Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!lll-lcc!ames!ncar!gatech!ncsuvx!ece-csc!mcnc!thorin!kuzminsk
From: kuzminsk@thorin.cs.unc.edu (David Kuzminski)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: Viking large screen displays
Message-ID: <3442@thorin.cs.unc.edu>
Date: 15 Jul 88 14:43:00 GMT
References: <5350@eagle.ukc.ac.uk>
Reply-To: kuzminsk@thorin.UUCP (David Kuzminski)
Organization: University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Lines: 69

In article <5350@eagle.ukc.ac.uk> jg@ukc.ac.uk (J.Grant) writes:
>
>	A nice simple one this ... does anyone have one, either
>size will do (19 or 25 inch) - if so, what's it like ?  What
>resolution are you using ?
>

I have been evaluating several large screen monitors for Macs lately,
including the Radius Two Page Display and both the 19 and 25 inch
Moniterms.

The Radius display is very crisp and clear with excellent resolution
and good contrast.  Because of the smaller pixel size, it is possible
to display two full pages (a MacDrawing, for instance) on the screen.
This monitor is the choice for people in our department that are 
doing work with medical images where they want to have "more picture"
on the screen.  There are some drawbacks, however.  

The smaller pixels result in text that is much more difficult to read, 
especially in WYSIWYG applications that are displaying 10 and 12 pt.
text.  Another consideration is that what you see on the screen isn't
necessarily what you see on the paper.  What I mean by this is that
a 5 inch line on your display may actually print out to be 6 1/2 inches
long.  Now, before you say "What a dumb reason not to like a monitor", 
I would like to point out that this is not a limitation as far as I am
concerned since you can always pull down the ruler and see what you are
doing, but there ARE users who like to hold up a text-filed sheet of 
paper with space left for a drawing to see how big that drawing should 
be.  No comments, please.  That's just the way things are :^).

The people who have objected to the Radius for this reason have really 
liked the 72 dpi Moniterm monitors.  My personal favorite has been the
19 inch, and for one simple reason. This monitor has the very best 
antiglare screen that I have ever seen.  I have has as many as four 
monitors on my system during this period of evaluation, and there have
been times when the Moniterm was the only one I could look at without
getting a headache.  Admittedly I have an east facing window in my office 
which lets in the morning sun, but the Moniterm is in the worst position
of all the monitors for reflection yet provides the best performance.

Some people objected to the lower level of brightness caused (I presume) 
by the antiglare feature of the screen, but I have not found this to be 
a problem at all.  The display is clear and crisp and is very easy on 
the eyes.  With the 72 dpi display, yoiu can't quite get two full pages
on the screen at once, but it's close.

I have not been nearly as happy with the 24" Moniterm.  The first one 
I received had serious arcing problems.  I ran it for about 30 minutes
then put it back in the box.  Moniterm admitted that they had been 
having serious problems with these units, but that they had changed tube 
manufacturers.  They sent me a newer unit for evaluation, but I still 
wasn't very satisfied.  The screen arcing had gone, but there other 
problems of focus as well as a continuous crackling sound.  The Moniterm
rep was really surprised to hear this, so maybe I just got a bad unit, or
maybe it got bounced around in shipping.

Another minus for this system is that it didn't have the antiglare screen
that the 19" model has.  Moniterm plans to provide this feature in the 
future, hopefully field upgradable for older units, but at a cost of 
several $100.  

One nice thing about any 24 inch 72 dpi monitor is that you can get the
two full pages on the screen in full size.  If this is important, you
may want to look at other manufacturers.  There is a rumor that Apple 
will be providing a 24 inch monitor in the Fall.

Oh, one more thing.  The Radius and 19" Moniterm are both 256 level gray 
scale monitors.  The 24" Moniterm si monochrome.  The Apple unit is rumored 
to be either monochrome or a limited number of gray scales.
16 level gray scale.