Top 10 Monitors

From...

June 27, 2000
Web posted at: 11:24 a.m. EDT (1524 GMT)

by Kalpana Narayanamurthi

(IDG) -- Flat-screen CRTs control nine spots on the chart this month. Of the four newcomers, Samsung's SyncMaster 700NF ascends the highest, thanks to its bright colors and reasonable price. Sony's CPD-G200 and Mitsubishi's Diamond Plus 73 also render bold graphics. The AOC7Glr from EPI carries a $199 price--the lowest we've seen for a 17-incher.

1. Sony Multiscan CPD-E200
• STREET PRICE: $350
• OVERALL RATING: 89
• QUALITY OF TEXT/GRAPHICS: Very good/Excellent
• FEATURES: 15.6-inch viewable area, .24Ð.25mm variable stripe pitch FD Trinitron tube,1 up to 85-Hz refresh rate,2 Plug and Play ready,3 TCO'99 compliant, one-year warranty, 24-hour daily toll-free support.
• SUMMARY: A $29 price reduction, gorgeous colors, and razor-sharp text propel this model to the top. On-screen controls are accessed under the front bezel.




MORE COMPUTING INTELLIGENCE

IDG.net home page

PC World home page

Old monitors now tough to dump in Massachusetts

Prices Tumble in CRT Land

Flat's where it's at

Reviews & in-depth info at IDG.net

E-Business World

TechInformer

Questions about computers? Let IDG.net's editors help you

Subscribe to IDG.net's free daily newsletters

Search IDG.net in 12 languages

News Radio

Fusion audio primers

Computerworld Minute

2. Samsung SyncMaster 700NF
• STREET PRICE: $299
• OVERALL RATING: 88
• QUALITY OF TEXT/GRAPHICS: Very good/Excellent
• FEATURES: 16-inch viewable area, .25mm stripe pitch Diamondtron NF tube,1 up to 85-Hz refresh rate,2 Plug and Play ready,3 TCO'99 compliant, three-year warranty, 24-hour daily toll-free support.
• SUMMARY: Radiant colors and fine detail make this model a good choice for heavy graphics work. The easy-to-use on-screen controls are set on a retracting panel.



3. CTX PR705F
• STREET PRICE: $309
• OVERALL RATING: 87
• QUALITY OF TEXT/GRAPHICS: Excellent/Very good
• FEATURES: 15.9-inch viewable area, .24Ð.25mm variable stripe pitch FD Trinitron tube,1 up to 105-Hz refresh rate,2 Plug and Play ready,3 TCO'99 compliant, three-year warranty, 12-hour weekday toll-free support.
• SUMMARY: A $40 reduction in price nudges this model up a notch. Great for word processing and spreadsheets, but it lacks advanced controls.



4. NEC MultiSync FE700
• STREET PRICE: $299
• OVERALL RATING: 87
• QUALITY OF TEXT/GRAPHICS: Very good/Excellent
• FEATURES: 15.6-inch viewable area, .25mm stripe pitch Diamondtron NF tube,1 up to 97-Hz refresh rate,2 Plug and Play ready,3 TCO'99 compliant, three-year warranty, 11.5-hour weekday toll-free support.
• SUMMARY: Rich, vibrant colors on photographs and Web pages, but the text could be a little sharper. On-screen controls require lots of button pressing.



5. Princeton AGX740
• STREET PRICE: $299
• OVERALL RATING: 87
• QUALITY OF TEXT/GRAPHICS: Very good/Excellent
• FEATURES: 15.8-inch viewable area, .25mm stripe pitch Diamondtron tube,1 up to 85-Hz refresh rate,2 Plug and Play ready,3 TCO'99 compliant, three-year warranty, 9-hour daily toll-free support.
• SUMMARY: Lively colors on photographs. Monitor provides high-end controls, but its zoom settings don't work as well as those on other units. Technical support hours could be more generous.



6. Sony Multiscan CPD-G200
• STREET PRICE: $400
• OVERALL RATING: 87
• QUALITY OF TEXT/GRAPHICS: Very good/Excellent
• FEATURES: 16-inch viewable area, .24Ð.25mm variable stripe pitch FD Trinitron tube,1 up to 85-Hz refresh rate,2 Plug and Play ready,3 TCO'99 compliant, three-year warranty, 24-hour daily toll-free support.
• SUMMARY: Colors are brisk and text is crisp, but you can find comparable image quality at a lower price. On-screen controls are very difficult to navigate.



7. Mitsubishi Diamond Plus 73
• STREET PRICE: $289
• OVERALL RATING: 85
• QUALITY OF TEXT/GRAPHICS: Good/Excellent
• FEATURES: 16-inch viewable area, .25mm stripe pitch Diamondtron NF tube,1 up to 87-Hz refresh rate,2 Plug and Play ready,3 TCO'99 compliant, three-year warranty, 12-hour daily toll-free support.
• SUMMARY: Colors are vivid, but the text in word-processing documents and spreadsheets is not as sharp as on other monitors. On-screen controls lack word descriptors.



8. Iiyama VisionMaster Pro 410
• STREET PRICE: $380
• OVERALL RATING: 85
• QUALITY OF TEXT/GRAPHICS: Very good/Very good
• FEATURES: 15.7-inch viewable area, .25mm stripe pitch Diamondtron NF tube,1 up to 90-Hz refresh rate,2 Plug and Play ready,3 TCO'99 compliant, three-year warranty, 12-hour weekday toll-free tech support.
• SUMMARY: A $49 price drop brings this model back onto the chart. Still a bit pricey, but renders particularly lively colors and graphics. On-screen menus require extra scrolling.



9. IBM P76
• STREET PRICE: $399
• OVERALL RATING: 84
• QUALITY OF TEXT/GRAPHICS: Very good/Excellent
• FEATURES: 15.6-inch viewable area, .24Ð.25mm variable stripe pitch FD Trinitron tube,1 up to 117-Hz refresh rate,2 Plug and Play ready,3 TCO'99 compliant, three-year warranty, 24-hour toll-free support.
• SUMMARY: This model's bold, impressive graphics offset minuscule on-screen controls that are hard to press. The price is still above average despite a $30 drop.



10. EPI AOC7Glr
• STREET PRICE: $199
• OVERALL RATING: 84
• QUALITY OF TEXT/GRAPHICS: Satisfactory/Very good
• FEATURES: 16-inch viewable area, .25mm dot pitch tube, up to 85-Hz refresh rate,2 Plug and Play ready,3 TCO'92 compliant, three-year warranty, 10-hour daily support.
• SUMMARY: A good choice for price-conscious buyers who are willing to overlook display's merely average text quality. Colors on Web pages look bright. On-screen menu has some advanced controls.

Flat's where it's at
June 7, 2000
Combination flat-screen monitor and television promises a lot
May 18, 2000
Samsung builds TV function into cell phones
December 2, 1999
Comdex: Monitors show dual analog/digital skills
November 19, 1999
Buy a 21-inch monitor -- cheap!
August 21, 1998
Screen prices to get big
February 3, 1999

Prices tumble in CRT land
PC World
Review: Optiquest Q71 monitor
PC World
Review: Panasonic PanaSync SL75 monitor
PC World
Old monitors now tough to dump in Massachusetts
IDG.net
Turn of the view
Federal Computer Week
Trivium brightens up LCD screens
IDG.net
Flat's where it's at
Computerworld
Chips to display video inputs simultaneously
IDG.net

Sony's monitor product page
Samsung's monitor product page
CTX home page
NEC home page
Princeton Graphics home page

Note: Pages will open in a new browser window

External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.