This month we widen our scope a little, and look at LCDs with 18in or larger screens. Are they practical in an office environment? Perhaps. But don't you just want one?
As we mentioned in part one of this article last month we received so many LCD monitors that we needed to split them into two categories. Last month we looked at medium-sized 17in monitors for average desktop use. This month we're interested in the 18in and larger models.
Unlike the 17in models we looked at last month, some of these monitors feature a swivel function that allows you to rotate the screen 90 degrees from landscape to portrait mode. This is particularly useful in the print or graphic design industry, enabling you to display the entire page you are working on in the same format and on the entire screen without needing to scroll up and down.
What's a pixel policy again?
One of the perennial problems with LCD monitors is that despite the manufacturer's best efforts at quality control, many LCDs end up with a few pixels either stuck permanently on (bright pixels) or permanently off (dead pixels). While this is usually a minor annoyance, it can be an issue particularly if there are dead pixels near the centre of the screen, or several stuck pixels next to each other.
While LCD monitors were in their relative infancy, buyers were just expected to lump it if their monitors came with a few fixed pixels. These days, however, vendors realise this is a big customer issue, and most offer a replacement policy based on the number (and sometimes position) of problem pixels in the monitor.
It's definitely worthwhile checking out these policies before you buy.
16:9 ratio on the Editors choice Samsung 213T ???
Did you even review these montiors? How you could get such a fundamental thing wrong is beyond me.