Dell has just released a brand new 22 inch monitor called Dell Crystal. It’s award winning design makes this new monitor one of the best looking 22 inch monitors around. Winning best of innovations at CES 2008 this monitor has a very unique look with its polished metal tripod stand, and its outside frame of tempered glass. Both the buttons and the speakers are built into the outside layer of glass making it truly stand out from your everyday monitor.

Panel Performance
The Dell Crystal has a native resolution of 1650 x 1050, a lightning 2-millisecond response time, and a high contrast ratio of 2000:1. Crystal also features a 98% color gamut verses the typical 72% color gamut, making it have a much broader range of colors.

The monitor also comes with a built in 2-megapixel webcam and 4 integrated speakers.

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Have you ever turned off your TV or monitor and there was a ghostly image on the screen? This ghost is referred to as plasma burn. Plasma burn occurs when there is uneven wear in phosphors on a phosphor based screen, whenever a static image is left on the screen for too long; especially a high contrast image the potential for burn in is there.

Newer plasma based tubes include burn-in reduction features. Screen savers and pixel shifting help with the prevention of burn in. Pixel shifting is a slight unnoticeable shift in the image a by one or two pixels. If a ghost does happen many new sets can blast a burn-in with a white image for several minutes to hour. Cable and satellite service providers help with preventing burn in by giving you the option of changing pillar boxes that can also burn in by changing them from black to grey.

Potential for burn-in is greatest during the first 100 or so hours of use, during that time if you keep the contrast low and avoid showing static images or letterbox bars on the screen for long stretches of time it will help prevent any burn-ins. You might get some image retention once in awhile if you look hard enough after hours of static images, but even then it’s temporary, not permanent. Video games may be a worry because of static logos that are in the corner of the screen but as long as you wait till after the first 100 hours before any long use it should be fine. Just keep mixing it up. Also, cheaper models of TVs are more prone to burn-in like the Insignia, but a good rule is not to go too cheap if you want to play it safe. Read the rest of this entry »

Picture Quality of LCD Monitors, Are We There Yet?

The days of heavy CRT based monitors weighing down your desk and occupying valuable workspace is pretty much an artifact of the past. The mass transition to the lighter and thinner LCD monitor is nearly complete. However, even as the last few holdouts cling to their favorite CRT, questions of picture quality still arise. While the LCD’s have replaced CRT’s on desks around the globe, the main complaints have been inaccurate colors and hard to read text. This was a serious problem in early LCD models, but gradual improvements of the technology behind the LCD’s have eliminated complaints from all but the most picky of consumers. So are we there yet?

Modern LCD’s have not only grown in screen size while decreasing in cost, but many have beautiful and functional displays as well. Screen brightness and refresh rates have nearly matched their CRT counterparts, allowing gamers to play the latest shooters, and artists and photographers work on their masterpieces using the latest technology. The latest models also offer nice extras such as USB ports and HDMI connections for video applications.

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