Computer Buying Guide

The computer monitor is the thing you stare at all day as you work on your computer. Because of this, choosing the right monitor can make a big difference to the strain experienced by your eyes when working, and the quality of the images you see on the screen.

There used to be very little option when getting a monitor, but there are getting to be more choices, which apart from giving you more choice makes it that little bit harder to choose the right one for your application.

This guide will give you enough information to make sure you get the monitor that best fits your needs, the applications you use, where you use it and most importantly is as light on your wallet as possible.

So what should I be looking for?

It used to be a fairly simple process to find the monitor that is best, but with the option of getting a CRT or LCD monitor and beyond that the quality and function of the monitor in question there becomes a lot more to consider. We will go over these to give you a good idea of what to keep your eyes open for.

We will look at whether you should get an LCD or CRT monitor, how to choose the best design of monitor, how good the monitor’s internal parts are, how well it produces colors, how uniform the colors are, latency and choosing the monitor that will meet the screen resolution you need and refresh rates.

If this seems like a bit much to take in, don’t worry we will go through each aspect clearly to make sure you know what to look out for.

Should I get an LCD or CRT?

Firstly let me explain the difference…

The old style monitor is the CRT. This stands for Cathode Ray Tube, which is the big thing inside the monitor that produces the picture. This kind of monitor is still the cheapest, but is bigger and heavier than LCD monitors. LCD monitors are dropping in price though, bringing them closer to the price of the older style monitors.

The newer, flatter monitors are LCD. This stands for Liquid Crystal Display and refers to the way the image is produced on the screen. These are generally about twice the price of CRT monitors, but offer other advantages like being more crisp, and not flickering at low refresh rates.

More recently the prices of LCD monitors have dropped dramatically. What I paid for a flat 19 inch CRT two years ago can now buy a 19 inch LCD monitor.

The most noticable difference is just in terms of style. The flat screen is much better for saving space on your table or desk, giving more room for other stuff. It is also much nicer to look at, that slim style gives it a more modern look.

There are drawbacks to LCD monitors though. Although CRT monitors all do fairly well, there is a huge range of quality to be found in flat screen monitors, some of the worst being almost unusable in reality. The best ones come at a high price. They also suffer from high latency, meaning that it takes a long time for the picture to come onto the screen. This is a serious issue for gamers, but not too serious for a desktop or workstation.

What size screen should I get?

If you are going to be doing gaming or graphics, bigger is better. It’s not the only thing to consider, but it makes a big difference, as you can fit more information on the screen. Unfortunately, as with many computer parts, the price goes up exponentially as the size increases. Basically, the best value is with 15 and 17 inch monitors. If you are looking at CRT monitors, you can still get good value with 19 inch monitors.

For most applications, a 15 inch monitor will do the job. The old standard used to be 14 inch, but these have more or less dissappeared. A 17 inch monitor provides a lot more monitor space as the measurements are made from corner to corner diagonally on the monitor. A 19 inch would suit a designer using 3D graphics programs or a gamer well.

Screen resolution

A computer screen is made up of thousands of little dots, that are close enough together to form an image.

How close these dots are to each other is refered to as the Dot Pitch. With any monitor you are looking for a dot pitch that is as small as possible.

If you are looking at two similar monitors, one with a .24 dot pitch and one with a .28 dot pitch, the one with the .24 dot pitch will have crisper image than the one with .28

With LCD monitors, the typical dot pitch is .264, while as low as .24 is possible for CRT monitors. For any monitor .28 is about as low as it goes, and you should not get any less than this.

Refresh rate

Refresh rate is how fast the monitor can produce a new image on the screen.

If you are doing something where the image is changing a lot, like when gaming, then a high refresh rate is very necessary. But if doing something like typing of surfing the net, this is not needed.

Higher refresh rates give you crisper images on the screen, too.

Resolution refers to how much information can be put on the screen. If the monitor is at 800×600 it means that it is showing 800 pixels across, and 600 vertically. By using a higher resolution you can fit more things on the monitor, but it also makes them appear smaller.

While surfing the web or word processing 800×600 is fine. More common with newer computers is 1024×768. I run my 19 inch monitor at 1280×960 and I can get a lot of information on one screen. Very useful when using programs like Adobe Photoshop.

When looking at a monitor, make sure it can support above 75hz@800×600 or even better 75hz@1024×768.

Design and ergonomics

The first thing to look at is how the monitor looks. This may seem like the most obvious thing, but there are details that you should look out for.

The part that surrounds the screen should be strong and resistant to scratches. If you are going to use more than one monitor together then it’s recommended that you get a screen with as small a border as possible.

Have a look at the buttons, are they easy to operate. Along with the buttons you should have a look at the On-Screen-Display (OSD). This is used to change the physical settings of the monitor. Is it intuitive and easy to use, is it easy to adjust the settings you want to change? Have a look at these little details.

Can you adjust it’s angle? How much can you adjust it? These are smaller details but are worth looking at when investing in a monitor.

Parts

Apart from the mere appearance of the monitor there are technical details that you should look out for as well.

There are many different kinds of video inputs that a monitor can take. Which ones you will use will depend on the application. A rule of thumb is to look for a monitor that has all of the ones you need. If it doesn’t, look at all the other features first, but make sure that it has at least the most common input sources.

There is the tradtional VGA port. This is the kind that was used on all CRT monitors and LCD monitors still use that kind. This is still the most common kind and you will not go wrong with a monitor that has a VGA port.

A DVI connector is another choice that is commonly found on LCD monitors. This is a newer kind that offere some advantages over the older VGA kind. It is very useful to have. There are very few flat screen monitors that don’t incluce one of these, but there are a handful that do not. Make sure it has the one that your computer uses or that your new computer has a kind to match.

S-Video connectors are useful if you plan to use things like your DVD player to play movies or your camcorder. Most home entertainment products will have an S-Video output so this would be good if you plan to play anything from those sources on your monitor.

Color and Spatial Uniformity

One problem that comes in with flat screen monitors is that the color produced on the screen is not always true to the color that it is supposed to be producing.

Although this may seem quite awful, the fact is that all LCD monitors have this to varying degrees. It’s how much difference there is that makes the difference.

Different spots on the screen will produce more or less accurate colors. If it varies too much between the top and the bottom of the screen, meaning that one of the two is more off, it will be obvious. If it is fairly well distributed over the screen then the difference will appear less.

The OSD is used to adjust the contrast and the brightness of the monitor. Sometimes a monitor needs to the brightness turned up really high to produce correct colors. This defeats the object of the LCD which is supposed to be easier on the eyes than a CRT monitor.

Latency

Latency refers to how fast the monitor can update the colors on the screen. Lower times mean a faster monitor and hence the picture stays up to date.

This has very little impact in the everyday monitor market, where the programs used, such as desktop applications don’t require this kind of speed. Those programs show nearly the same thing all the time.

But gaming is a whole new ballgame. The high refresh rates and precision graphics changing constantly and rapidly require the monitor to stay on top of things to keep it looking good, not to mention playable.

LCD monitors have always been on the slow side and CRT monitors would still be the choice to go for if gaming. However newer LCD monitors are coming up for the challlenge. With dropping prices and improving technology, new monitors are definitely in with a fighting chance for games.

If you are looking at first person shooter games, then a latency of under 12ms or even 8ms will be necessary to make the games playable. When a manufacturer specifies 12ms, that is under ideal conditions, and the latency can get as high as 36ms. This is a standard tactic, but is worth watching.

In Conclusion

Choosing the right monitor is a case of assessing your needs from the monitor itself. Many times, most monitors will be OK, especially when it comes to everyday desktop and office applications. Even then, taking the time to have a look for the most useful monitor will pay off with the ease of use they provide.

Monitors are one piece of equipment that can outlast all the other parts of your computer. Choosing the right monitor can save you from the need to upgrade for many years, adding to your computer’s ease of use, and making things easier, rather than a headache.

If the processor is the “brain” of the computer, then the motherboard is the heart and lungs.

The motherboard is the thing that all the other parts of the computer connect to. Computers are designed to be lots of seperate parts, and the motherboard holds these parts together by allowing them to communicate or “talk” to each other.

So what do I need to look for?

Cheap video cards are becoming more widely available as technology moves on, with top models costing ever more. The job of the video card, often called the graphics card, is to deliver the picture produced by the computer to the screen. This may seem like a fairly simple task but it can become very complicated. But for most people there is not too much that you need to know to make a wise choice in deciding on the video card or graphics card that will meet your need. And cheap video cards will do for most people.

What Computer Video Cards will I need?

Which computer video cards you need will vary depending on the applications you plan to do.

Nowadays, with many motherboards, the computer video cards built in. These will usually sharea portion of the main memory with the computer, and can actually support very good 2D graphics as seen in most office and desktop applications like word processing and web browsers. The ability of these processors on the motherboard has gotten so good that if you don’t plan to play many 3D games or use any specialised applications like CAD a lot, then they will more than do for your graphics needs.

The most important factor for an everyday, office application computer video cards is the ability to be able to produce the optimal screen size and resolution. Making sure your chosen card can produce at least 75MHz@your-chosen-screen-resolution is important to keep a sharp picture. With LCD monitors, as low as 60MHz might be acceptable because of their resistance to flicker, but I still recommend 75MHz. The screen resolution usually depends on the monitor size. The bigger the monitor the more stuff you want to fit on it.I run my 19inch monitor at 1280×1024 which gives me the size I like. 800×600 on my monitor results in huge icons in windows.

Much of the confusion with video cards is caused by the ever increasing demand of computer gamers. 3D computer games require an immense amount of power to bring their environments to life. For this reason graphics cards can now cost over $500. This is compounded when you factor in that new technologies like SLI allow two cards to work together to do the graphics work.

So is it worth having a 3D graphics card?

As a general rule I would say “No” but it depends largely on what you do with your computer. Even ofice applications like picture editing listening to digital music and surfing the net don’t need them, you don’t even need them to watch DVDs.

A 3D graphics card will improve your graphics. It will make them smoother and allow you to run very high refresh rates. Everyday graphics will improve, but the most advantage will be seen in 3D applications, like 3D modelling and 3D gaming, as these programs will use the card’s built in features.

As long as your graphics card can support the screen resolution you hope for at 75MHz or more, I think it’s fine.

If your needs include specialised applications like Computer Aided Design or video editing, there are specialised cards from both ATI and nVidia that are optimised for programs like AutoCAD, 3DSMax, Maya, Softimage and others.

ATI and nVidia

The main competitors in the video card race are ATI video cards and nVidia video cards. Both these companies keep pushing the boundaries to produce ever higher quality and ever stronger performance from their graphics cards.

Of course, as always, the main focus goes to the high-end video cards aimed at gamers. Both ATI video cards, nVidia video cards and others allow players to achieve ever higher frames per second from their games at increasingly high resolutions.

This involves developing new technologies all the time. Like technologies that take two video cards and pair them together to achieve better results. ATI video cards had a strong hold on the video card market for quite a while, but nVidia have done a good job at producing better video cards which are now a serious threat to ATI.

Video card slots

Along with the evolution of video cards has come and improvement in the interface with the motherboard.

The slot, which is where the video card is connected to the motherboard can come in 3 different varieties nowadays, usually suggesting the price range the cards for it will fall into.

The three different kinds are:

• PCI – The oldest kind, always found on motherboards
• AGP – Different speed varieties, but is being phased out, still great even for high end games
• PCI express (PCIe) – Matches fastest AGP, but has future potential

PCI slots

This is a standard expansion slot, all motherboards have them. The design of PCI slots means that they are not capable of the kind of transfer rates that are needed for gaming graphics.

Only cheap video cards come in this flavor, but with that said, they are still worth a look at, just because they are cheap does not mean they are bad.

AGP slots

AGP was an answer to the high speeds needed by graphics cards. But even the first AGP needed to be improved as time went on.

Often you will see a video card marked as AGP 8X or AGP 4x. The 4x and 8x mean that they can transfer that times as much information as the original AGP.

Even with those increases in speed the technology itself was outdone and a newer kind came into play, allowing other new technologies to be used.

PCI Express slots

This slot, which is the newest, and becoming more and more popular, was the answer to the extra bandwidth needed by newer games. Although initially it doesn’t actually outperform AGP, the potential is there.

As well as the bandwidth, it supports other things, like the ability to use 2 PCIe slots and put 2 video cards together, using SLI technology.

My opinion would be to go for a PCI Express slot, just because of the future proofness. However, good deals can be had on AGP cards, as the technology gets phased out, the slightly older cards become cheaper.

Built-in computer video card

If you are in the market for a new computer or have a new on and are thinking you need to upgrade these are some of the built-in computer video card options that are available and would be more than suitable for office type applications.

“Built-in” computer video card means that the parts that are often put seperately on a video card are actually on the motherboard. The quality of these has improved much, and can produce good graphics. Not high-powered, but very good for office use.

On the motherboard it is often possible to spot the graphics chip if your board comes with one. By looking at the list below you will be able to spot that chip on your motherboard, as they are marked on their surface with the company and brand.

• ATI Radeon – XPRESS 200, 9100 IGP, RX330 motherboard chipsets
• Intel Extreme Graphics II – Intel i865G, i865GV chipsets
• Intel GMA 900 – Intel i915G, i915GV, i910GL chipsets
• nVidia GeForce4 MX – nForce 2 chipset
• S3 Graphics UniChrome Pro – IGP Integrated in the VIA PM880, PM800, K8M800 chipsets
• SiS Mirage Graphics – SiS 661FX, SiS 741, SiS 741GX chipsets
• SiS Mirage Graphics 2 – SiS 760 chipset

Basic video cards – for most work computers

If you already have a computer and the graphics power is not enough then you might have no option but to upgrade. These bottom of the range video cards are more than enough for most applications, but NOT FOR GAMES. They don’t have enough clout to handle that kind of graphics requirement. Here is a list of the companies and their cards. A good cheap video card can be a great way to get the motherboard you like. Sometimes a motherboard that suits your needs lacks built-in video, which can be simply overcome with a cheap video card.

A note on naming of cards: nVidia and ATI chipsets are used by many different companies to make video cards. So when you see a video card like “Chaintech GeForce 6600GT 128MB PCIe w/TV & DVI Out”, the name “Chaintech” refers to the company that produced the card. The “GeForce 6600GT 128MB PCIe” part shows that it is based on the “nVidia GeForce 6600GT” as they are the ones that make the GeForce series.

• ATI PCIe – Radeon x300se
• ATI AGP – Radeon 9200 series, Radeon 9250 series and Radeon 7000 series
• nVidia PCIe – GeForce FX 6200 with TurboCache
• nVidia AGP – GeForce4 MX and GeForce FX 5200
• Matrox – this company specializes in graphics cards for 2D applications
• XGI – Volari V3, Volari V3XT

Mid-range graphics cards – video card comparison of cards for multi purpose computers with a little gaming

For casual gamers a little more power is needed. These cards will not push the limits in terms of new games. They will, however, satisfy your need to do something more than work on your computer. These cards are a little more expensive, coming in at around a hundred bucks and going up from there. Have a look at the video card comparisson.

• ATI PCIe – Radeon x600 and Radeon x700
• ATI AGP – Radeon 9550 series, Radeon 9600 series and Radeon 9800 series
• nVidia PCIe – GeForce FX 6200 and GeForce FX 6600
• nVidia AGP – GeForce FX 6200 and GeForce FX 6600
• S3 AGP – Deltachrome S8
• XGI AGP – Volari V5, V8

High-end graphics cards – Hardcore gamers, game lovers and techies

And finally for the ultimate game experience, you need to venture into the money is no object category of cards. These cards are the cutting edge, offering the most performance and the latest developments

• ATI PCIe – Radeon x800 and Radeon x850
• ATI AGP – Radeon x800
• nVidia PCIe – GeForce FX 6800
• nVidia AGP – GeForce FX 6800

Video cards for specific purposes

For those who need specific performance these will provide a good starting point for the things you need. These cards are designed to excel at 2D applications, and as well as doing their designed task exceptionally well, they probably won’t be very well in a video card comparison with high-end card but will also provide a boost in general performance.

• 3D Labs: Wildcat product line
• ATI: FireGL product line
• Matrox: Parhelia product line
• nVidia: Quadro product line

The final decision

You should now be able to make an informed decision on how to get a cheap video cards, or if you even need to.

My personal preferance is to make sure that I get a motherboard with a decent, even if cheap video cards built in. They are more than enough for my purposes, and anough for more than 80% of computer buyers out there. The vast majority of 3D cards are designed with games in mind.

I don’t see the need to purchase an extremely expensive model when what comes with the motherboard will usually do. No, I won’t get high performance in games, but I don’t play them anyway. They do provide the resolution and quality I need for my day to day work.

If I was to purchase a 3D card for games I would go for a top end model, otherwise a cheap video cards. I see no point in hovering near the middle as games keep moving forward. Graphics cards move ahead very quickly in terms of their technology. The top models from nVidia and ATI are fantastic and the difference that is there wouldn’t be noticed by any but the most gaming enthused.

Computer rental is usually in the domain of the small to medium-sized business. Computer rental is intended for short term use of computers where they are needed for a specific purpose.

Computer that are hired or rented are usually completely setup ahead of time. The companies that provide the computer rental will assess your needs and help to install all the software that you need. Although the computers can be run of the mill desktop computers, computer rental companies offer many options as well as things like multimedia stands for trade shows. The benefits of a computer rental are that there is very little to worry about at the customers end. No need for technical staff to maintain the computers and no need to keep inventory that is only used occassionally.

For a home computer, the cost of computer rental is just too high. With all that convenience comes the expense of having technical staff who can maintain all of those computers and software. With the price of desktop computers always coming down, it is possible to find desktop computers with monitors for less that $500. Many of these computers would last for at least a few years still. Many people don’t realise that the demands of computer software haven’t gone up too much and for typing documents and surfing the Internet, I still use an 800MHz AMD at work. Although long term rates are available with computer rentals they do not match the more reasonable and more popular alternative which is a desktop computer with some kind of support for it.

Pre-packaged deals like those from Dell and Compaq became so popular because they really did make desktop computers more accessible to the general public. Along with the computers came the support necessary for people who really don’t want to mess around with their computer when something goes wrong. Although this support was not free, there was a certain amount of ease knowing that there was somewhere and someone to turn to when things went wrong.

Finding a computer fixit person is my personal choice. In my situation I am that computer geek, but there are plenty of computer stores and computer repair people who will take care of most of your computer problems with very little cost. Although it seems less safe that a package deal from Dell or Compaq these computer “geeks” will quite often be able to recommend the best products for your needs and be a valuable resource. They are also often more qualified because the big companies have sales staff who have very little technical knowledge.

Computer rental will definitely suit you if you need them for once-off or infrequent events. A computer rental is probably not the best idea for a permanent office machine because of the high expenses involved.

Computer components are in hot demand. With more people doing their own computer upgrades, computer components are in abundance. For this article, computer components will refer to the main parts of the computer, that is to say the computer components that you would find inside the box of almost any desktop computer. There is a seperate page for computer accessories that outline extras that are quite often optional.

Computer monitor
One of the major computer components, sometimes referred to as the computer screen.

Motherboard
This is the big board inside the computer case. You can find out more about what this computer component does by browsing our motherboard articles.

Computer Case
This is the box that holds everything in. Although its very difficult to go wrong in a general sense, there are options that make a large difference to your system.

Keyboard
You use this to input information into the computer. Of all the computer components this might be the one used most often in everyday use.

DVD drive
For playing your favorite movies on your computer and for storing tons of information.

Graphics card
These are some of the most expensive computer components because of their complexity and massive number crunching power. The GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) on many modern graphics or video cards are more powerful than some computer processors.

Central Processing Unit (CPU)
The computer’s brain and completely essential to the functioning of the computer.

Hard drives
Hard drives can often be the most frustrating of computer components. They store all your information and it is essential that they are reliable, as well as being fairly fast so you don’t have to wait forever for your programs to load.

That is a breakdown of some of the computer components that you would come across on a daily basis. The list of computer accessories is much longer as there are tons of other things that can be added onto the computer.

There seems to be very few choices when buying a new computer monitor. Sure, there are lots and lots of different companies gloating at how their monitor has a high refresh rate or low latency, but how does that translate to everyday performance for you and me?

The old style computer monitors that were referred to as Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) monitors didn’t have too many choice. You simply had to watch out for refresh rate as a low refresh rate would lead to that low level flicker that is often associated with monitors. Flickering computer monitors would not only hamper work performance, but lead to headaches and other discomforts because of strain on the eyes.

These monitors have all but disappeared from the consumer market, having been replaced by flat screen monitors. They are still around, but many of them are now aimed at the high range, being designed for people who do designing on computers for a living. They can be over $1000 dollars and offer magnificent screen resolutions and are produce ultra-clear images, better than many flat screen monitors.

Flat screen monitors have become the monitor of choice. Mostly because of their slim profile more than any specific performance benefits, but that is the way things go. For a while flat screen monitors were just too expensive, but now you can’t really find anything else. Even 19 inch flat screen monitors are under $300.

Stick with the big brands for flat screen monitors. Acer, ViewSonic, Samsung, Sony, Dell, HP, NEC and BenQ are well known and will be less likely to disappoint that a very cheap unbranded model. There are plenty of cheap flat panel monitors hitting the market, they might do for your purposes, but be warned of less than thrilling images and longevity.

Screen size plays a major role in the price of your computer monitor, the bigger it is, the more expensive it becomes. Wider screen models have come into the market, but are a little more pricey than the traditional 4:3 ratio computer monitors that dominate. Bigger computer monitors are not necessarily bigger as there are certain tradeoffs in getting the larger screens. Flat screen monitors are usually designed for a specific purpose.

In a nutshell, 15 inches will be enough if don’t use the computer that often, and you only do web browsing, typing documents and using general work related applications. It will still be fine for watching some videos, but nothing great in terms of picture quality.

A 17 inch flat screen monitor will put you in the average range for most computers. These can offer high speeds, which will cost a little more if you get those low latency models. Computer monitors with this little extra size give a larger workspace, making a less cramped computer desktop.

19 inch flat screen monitors and above will start to cost you more money. Getting high speed models with excellent colors will start to push over the $300 mark, which is certainly beyong most entry level computers. Get this size if you want a larger workspace or have some specific requirement for the larger size.

Screen resolution comes into play here too. With computer monitors I have particular joy from a 5 year old ViewSonic p90f CRT monitor. It has a large screen and I can use 1600×1200 screen resolution which give a wonderfully large workspace. I can open two windows to what would be full size on an 800×600 screen. The resolution relates to how much can be squashed into the available space. This is limited for flat screen monitors, but is pretty much always and appropriate amount for that monitor.

Refresh rates refer to how quickly the monitor can produce a new image on the screen. As soon as all the little pixels are updated that is a single refresh. The refresh rate, measured in MegaHertz tells how many times it can do this in a minute. With CRT computer monitors 75Mhz is enough to stop screen flicker, but with flat screen monitors that only needs to be 60MHz.

Extras can make a difference too, although they might be overlooked if some other feature really stands out. They should accept DVI or VGA inputs, but at least DVI. Being able to accept an s-Video signal is a bonus for watching videos as that is quite standard amongst home entertainment equipment.

What many gamers watch out for in computer monitors is latency. If latency is slow then games will get a noticeable drag feel to them and make gameplay difficult if not impossible. There are many 17 inch monitors for this purpose and a few 19 inch ones that make it too.

Gamers will need low latency and designers will need even and accurate colors for their uses. Most other users can pick on price and performance without too much fuss.