'll all be using LCD monitors because they simply make too much sense. In the meantime, the old CRTs aren't giving up without a fight.

Contributing Editor Joe Farace is the editor of eDigitalPhoto.com magazine.

Sidebar

Software for Your health

One way to preserve both eye and muscle health when working at a computer is to take alternative task breaks throughout the day. To maintain low muscle-stress level, recovery needs to go on throughout the workday.

San Francisco's Occupational Medicine Clinic recommends a 10-minute break at least once an hour and a computing day of four to six hours. The British Association of Scientific, Technical, and Managerial Staffs recommends a 30-minute break with a maximum of two hours at the keyboard. Managers should know that having periodic breaks not only reduces medical insurance claims by making employees healthier, but that it also makes them more productive.

If you work until your muscles ache, you've waited too long. CoffeeBreak and FM-Egg-Timer are shareware applications that are designed to force you to take periodic breaks. A dialog box lets you set the amount of work time, during which the software sits in the background with a timer displayed, and an amount of break time, at which time you are urged to take a break from the computer. CoffeeBreak and FM-Egg-Timer are available from all of the usual shareware sources