David Shapshak
Product: COMPAQ TFT8000 18-inch flat screen monitor Price: R27 000
`It’s like going to the drive-in,” a colleague said when he saw the 18-inch flat screen monitor. Except it’s a flat drive-in with precise, pin-point clarity and takes up less space that the clunky 15-inch monitor I’ve been using for years.
Flat screen technology has been lurking about for a while, but the science has taken time to settle and be developed on a commercial scale.
At the moment, most computer screens are bulky cathode ray tube (CRT) screens that rival a TV set for size. But soon monitors like the Compaq TFT8000 will be standard equipment for any new personal computer. The advantages are numerous: for example the clarity and colour are much better, and flat panels take up less space and weigh less than CRTs.
The Compaq TFT8000 is impressive aesthetically, but when you turn it on, it gets even more impressive. The screen has a 1 280 x 1 024 resolution. Another gain is that the flat screen uses virtually all of its screen area, so a 15-inch LCD gives you nearly the same viewable screen size as the equivalent 17-inch CRT.
When I ran a digital video disk through it, the screen handled motion video convincingly. Flickerless and with minuscule blur, it handles wide-angle viewing (up to 160, the manufacturers say). Compaq says the screen supports 16,7- million colours.
The TFT8000 takes up less than half the space and weighs 70% less than a 21-inch CRT monitor. Without its base, the flat panel weighs about 5,5kg.
The screen runs with PCs and Macintoshes, and has three universal serial buses for peripherals, such as a mouse and keyboard.
While research statistics differ on how flat panels are being taken up in the marketplace, increased competition between panel manufacturers will drive the price down and make them as easy an option as CRTs.
“As we reduce the price of flat panel displays while making them easier to use than the bulky monitors that dominate today’s desktops, we will see a new revolution in our homes, on our walls and on our desktops,” says Chandra Reddy, CEO of Sage, a provider of flat panel electronics in San Jos, United States.