Move over Haley Joel Osment. You may see dead people, but I see monitors. Years ago, it was songs that would rattle around for days in my brain, like when my family made pilgrimages to the Small World ride at Disneyland, with its maddening theme song, “It’s a Small World.” Now, following my recent road trip to the Society for Information Display (SID) 2001 Jamboree, I just can’t seem to get displays out of my head.
So, when a number of display-related items crossed my desk, it seemed natural to go with the flow and bundle them in a grab bag of monitor updates that have implications for creative professionals. I don’t need to remind you that monitors are the eyes to your work, now, do I?
The High-Priced Spread
Recently, IBM announced the availability of its T220 monitor, a super-duper-high-resolution flat-panel display. The company said it will begin full-scale production of the 22-inch screen sometime later in the quarter.
I got a firsthand look at the T220 at SID, and it was almost a religious experience: Images on the screen have the richness of a sleek HiFi-color coffee-table book (the kind I remember from long ago printed with environmentally unfriendly spot-color inks). Of course, few hardcopy editions glow in the dark like the T220. Attendees were invited to look at the display with a magnifying glass, much as print-production pros would examine a proof in a light box.
The models I saw in action, perhaps prototypes, were thick, with an array of four fans across the back, cooling the panel and its hefty backlights. The displays were connected to several large computer boards, about 28 by 20 inches, housed in a Plexiglas case. The resolution? The T220 boasts a resolution of 3,840 by 2,400 pixels, and more than 200 lines per inch. (Where’s the off-the-shelf graphics card that supports such a resolution?)
Given my past rant about the questionable suitability of LCDs for color evaluation, readers might expect me to pan these newcomer flat-panel displays instead of going gaga over these ultra-bright, high-resolution screens. Notwithstanding my criticisms in previous columns, I’m no Neo-Luddite LCD hater. My beef with the current crop of widely available LCDs relates to their performance, or lack of the same. When compared with CRTs, most LCDs are expensive, difficult to calibrate, and only display about half the colors found on the screens of their ungainly predecessors. This is progress? But IBM’s T220, along with displays from other vendors showcased at SID, finally have the resolution and, more importantly, the brightness and color to compete with high-performance CRTs for content creation.
In its announcement, IBM highlighted a number of markets for the T220, such as workstations for enterprise environments, for the evaluation of weather and other scientific data, for medical imaging, CAD engineering applications, and content creation. “Designers ranging from publishing, fashion, furniture, home building, and beyond can view photo-quality images and detailed information easier and faster than with paper layouts,” IBM’s press release states.
This product positioning seems a hollow promise, however, when one checks the T220’s price tag: $22,000. At this price level, sticker shock is an understatement. Where’s the content creator who can afford to shell out this much cash for a monitor, or even 25 percent ($5,500) of this amount?
Even with the computer industry’s relentless drive to lower the cost of technology, it will be years before this quality — certainly from this particular LCD architecture — becomes affordable for content creators. That is unless we all win the Lotto.
Running (or Walking and Talking) Interference
A recent posting on Macintouch by Ted Chavalas remarked on wireless or RF (radio frequency) interference with Power Macintosh G4 series machines connected to various flat-panel Apple Studio Displays. He said walkie talkies used by company security guards caused the Macs to crash. According to Chavalas, Apple’s technical support said the problem was related to touch sensors used in the new display models. Apple declined to comment. Other reports of strange Studio Display behavior have been posted here via MacCentral.
To electrical engineers, however, this problem is no stranger — they dub it “electromagnetic pollution.” For any electrical device, cables can function as an ad hoc antenna and subsequently cause a disturbance. The sources of this electromagnetic interference are many, including radar, power sources, lightning events, radio transmitters, radar devices, and wireless communication systems like Chavalas’s walkie talkies. Years ago, my stereo system received (unwanted) CB radio broadcasts — the fix proved difficult.
Hopefully, the solution for Apple’s displays may be as simple as fitting a couple of snap-on shields called toroidal chokes to the cable, which will change the cable’s RF characteristics. These parts are available at most electronic supply stores for under $10 (Radio Shack used to carry them). Then again, the fix may be more complicated.
While waiting for Apple (or another resourceful reader) to supply a solution, users of affected systems can simply connect their computers to CRT monitors via the video port. I believe that’s a good thing. But using monitors sporting a digital interface provides an additional challenge. With the new G4 models, Apple moved from the industry-standard DVI interface used on earlier G4 models to its proprietary Apple Display Connector. So owners of monitors with a DVI interface will need Belkin’s ADC-to-DVI adapter.
Getting a Handle on CRTs
Here’s a question for the next Computer Bowl trivia contest: Who likes flat panels the most?
A. Users
B. Vendors
C. Door-to-door monitor salesmen
Of course the answer is C. Flat panels are lightweight and easy to schlep; CRT displays are not.
While large monitors can be heavy, their shape is worse. They are big and ill-formed, and their inconvenient weight distribution makes them particularly cumbersome. I’ve always wished CRT monitors had a handle like the new Macs. (Unfortunately, the structural re-enforcements needed for the handle would add cost to a product with extremely thin margins.) As a user, I want handles when carrying monitors around the office, or worse, up and down stairs. And you can believe that I longed for a handle during my service with a monitor vendor when I lugged displays around the tradeshow floor.
Now Case Ace LLC offers an accessory that delivers some of my long sought hope. The new $26.95 GearGrip-CRT comprises a set of nylon straps, plastic buckles, and a handle, which fit around monitor. It also holds the cables out of the way of one’s feet.
Figure 1: It may look like a monitor in bondage, but it’s just a handy way to cart around your CRT.
According to the company, the GearGrip-CRT fits most monitors up to 21 inches. The straps may cause problems with displays with pull-out controls located at the bottom front. However, I believe a makeshift adapter like a piece of plastic (or even a folded FedEx cardboard mailer) could cover the controls and distribute the weight sufficiently.
There’s a saying from the Talmud: “No labor, however humble, dishonors a person.” That doesn’t mean that we should make a heavy task harder than it needs to be. We can get a new handle on the monitor.
This article was last modified on January 18, 2023
This article was first published on July 12, 2001
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