Shop for displays

Work

Whether you work at home or at the office, there are three traits to look for in a productivity monitor. Bells and whistles are not as important as good image quality, a bright screen, and adjustability for viewing comfortably at long stretches.

Key features:
Large image area to display more information
Adjustability
High brightness rating
Recommendations:
LCDs for work

Gamer

When choosing a monitor for games, a bright and large screen is paramount. After that, color accuracy and image clarity play a big part in the quality of a gaming monitor. Lastly, it's connection options. Pixel response time is important, but not as much as it used to be. Most monitors have at least a 12ms response time as for most games this will more than suffice.

Key features:
Bright screen
Color accuracy
Large display area
Multiple connection options
Pixel response time
Recommendations:
LCDs for gamers

Movies

When digital DeMilles edit the key close-up in their masterwork, they want total artistic control, and they need crisp, accurate images. Movie buffs watching at home will want the same.

Key features:
Low black level
Color accuracy
Large display area
Multiple connection options
Pixel response time
Recommendations:
LCDs for movie

What to look for

• Choose a monitor that automatically adjusts to the timing of an analog (VGA) signal. You want to see stable gray and patterned images with no pixel jitter.
• Find a monitor with good viewing angles. Colors and brightness should not change in the corners of the screen (where the viewing angle is the greatest).
• Pick a monitor that looks uniformly bright when viewing both dark and light images.

Tips and tricks: assessing LCD image quality

Check for dead pixels, ones that are always off. It's not uncommon for monitors to have one or two defective pixels--especially larger models--but you want as few as possible. Open a Web browser, in the address line type about:blank, and press Enter. Then press the F11 key to make it full screen. Look for small black specks that are not dust or debris on the screen. (Press F11 again to see the Explorer toolbars.)

An adequate graphics card is a necessity

What's going on inside your computer can have a profound effect on what's displayed on your monitor. If you hook up a 4- or 5-year-old PC to a top-of-the-line new monitor, there's a good chance your graphics card will need an upgrade to give you the best possible image quality. You'll need a card that supports your interface, be it digital or analog, and it will need to support your monitor's resolution--this is especially important on wide-aspect monitors, or monitors larger than 19 inches. Sometimes improving your graphics card's performance can be as easy as installing a driver upgrade from the manufacturer's Web site.

Most LCDs provide support for HDMI, DVI, and VGA signals, but less expensive LCDs may offer only DVI and VGA. The advantage of a DVI-based signals for LCDs is of much less importance now than it was a few years ago. VGA signal processing has improved to the point where only the most discerning eye can notice any difference. Most LCDs that support digital signals also support analog signals, so you won't need a special graphics adapter to use a DVI display.

To take advantage of the DVI connection, you'll need a graphics adapter that has a DVI-I or DVI-D connector, and you may also need a DVI cable (a small number of LCD monitors come with only an analog cable). DVI-D refers to a digital-only connection, and DVI-I means that the connector can carry either digital or analog signals.

An HDMI connection is used to connect the display to a high definition source, such as a Blu-ray player, video game system or a DVR-based HD Cable/Satellite box. HDMI connections have become more common in the last year, and it's the exception now when a monitor 22 inches and larger doesn't have one.

Extra features

Adjustability: Most LCDs offer some degree of screen tilt, usually 30 degrees back and 5 degrees forward. Some include a swivel feature, many offer height adjustability, and some panels can also pivot between portrait and landscape modes, making legal-size documents and Web pages easier to view. LCDs can be attached to VESA-compatible mounts, which connect to third-party wall mounts or swinging arms.

Antireflective screen coatings: These glossy screen coatings, offered by certain manufacturers (Sony, Gateway, Acer), are supposed to reduce glare and ambient light reflection and provide a brighter, more vivid picture.

Audio: Some monitors offer audio functions, either as standard items or as optional accessories. These may include a headset jack, a volume control, or embedded speakers. In general, these speakers are of limited quality, and an inexpensive $30 speaker set from an office-supply or computer store will often provide much better sound.

Cable-feed systems: Many LCDs have some mechanism to manage signal and power cords.

HDCP: If you plan to watch high-definition, copyright-protected content via an HD DVD or Blu-ray player or through an HDTV signal on your LCD, you'll want to make sure it's an HDCP-compatible display. HDCP is an encryption system that protects HD content sent across HDMI or DVI connections. If your display doesn't support HDCP, then you'll either be staring at a blank screen or--if you use analog connections like VGA—-the best you'll get is a downsampled picture at a 960x450 resolution.

Memory card readers: A few monitors have media card readers built into the bezels. This is a handy addition for digital photo enthusiasts who want to see their pictures without a PC.

USB: Many displays have USB ports. Typically, they are not powered hubs, but simply convenient ports to connect a keyboard or a mouse, thereby reducing the tangle of cables that run back to the computer.

Video/TV: As work and entertainment products continue to converge, many monitors now have features designed to take advantage of television and movie content. Some include TV tuners and connectors for video signals from cable television systems or antennas. Some have connectors that accept composite or S-Video input signals from entertainment devices. Many multifunction monitor/TVs are able to display HDTV content.

Philips 170W4P

When choosing a monitor, consider the company behind it.

First and foremost, make sure that the company offers a money-back guarantee. Most displays show their problems right out of the box or within the first month or two of use, so you want to be able to return it for a refund or an exchange with a minimum of hassle. Ninety days is standard, but this varies among retailers (many online retailers give you only 30 days). Also, beware of restocking fees.

Next, consider the warranty coverage. Most companies offer two to three years of parts-and-labor coverage; anything less is suspect. If you're buying an LCD, make sure that the backlight is covered by the warranty; manufacturers used to exclude them from coverage, but more and more now include them. LCD buyers should also note a company's policy on defective pixels; one or two defects are to be expected, but if there are many, you should be able to return the unit for exchange or a refund. Some companies deal with pixel problems on a "case-by-case" basis, meaning that they don't have a set policy. If you end up with a problematic display, you'll have to negotiate with the company. This is where the satisfaction-guaranteed return policy can become very important.

You're far less likely to need technical support for a monitor than for a computer system or a software program. Still, it's good to know that there's someone you can call if trouble arises; look for toll-free support numbers and weekend coverage.

Be sure to keep all of the packing material for your monitor. If you should ever need to return it or ship it back for warranty service, you'll need the packaging. Monitors can be bulky, fragile, and extremely difficult to protect adequately. You don't want to end up improvising.

To find out more about how warranties really stack up and what you should look for in a vendor's service and support, take a look at CNET's hardware warranty explainer.

Aperture grille: In some CRTs, the aperture grille is a series of wires stretched vertically down the inside of the monitor to mask the beams from the electron guns at the back of the tube. In other types of monitors, this function falls to a perforated metal plate called a shadow mask. Some users prefer the image quality of Sony Trinitron monitors, which use an aperture grille; others notice the faint horizontal shadows cast by the grille's tensioning wires and prefer other shadow-mask designs.

Bezel: The frame around a CRT's or LCD's screen.

CRT: Cathode-ray tube; a big bell of glass with electron guns at one end and a viewing screen at the other. Televisions and computer displays both use this imaging technology and are often simply called CRTs.

Convergence: Color CRTs rely on three separate electrical beams to project simultaneous red, green, and blue images; these combine to form a full-color image. If these beams are not precisely aligned, the red, green, and blue portions of the image may not overlap correctly, degrading the overall image quality. When the three beams converge correctly at all points on the display, you get a perfect image.

Dead/stuck pixel: A pixel on an LCD that is either permanently on (stuck) or permanently off (dead).

Display size: A display's length (in inches or centimeters) taken diagonally from one corner to the opposite corner. Unless it specifically states viewable screen area, a CRT's measurement encompasses the full face of the picture tube, including the part concealed by the bezel. On an LCD, only the viewable screen is measured.

Dot pitch: In CRTs, the distance from one pixel to the next-nearest one. The larger the dot pitch, the grainier an image looks.

Electron gun: A color CRT contains three electron guns that shoot electron beams, causing red (R), green (G), or blue (B) phosphors on the inside front of the screen to light up.

Footprint: The amount of space a monitor takes up on your desk, including the display and its base.

HDCP: High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection. Copy-protection scheme developed by Intel to be used in conjunction with DVI and HDMI connections.

LCD: Liquid-crystal display; created by sandwiching electrically reactive, liquid-crystal material between two electrodes. The substance can be darkened or lightened by applying and removing current.

Liquid crystal: A material with some of the properties of solid crystals, such as diamonds, and some of the properties of liquids, such as water. As a result, the material can both flow and affect the path of light, depending on how the individual molecules are aligned.

Molecule: The smallest portion of a material. For some materials, the physical size and shape of the individual molecules affect the overall properties of the material. For example, the individual molecules of liquid-crystal material can alter the path of light and can be induced to align in specific ways in response to physical or electrical influences. It is these characteristics that make them useful in creating displays.

Native resolution: The physical structure of some types of displays, including LCDs and plasma panels, defines how many pixels can be displayed at once. The display produces the sharpest picture when used at its so-called native resolution. Other types of displays, such as CRTs, create pixels independently of the physical structure of their screens and do not have a native resolution. As a result, a CRT's image quality is generally the same across a range of resolutions.

Nits: A unit of measure for luminance (a monitor's brightness); equivalent to candelas per square meter (cd/m2).

Phosphor: A substance that can produce red, green, or blue light when excited by an energy source, such as the electron beam in a CRT. Phosphors are arranged as either dots or stripes on the inside face of a CRT screen.

Pixel: In a CRT, phosphors grouped in RGB triads (one each of red, green, and blue) are called pixels. The hundreds of thousands to millions of pixels in a display create images.

Refresh rate: The frequency at which a CRT's electron guns redraw the image; measured in hertz (Hz). One hertz equals one cycle per second; a 70Hz refresh rate means that the entire screen is redrawn 70 times per second.

Resolution: For both CRTs and LCDs, the number of pixels in the whole image. For example, a resolution of 1,280x1,024 pixels means that 1,024 lines are drawn from the top to the bottom of the screen, and each of these lines is made up of 1,280 separate pixels.

Screen geometry: A description of how accurately lines and shapes are represented on the display. LCDs almost always have perfect geometry because the display information is mapped to specific physical pixels on the display. CRTs may have problems with screen geometry; larger screens and flat-faced models have particular difficulty controlling electron beams with precision. As a result, vertical lines may be noticeably curved at the edges of the display, and circles may appear oval or egg-shaped. The best CRT monitors include controls that let you adjust the screen geometry; still, it can be difficult to adjust it perfectly in all regions of the screen.

Shadow mask: A metal plate with holes in it that selectively blocks the beams from the electron guns in the back of a CRT.

Stripe pitch: Monitors using an aperture grille or striped mask have phosphors arranged in vertical stripes. Stripe pitch is the distance from a stripe of a given color to the next stripe of the same color. A smaller stripe pitch means that the monitor can display higher-resolution images more accurately.

Stuck/dead pixel: A pixel on an LCD that is either permanently on (stuck) or permanently off (dead).

Subpixel: Full-color displays are made by combining red, green, and blue light in varying degrees to produce different shades of colors. In a display with a fixed pixel structure, such as LCDs or plasma panels, the red, green, and blue light comes from adjacent cells in the display's physical structure. The light from these three subpixels--one for each color--combine to create a single pixel. There are also pixel structures that do not rely on three subpixels.

SVGA: Supervideo graphics array; a display mode with a resolution of 800x600 pixels.

SXGA: Superextended graphics array; a display mode with a resolution of 1,280x1,024 pixels.

TFT: Thin-film transistor; refers to the switching devices placed in each liquid-crystal cell in an active-matrix LCD. TFT screens are brighter and more readable than passive-matrix LCDs, but they consume more power and are generally more expensive.

Trinitron: A type of CRT developed by Sony that differs from standard tube types in that it employs an aperture grille instead of the usual shadow mask.

UXGA: Ultraextended graphics array; a display mode with a resolution of 1,600x1,200 pixels.

VGA: Video graphics array; a display mode with a resolution of 640x480 pixels.

Viewable area: The diagonal length of a CRT's viewable screen.

XGA: Extended graphics array; a display mode with a resolution of 1,024x768 pixels.