Feb 10

Printers & Monitors - Flat Is Where It's At!
Sun Review February 10, 2001

If you're shopping for a new printer or monitor, it pays to research your options before heading to the stores. As with most computer purchases, you must balance both your needs and budget.

For example, if you're considering buying a new printer, start by determining exactly how you will use it. For the most professional-looking documents, you'll want a laser printer or equivalent (LCD, LED, or solid ink) to produce sharp edges and well-formed characters. If all you need is reasonably readable text, almost any printer will do. Inkjet printers are incredibly popular, and for good reasons: they're relatively inexpensive and deliver respectable text and graphics quality at reasonable speeds. Some inkjets can match lasers in text quality, but beware that the print speed may be significantly decreased. And because graphics quality does not always go hand-in-hand with text quality, you should always view print samples before you purchase, and make sure you can return the printer if you're not satisfied.

Other considerations include the printer's duty cycle, which you should match up to the volume of pages you expect to print, whether you plan to share the printer with several computers or a network, and the cost per page. If you're also looking for a scanner, copier and fax machine in addition to a printer, you may want to consider a multifunction printer. It will take up less space and may cost less than buying separate devices, although if any part of the device fails, you'll have to do without all the functions while you're waiting for it to be repaired.

Aaren Jensen of PCM Systems recommends the HP930 inkjet printer, Hewlett-Packard's entry model in the Pro series, which retails for around $300 and delivers excellent speed and photo print quality. Don't forget to purchase enough black and colour ink cartridges ($35-$50 each) to last you through your warranty period. After that, you can try a less expensive refill kit, but be warned, there are many pitfalls to refilling your own cartridges.

If you've shopped for a new monitor lately, you've probably seen the latest flat-face displays, available as flat-face CRT and LCD monitors. The vast majority of desktops currently have a curved CRT monitor, which is cheaper and more flexible than flat-panel displays like the LCDs in notebook computers. LCD flat panels use less power, take up less space, and are generally easy on the eyes. Flat-face CRT monitors offer improved image quality with much less glare and reflection than their curved counterparts.

Though prices for LCD flat panels have fallen drastically, desktop LCDs remain significantly more expensive than traditional CRTs of equivalent size. You can expect to pay $380 and up for 17" flat-face CRTs, whereas a 15" LCD will set you back more than $1000.

So what kind of monitor should you buy? For everyday use, 19-inch CRT monitors give you the best bang for the buck. You can get one for about the same price as a high quality 17" display, and the 30 percent extra display area makes a big difference. Key considerations when purchasing CRT monitors include resolution and refresh rates (1,024x768 at 75MHz or higher), size of the monitor (will it fit your desk), and dot pitch (0.25mm horizontal dot pitch or less to support high resolutions).

If you're considering an LCD monitor, look for the ability to switch between portrait and landscape modes. This is a great feature for desktop publishing because you can actually turn the flat screen 90 degrees to view an entire 8.5"x11" page on your screen. The viewing angle of an LCD screen is also important to consider. LCDs become washed-out when you shift your viewing angle, so look for 140-degree angles or more on 15" displays. Because LCDs work by blocking light to various degrees with liquid crystals, brightness is also a concern. For 15-inch panels, look for 200 nits. Larger displays tend to have lower brightness for technical reasons, but shoot for at least 150 nits. And one more caution: Flat-panel LCD monitors tend to operate at one resolution only (1,024x768), so if you want to display a larger or smaller screen, they will either scale the screen or not use the entire monitor, neither of which is particularly desirable.