High end CRT for a reasonable price.
Written: Oct 02 '03 (Updated Oct 03 '03)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Clarity
Resolution
Price
Menus
UltraBrite Button
Cons: Aperture Grille fusion lines
The Bottom Line: Professional grade CRT monitor at half the price of an economy LCD.
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| fatta's Full Review: ViewSonic P75f+b 17 inch CRT Monitor |
The Viewsonic P75f+ (P stands for Professional Series) was purchased after my last Viewsonic 17" came me its last breath after over 8 years of daily service. It was a great monitor, but technology has definitely improved (even in CRT's). As I was shopping around for a new monitor, I evaluated both CRT and LCD monitors. Although the LCD's are very attractive, they do have their limitations, including fixed resolutions, larger dot pitch, and higher price. The new generation of CRT's are smaller, provide an amazing level of clarity, color, and refresh rate while being very inexpensive.
The P75f+ is essentially a CAD level monitor, which means you can theoretically set the resolution up to 1792x1344 with a refresh of 69Hz. That is definite overkill and the monitor works perfectly at a more realistic 1600x1200 @77Hz or 1280x1024 @89Hz. The monitor's features are all fairly straight forward, with good menu controls that allow you to manipulate every aspect of the picture. One feature which is not common is the UltraBrite button on the front which basically boosts brightness levels for intense, vivid colors for things like video, DVD, graphics or gaming applications. You can toggle back to normal brightness for text and everyday applications.
In terms of applications, the P75f+B excels at daily business applications, high frame-rate games (the UltraBrite button comes in handy for the poorly lit ones), graphic design and video editing applications. My wife also uses the computer for AutoCAD use and also loves the monitor. On an average day, I spend between 3 and 6 hours in front of the CRT and do not develop the visual fatigue I used to with the prior model due to the high refresh rates on the P75f+B.
This monitor has only one flaw in my opinion. In order to obtain the same clarity at the center of the CRT as the periphery, Viewsonic basically fuses different aperture grilles together. What this means is you'll see two faint lines going horizontally across the screen at the top and bottom thirds of the screen. Granted most people will not notice these, but they did bother me. When the monitor first arrived, I thought these were flaws. Dell graciously shipped out another monitor and shipped mine back free of charge. To my shock, the new monitor had the same lines. It was then I realized what they were. Overall, this is a great monitor for the price.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 179
Operating System: Windows and Macintosh
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Epinions.com ID:
fatta
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Location: Bethesda, MD, USA
Reviews written: 21
Trusted by: 2 members
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