Good suggestions Maceij! Just a few comments... At 7:06 AM -0700 17/5/2001, Maciej Simm wrote: >Hi all - >When buying a new/used/refurbished Mac desktop (G3/G4/Cube), the >studio display 17 inch monitor has a price tag of 499USD and is the >ONLY monitor apple will sell you (other than the flat panels of >course). Rumour has it that Appple will soon drop the 17inch CRT display and move to selling only LCD flat panels... >There are much better quality CRT's for less than a half of that >price; I personally have used Princeton graphics and Samsung, both >under 250USD for 17 inch or 350USD for 19 inch. There are even >cheaper monitors, check the "shopping" netsites. I don't know about "better quality" - how do you define that? The current Apple Studio Display is one of the nicest displays (in terms of picture quality) that I have seen. It also has the "advantage" that it has the ADC connector which means you can use the monitor as an extra USB hub, power the computer on from the monitor (an advantage as the new Apple keyboards have no power key) and there is only one cable that carries USB, power and video. I said "advantage" because the the ADC connector means that it will ONLY work with Apple video cards with an ADC socket... Another good thing about the Apple monitors (at least the ones the high end ones which I have used) is that you can adjust the convergence. This can result in much crisper images and allows to you compensate as the monitor ages. I know you can't do this on some of the Mitsubishi monitors that we have (not the top of the range models), but you can on some of the Sonys. I think it probably depends on the particular model. Of course I entirely agree with you about price - they are very expensive! We haven't bought an Apple monitor for several years for this reason. That said, in Australia at least, the price differential for a monitor with the same picture tube, ie a Mitsubishi Natural Flat DiamondTron tube, is actually not that much, esp. if you are eligible for education prices from Apple...(similarily, Sony trintron monitors are in a similar price range). >The only difference with the 'non-mac' CRT's is slightly different >timing of the refresh rates. By default the ATI cards bundled with >most mac's will cause your non-apple monitors to display "out of >range" messages: >This can be quickly overcome by opening the monitor panel from >/system/control panels and changing "SHOW RESOLUTIONS" from >"recommended" to "all". Of course this will require an apple monitor, >but most likely there's one around anyway. I have never actually had this problem. When have plugged a variety of Sony and Mitsubishi monitors into G4s and G3s they have always managed to display correctly straight off with the recommended resolutions. So the problem you note doesn't seem to be universal. There are other things you can try as well but I can't remember the specifics off the top of my head... >This will allow you to view a resolution list with ALL supported >refresh rates, 60Hz is a good place to start, 75Hz is optimal for >people sensitive to the flicker. Most monitors will support 75Hz at >1024x768. > The supported resolutions and refresh rates are two of the features that affect the pricing of displays. To extend this even further I think one the best ways to increase your productivity (esp with flow cytometry with software other than CellQuest) is to add a SECOND display card and monitor to your computer. Once you do this and use it for a while you will have a LOT of trouble going back. Adrian
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