Features to Look For Before Buying an LCD Monitor

LCDs are fast replacing CRT monitors in all organizations as they not only save power but also occupy lesser space, apart from being friendly to your eyes. Let's look at the key parameters to consider before buying

Friday, May 01, 2009

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LCD monitors are in use in almost every organization as they offer a good RoI in the long run. An average LCD monitor consumes 1/3rd of the energy consumed by a conventional CRT monitor. Now if your organization has a seating capacity of 1000 people then you can very well figure out how much energy costs you can save. Through this article, we discuss some of the key aspects about LCD monitors that you should evaluate before making a purchase.

Screen size
The size of a screen is directly proportional to the amount you pay. 15” monitors are good enough for regular office use but the ones that are more than 15” in size display more data, resulting in better efficiency. If a major part of work in your organization is graphical in nature, then monitors of size 17” or more give you better visibility.

Aspect ratio
The ratio of width to height is known as aspect ratio. Conventional CRT monitors had a 4:3 ratio but nowadays widescreen displays with a typical aspect ratio of 16:9 are more popular. The benefit of using widescreen is that besides better video displays, one can keep such monitors alongside each other to view more than one document.

Native resolution
We all know that higher resolutions result in better image quality. However, one should look for two features here. The different resolutions supported by the monitor and the level of comfort with the native resolution. Even though the best image quality is delivered working with the native resolution, quite often you may require different resolutions for different applications. The resolution also depends on aspect ratio, a typical 4:3 LCD flat screen can support a maximum resolution of 1280x1024. On the other hand, a widescreen display can have resolutions of 1440x900, 1680x1050 and 1920x1200.

Viewing angle
This is the only aspect where CRT scores over LCD; the viewing angle of CRT is wider than LCD, which means you will get a clear view of picture even at 180*. With LCD one can get the best view of displayed image only when you look at the screen from the front. The brightness and image color fade as you move away from the center. Therefore one should get LCD with maximum viewing angle both vertically and horizontally. We recommend LCDs with viewing angle of more than 160 degrees.

Pixel response rate
Also known as response time, this is the time taken by the crystals of LCD to change from full white to black and vice-versa. The response time is measured in milliseconds and it varies between 2 to 16 ms amongst currently available monitors. The lower the value the lower the ghosting and streaking and hence better viewing quality. If most of the official work in your organization revolves around Internet surfing and document processing then a response time between 8 to 16 ms is sufficient but in case you are into video editing or gaming then it should be below 5 ms.

LCD monitors now come with DVI along with D-sub connector for better display quality

Dot pitch
The distance between each pixel is known as dot pitch and lower value of this distance results in crisper image. 0.22 mm is recommended for intense graphical work, while for regular office work LCD monitor with dot pitch value of between 0.26-0.30 mm is enough.

Brightness and Contrast ratio
These parameters are important for image quality. While brightness is measured in nits or candelas per square meters, contrast ratio indicates the difference in light intensity between the darkest black and brightest white. Now more brightness means better image quality. For regular use, value of 250 candelas per meter square is enough, otherwise go for 400:1 contrast ratio.

Connections capabilities
Best results can be obtained from LCD monitor if digital signals are fed into it. If analog signals are sent to the monitor it first converts these signals into digital that in turn results in signal loss. Therefore, connecting LCD monitors with DVI (with HDPC for encryption) is recommended. If you are working with HD content, then one can go for LCD monitor with HDMI interface that provides lossless HD content transmission.

Different Modes and adjust ability
There are some LCD monitors that can be rotated 90 degrees with the help of software giving two different modes of display -horizontal (landscape) and vertical (portrait). This feature can be handy if you have to view long spreadsheets or web page. One more important criterion is ability to adjust LCD monitor at different angles and height, so as to get better view.

Audio capability
Audio capabilities give addition dimension to display unit. Some LCD monitors come with built in speakers which can be a good feature for casual listening. Other factor is placement of headphone jack, prefer audio jacks in front or on sides of monitor, so that you don't have to move monitor every time you plug in or plug out your headphone.

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