Re: Big monitors (very long)

[Kat Nagel/MasterWork <katnagel -at- EZNET -dot- NET>]

Me:
>>by the fact that I was looking for a 21"  hi-rez  -grayscale-  monitor.

RM
>I can see how that would be really neat for a lot of things, but don't you
>need color for a lot of things (I'm not sure what)?


What for?  Most of my work is designed---at most---for 2 spot colors.  I
just say "make all Chapter Titles and Level1 headings blue," or something.
I certainly don't need a color monitor or color printer for  -that-.

Even my last project (a 45-slide full-color PowerPoint presentation) was
done with imported graphics.  The  -client-  obviously needed a good color
system.  The  -artist-  needed a color monitor to see all the possible
color variations when he did the design work.  I previewed/approved all the
art work on his system.  All  -I-  needed was (were? aargh!) 256 grays to
show me the pretty holes where I could put my text.

Even web browsing is less of a headache (and I mean that  -quite-
literally) when I use my desktop grayscale set-up rather than my PowerBook
540c.

Note:  I have been told that my visual system is a little weird.  Where
most folks look at a color monitor and see black text on a white ground, I
see 3 distinct images---black, red and blue---like a TV screen with a
really bad 'ghost' problem.  If I try to use even the top-of-the-line Sony,
Apple or NEC monitors for more than 90 minutes or so, I get a severe
headache and my eyes blur so badly I can't see my fingers on the keyboard.
It takes 15-20 minutes to recover enough to start working again.  Lousy
productivity measurements, no?


>What kind did you buy, and do you have any advice on color monitors?


My old monitor was a SuperMac Platinum 21.  If I could have replaced it
with an identical model, I would have.  This time I wound up with a Radius
21" grayscale that is almost as good.  The background has a slightly yellow
(rather than blue) cast to the gray, and the dot pitch is OK.  I don't
recall what the 'official' resolution #s are, but I can use it for about 3
hours before my eyes blur out.  And the size is perfect.  It fits 2
complete pages on the screen, so I can do double-page layouts or compare
two docs.

There is only one model that I would have preferred.  Nanao (sp?  can't
find the brochure) makes a monitor for professional magazine photographic
editors that would have been perfect, but they were back-ordered for at
least a month.  I just couldn't afford to wait.

Nanao also makes the best color monitor for my needs.  It's the only 21"
color monitor---other than $10K+  film-editing special effects
workstations---that has a dot pitch of better than .26.  (One Hitachi model
claims .22, but nobody I could find has ever actually gotten hold of a
unit.  It's always 'temporarily unavailable').

This one is VERY crisp and clean.  I can read ordinary 12-pt text all day
on it.  The colors are clear, and easy to calibrate with on-screen
controls.  And it was the only model where I could actually adjust the
color convergence to make  -both-  the red and blue shadows totally
disappear.  The best I could do on other models was choose which variety of
blur I wanted.
My only reservation is reliability/repair.  I couldn't find any stats on
it, and I don't know how long they've been distributing in the US, or what
the parts availability is like for typical repairs.

When I finally dive into web-page graphic design in a big way (rather than
just general layout, typography and content), I'll pick up one of the Nanao
models.  Until then, I really can't justify the cost (about 3X grayscale
for equivalent resolution).


K@ __________________________________________________Kat Nagel
LIFE1: Technical writing/Document design/Publications planning
       MasterWork Consulting Services       katnagel -at- eznet -dot- net
       Health info service    mediref -at- mcls -dot- rochester -dot- lib -dot- ny -dot- us
LIFE2: Vocal chamber music                   PlaynSong -at- aol -dot- com

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