You will spend many hours looking at your monitor, so it is important to choose the right one. At its simplest a monitor is just a display screen for your PC, but like all computing products nowadays, monitors come in a range of styles and sizes to suit a multitude of needs.
Choose the monitor that suits you
Nowadays monitors have an extensive range of features for both work and play. You need to find the right balance between performance and value for money.
Home Computing
Home users more often than not need to balance price against performance. Since PCs are now an integral part of home life the aesthetics and styling are also key when making a purchase. Features such as speakers and connectivity (i.e. no. of USB ports, HDMI and/or DVI inputs) are additional considerations.
Key Features:
Price
Good colour performance
Sharp text
Design/appearance
Connectivity
Video input
Contrast ratio (The ratio of the brightest and darkest images a display can reproduce)
Value for Money
Academic life often means lots of costs with a budget to match. Students need a lightweight, portable design and image quality good enough for both work and play.
Key Features:
Pixel-response time (Response time is a measure of how long a display takes to change the image)
Accuracy
Large image area to display more of the action
What connections do I Need?
DVI - The Digital Visual Interface is a video interface standard designed to maximize the visual quality of digital display devices such as flat panel LCD computer displays and digital projectors. Ideal for high end gaming or work that requires a high detail of graphics.
VGA - A VGA connector as it is commonly known (other names include RGB connector, D-sub 15, mini sub D15 and mini D15) is a three-row 15 pin DE-15. There are four versions: original and DDC2 pinouts, the far older and less flexible DE-9 connector, and a Mini-VGA used for laptops. This is the most common interface and is available with all PC’s.
HDMI - The High-Definition Multimedia Interface is a compact audio/video connector interface for transmitting uncompressed digital streams. This offers high definition images for gaming or high end graphics applications.
What is a TFT/LCD?
Are you confused about the difference between TFT and LCD?...
LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) monitors are space saving flat panel displays. They are often referred to as TFTs (Thin Film Transistors).
The major selling points of TFT monitors are the stylish design and slim profile, which creates a smaller "footprint". TFTs also weigh much less than CRTs and also require much less power emitting less electromagnetic radiation.
TFT monitors provide bright, sharp displays as each pixel is produced by a tiny cell which contains a thin layer of liquid crystals. They also have a higher resolution than an equally sized CRT monitor therefore the visible screen is larger. TFT screens are available in a range of sizes from 15” to 28” and above.
Advantages of TFT’s
In a marketplace crammed with displays, in a multitude of sizes and styles, finding the right monitor can be a real challenge. Misco have summarised the main advantages in choosing a TFT display together with some key characteristics to look for. We’ve also provided some suggestions for extra kit you may require.
Advantages:
Thin and stylish
Energy efficient
Relatively lightweight, especially in larger sizes
Crisp image
More display area (a 15 inch LCD is equivalent to a 17 inch CRT)
Space saving
Perfect screen geometry
No convergence problems
Key characteristics to look for:
Response time ideally below 8 seconds
Extra connectivity such as HDMI and DVI inputs
Additional USB ports for greater connectivity
Widescreen to enhance the viewing of spreadsheets, games and movies
In-built speakers to avoid desk clutter
Height adjustability
Accessories
Misco offer a wide range of accessories compliment your monitors and to help make life easier whilst at college or university.
Misco offer a wide range of accessories to compliment your monitors and to help make life easier whilst at college or university.
Monitor arms
Attach your new TFT monitor to your desk for maximum flexibility with our range of monitors arms from world's leading manufacturers.
Monitor stands
Raise your monitor to the correct height for maximum comfort with our comprehensive selection of monitor stands.
Screen filters
Maintain privacy whilst surfing the web, accessing online banking and writing assignments with our range of low cost screen filters.