Suzanne Elvidge on choosing a monitor for your computer.

Seems obvious, doesn’t it? You need a monitor to look at things on your computer. A flattish, TV-like thing where you can view the latest goings on in the world. Sorry, it isn’t that simple. There are four main types to choose from:

• cathode ray tubes (CRT)
• liquid crystal displays (LCD)
• plasma displays
• video projectors.

We’ll have a look at the advantages and disadvantages of each type.

Cathode ray tubes (CRT)

The cathode ray tube monitor is the type you are probably most used to seeing. These look a bit like televisions, are generally beige or black, and take up a lot of space.

Advantages of CRT monitors:

• Cheap — you can pick up a new CRT monitor for around £60 and a second hand one on eBay for just a few quid
• Can be more responsive, so have less ghosting and blurring than LCDs
• Handle multiple resolutions better than LCDs — important if you have to change resolution for different applications
• Sturdy

Disadvantages

• Large footprint (they take up a lot of space on your desk)
• Heavy and bulky to carry around (important if you think you will use your cuter in more than one place)

Liquid crystal display

This is the kind of display you see on laptops. LCD displays are crisp and easy to read, and great for text.

Advantages:

• These are thin and light—they don’t take up much space and can even be mounted on the wall
• Require less power and produce less heat than a CRT.
• Can produce less eyes strain — there is less flicker and text can display better.

Disadvantages

• Colours aren’t always displayed accurately (probably only important if you are producing layouts for print production).
• Bright light can affect how well you can see the screen — watch commuters squinting at their laptops on the train on a bright summer morning... and then tell them they should be looking out of the window at the cows instead.
• The angle that you can look at the screen is limited—important if more than one person needs to look at the computer at any one time

Plasma displays (here)

Advantages

• Much thinner and lighter than CRTs
• Can be HUGE (up to 60”).
• Like LCDs, these produce crisp, clear, high contrast images

Disadvantages

• Expensive (prices on Kelkoo range from £1175 to £6262 at time of going to press)
• Thicker and heavier than LCDs
• More fragile than LCDs

Video projector

Video projectors are used to project a computer’s display, such as a PowerPoint presentation, onto a screen, ideal for use in a meeting or tutorial (and several up from hand-written acetates that always used to curl up round the edges, or the slides that were invariable upside down or back to front).

Advantages

• Everyone in the room can see

Disadvantages

• Set-up time

So what do you need to look for in a CRT or LCD computer monitor...?

Display standards

Display standards, which ensure that the computer and monitor communicate, are generally made up of:

• display resolution (the number of pixels that can be displayed on the screen — the higher the image resolution, the clearer the image)
• colour depth (a measure of the number of colours that can be displayed — the higher the colour depth (and so number of bits used), the broader the range of colours)
• refresh rate (the number of frames displayed per second, expressed in hertz — higher the refresh rate, the less flickering seen).

Aspect ratio

Aspect ratio --the width divided by the height. Most computer monitors are 4:3, but other ratios such as 16:9 and 16:10 are available for specific purposes, such as showing films or for page layout and CAD applications.

Size

The size of your monitor depends on what you are using it for—for everyday use, a 15-17 inch CRT or LCD is probably enough. For layout and design work, 19-21 inch monitors are useful (I’ve used these for word processing, and found them a bit ‘in your face’!)

The size of a CRT monitors isn't necessarily the viewable size—eg a 17" monitor only has about 15.5" visible. With LCD monitors, a 17" monitor has closer to 17" viewable.

Enough of the techy stuff

Fed up with that dull beige computer monitor? Give it a pink or a footie trim, go for one in a different colour (if you can find one that’s not beige or black let me know!), or decorate the one you’ve got.

Now you’ve got this sorted, set up your monitor (or two or three), give it a clean and get computing!

• Choosing a printer

Suzanne Elvidge is the editor of www.echurchactive.net, effective use of technology for the church.