LCD Monitors.

The road less frequently traveled

It's natural for most office managers to look for the best deal when they are purchasing capital equipment, such as computers and peripherals. Sometimes, however, that best choice is not also the least expensive.

In this installment, we'll take a look at a particular peripheral that is more expensive to purchase initially, but which can offer large enough savings in operating expenses over the long run to make them a better buy than less expensive models.

This peripheral is the flat-screen LCD monitor. On a first glance, these seem to be extraordinarily high priced. Even the least expensive 15inch models cost several times the price of a decent quality 17-inch CRT-based display.

In this particular case, however, bigger is not necessarily better. When considering the purchase of a monitor, several factors should be evaluated. The first, and most important, is the type of applications for which the display will be primarily used. Unless you are running applications that are heavily graphic-intensive, such as desktop publishing, a large display, while attractive, is not really necessary One major exception to this is if your office staff generally has poor eyesight. In this case, you may want to populate your office's PC configurations with 17-inch or even 19-inch displays set at modest 800 x 600 resolution to provide the equivalent of "large type."

For most typical office applications, including word processing, spreadsheets, and even accounting or bookkeeping, a resolution of 800 x 600 is sufficient. It will provide as much detail on the screen as can be reasonably used with a display typeface that is large enough not to strain most users' eyes.

In fact, for many users, it won't be the size of the text on the screen that induces eyestrain at all. A more common culprit is a poorly adjusted monitor. Past columns have discussed the different specifications of a CRT monitor, such as dot or aperture grille construction and pitch. Also detailed was how to adjust a CRT display and keep it in best adjustment using a utility such as DisplayMate from DisplayMate Technologies (www.displaymate.com).

The plain truth of the matter is that many CRT-based monitors are poorly adjusted right out of the box. And, even when they aren't, they go out of adjustment as components age. This produces a subtle "fuzziness" in the display which, in turn, produces eyestrain.

If you aren't adjusting your CRT-based monitors on a regular basis, eventually your office staff is going to experience some degree of unnecessary eyestrain. The problem is several fold, however, in that most organizations don't have anyone who performs this task on a regular basis. Even more to the point, few are even aware that this condition represents a problem, or that there is an inexpensive software utility available that can help them solve the problem. An additional benefit that DisplayMate provides is a clear indication of when it's time to replace a CRT display. When you can no longer adjust the display for a crisp image, the display has deteriorated to the point where it should be replaced.

An LCD-based monitor, however, does not need this kind of adjustment, either initially, or on an ongoing basis. Because it uses a different type of design, the display will be as sharp in five years as it is right out of the box. On the downside, most LCD monitors start out with a slightly less sharp display than the best CRT models. A good quality LCD display, however, will produce little eyestrain throughout its working life.

It's that working life that produces the overall savings. Consider one of the newest crop of LCD monitors, the Samsung SyncMaster 570vTFT. Samsung (www.samsungmonitors.com) has a suggested list price of $549 for the display, but has offered a $50 rebate since launching the model several months ago. This brings the cost down below $500. For this price, you are getting a very high quality 15-inch LCD that will probably be providing as good an image four or five years from now as it does when unpacked. Samsung itself provides a three-year warranty both on the monitor and the backlight inside the display.

The SyncMaster 570vTFT has a 15-inch viewable diagonal, which puts the actual amount of viewable area somewhere between a 15-inch and 17-inch CRT-based display, which generally have viewable diagonals of 14inches and 16-inches. That's enough area to comfortably set the resolution as high as 1024 x 768, though 800 x 600 will be even more comfortable.

The additional cost in purchasing an LCD monitor should be covered by the fact that many CRT-based displays are replaced whenever the PC it is attached to is either replaced or upgraded. On the other hand, an LCD-based monitor should provide at least twice the useful life of a CRT monitor. And, unlike a monitor with a CRT, an LCD display's quality doesn't deteriorate over time. It either produces a good display or none at all.

Now is probably a good time to buy a 15-inch LCD monitor, prices have been coming down, and other vendors in addition to Samsung are starting to enter the $500 price space. Larger 17-inch LCD displays, however, are still too expensive for most office managers to justify their expense. That will also eventually change.

Keep in mind that the particular Samsung model used for illustration here is a high-quality entry-level display. Other models from this and other vendors provide more options, should this be of interest. You can get an LCD display with a built USB hub, which adds additional USB ports and makes them easy to access, or even with stereo speakers built into the base to save on desk space.

LCD displays also provide one additional benefit, though it won't be of primary interest to many purchasers. They are much more energy efficient than most CRT displays. A typical CRT display, even one that meets EnergyStar standards, draws between 80 and 100 watts of power. Most LCD monitors draw about 50 watts when operating, but as little as 3 to 5 watts in standby mode. With rolling blackouts hitting many Western states and the power outlook dire for much of the rest of the country, having energy efficient computer peripherals can't hurt.

There's one word of caution before you actually make an LCD monitor purchase. Some of the new LCD displays have what is called a DVI, or digital video input, connection. This provides the best image the display is capable of generating, as a standard LCD monitor has to convert the analog output of a standard video card into the digital signal an LCD monitor requires.

The fly in the ointment is that a display with a DVI input requires that the video card in your PC have a DVI output. Unless your PC is very new, it's unlikely that you will have this type of output. Even new PCs frequently don't provide DVI connectors.

So, make sure to match the monitor with the type of video output that your computer provides. Then, sit back and enjoy a crisp display for years to come.

Ted Needleman is the former associate publisher and editor-in-chief of Accounting Technology magazine. He is now a technology consultant and writer based in Stony Point, NY