By Celia Skipton

PRODUCT
TABLE
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20-21" Monitors
A full breakdown of product features, prices and contact information.
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Screen real estate is at a premium for Web and new media developers forced to juggle a myriad of palettes and windows. These design professionals, who spend day and night in front of the screen, can breathe a sigh of relief with the arrival of the latest 20- or 21-inch monitors, each offering ample display areas, high refresh rates, ultra-high resolutions and crisp, bright colors.
Optiquest V115
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If 21 inches is not enough, Sony's GDM-W900, a 24-inch wide-aspect display, supports resolutions up to 1,920 by 1,200 at 76Hz. Expect more such widescreen models from other vendors. Also consider two monitors side-by-side with appropriate dual video cards. Multiple monitors are supported in the Mac, Windows NT, SGI, and Sun operating systems. Some dual-monitor configurations can work with Windows 95, although this is more difficult.
Prices range from about $1,300 to $2,000 on the 20- and 21-inch models listed here. If that's too steep, the latest crop of 19-inch monitors is priced extremely competitively ($1,000 to $1,200) and offers resolutions up to 1,600 by 1,200 at 75Hz. Companies shipping new 19-inch monitors by the end of the year include Cornerstone, Eizo Nanao Technologies, Hitachi, KDS USA, Philips, Optiquest, and Sony. Note that 1,600 by 1,200 on a 19-inch screen is a very crowded desktop, and is too small for many users to work comfortably.
All the monitors in this buyers guide support at least 1,600 by 1,200 pixels at 75Hz, some with even higher resolutions. All but a couple work with both Mac and PC; most require an adapter for the Mac which is either included in the box or free upon request. Many companies offer optional adapters for HP, Sun, or SGI workstations.
Computer vendors like Compaq, Dell, Gateway 2000, IBM, and Intergraph also offer their own 20- and 21-inch monitors that are primarily sold with their workstations. This guide covers monitor specialist vendors only.
Screens of Desire
December 15, 1997 Contents
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