Superb features - worth paying for!
Written: Mar 23 '01 (Updated Mar 23 '01)
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Pros: Good features, nice screen size
Cons: Not as good as an LCD monitor!
The Bottom Line: An easy to use, solid monitor. Perfect for those who want to upgrade from a smaller screen, at a very affordable price.
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| ccn158's Full Review: CTX Executive 710 17 inch CRT Monitor |
I recently decided to upgrade my monitor to this Executive 710 from CTX. I already new about CTX's quality in the monitor market (as my old one was a 15in CTX), but what greatly encouraged me to do so was the price. The popularity of 17inch monitors has driven their price down to an affordable level, as opposed to a couple of years back, where they were just thought of as a luxury.
First of all, although an extra 2 inches doesn't sound much, it really is, and you'll notice the difference straight away. The extra viewing area is useful for running Windows at higher resolutions and greater refresh rates, as well as impressing your friends.
Now there may be a trend toward those oh-so-expensive LCD screens that you may be lucky enough to have at work, and you may ask 'why should I upgrade when there's better technology available?' But don't let that put you off; LCD screens are extremely expensive, so for the average person, I feel that this acts as a perfect 'stopgap' between the two.
So why do I recommend this monitor? Here are my reasons which persuaded me to buy:
Good build quality: The monitor is solidly built, and feels very, em, solid. What I'm trying to describe here is that there's no loose ends inside, and it should last quite a while. There isn't really much style, but then again, it's difficult to be imaginative with a monitor!
Performance: This offers good performance, and a vast improvement over 15in monitors. With a viewable diagonal of 16in (the norm for 17in monitors), it can support a maximum refresh rate of 97Hz, with a resolution of 1,600 X 1,200. In practice, the resolution is too small to see anything, but 97Hz is great; your screen is rock steady, without a hint of flicker.
Features: This monitor comes with a stack of features; made via four buttons on the front of the monitor, which brings up an on-screen menu. First of all, there's the bog-standard size/position adjustment, with added extras such as rotation. In addition there's a great colour management program, which allows you to tweak away to your hearts content, although there are default settings should you wish to keep them.
The monitor surface is very flat, and should be a pleasure to view. It's very easy to set-up indeed, with all the software provided. It's Plug and Play compliant, which sometimes helps, but even better - it comes with all the power saving features you'd expect - with an anti-static, anti-glare coating on the screen.
To sum up, this is a good monitor at a good price. The perfect intermediate between a 15in monitor and a LCD one.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 230
Operating System: Windows
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Epinions.com ID:
ccn158
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Member: Simon Liau
Location: London, UK
Reviews written: 41
Trusted by: 87 members
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