What's a good monitor for the PC Technician?
16 Nov 2015 17:35:15 UTC
Topic 198311
(moderation:
The old monitor I had out in the garage is toast. I'm looking for a good "benchtop" monitor. Something that will be used for working on a variety of machines, smallish for convenience, or easy access to the ports, and supports many devices/ports/resolutions or anything else that would make a PC Technician happy.
All suggestions appreciated.
Thanks!
EDIT: Not an overly serious monitor, nothing professional. A hobbyist's monitor.
What's a good monitor for the PC Technician?
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19" flat screen?
Waiting for Godot & salvation :-)
Why do doctors have to practice?
You'd think they'd have got it right by now
Depends on the vintage of the
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Depends on the vintage of the gear that's likely to be passing across the bench. For total flexibility, nothing beats an old Trinitron multisync - they can cope with more-or-less anything an ancient motherboard is likely to throw at it. They've got a far greater tolerance for different input frequencies and refresh rates than modern stuff, and can be tweaked up to a frequency which is tolerable for the longer tasks as well.
For mainly newer hardware, I'd go with Chris on the flatscreens every time. Make sure you get at least dual inputs - VGA, and at least one digital port from the range of DVI/HDMI/display port. The digital ones are interchangeable as you go along, by getting a cheap adapter cable as you meet each new one.
Screen resolution is perhaps more important than diagonal inches - even larger screens are lightweight these days, and take up little desk space. I'd get a 1920 x 1080 Full HD Resolution - they start at 19" on even the most cursory search, and then you can watch movies after (or even while) you work in the lab.
Edit - the last monitor I bought was a Dell U2412M 24" LED IPS Monitor - 1920 x 1200 - but that was for database and spreadsheet work, not engineering.
RE: For total flexibility,
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Heck, you could probably find someone to pay you to take an old 15" CRT, which is what I use on my "bench".
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I had an old 21" CRT, I had
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I had an old 21" CRT, I had to pay someone to take it away last year!!
Waiting for Godot & salvation :-)
Why do doctors have to practice?
You'd think they'd have got it right by now
RE: I had an old 21" CRT, I
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A 'friend' dropped off 14 13" crt's a couple of years ago at my house, over the course of 3 months I was able to put them in the bottom of the trash can and away they went, I told him to NEVER bring me any more of those again!! Now I am doing the same thing with about 20 old printers other people drop off thinking I want them too, I don't. I gladly take all their old pc's, but printers and crt's are not what I want, or can use.
@John I have all flat panels now, 17" and 19" ones and use a 10' long extension cable to access my headless pc's, which is most of them, when I need too.
RE: RE: I had an old 21"
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If you were to do that here and they find you, they look, the consequences are a bit nasty. They are hazardous toxic waste and must be disposed of correctly. But they run frequent e-waste roundups where you can drop the junk off for free.
RE: RE: RE: I had an
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My town opened a big new recycling facility, including hazmat and electronics. It's open for a few hours on weekends. After a few months, they had to stop accepting electronics. They were being overwhelmed. First, they would cut off the line at a certain time and it would take another two hours for everyone to get though. Then they would have to spend several more hours sorting through it all. We do not have the budget for that. Not sure if they will go back to having one big electronics day like they used to.
David
Miserable old git
Patiently waiting for the asteroid with my name on it.
I take all of my electronics
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I take all of my electronics for disposal (working and not) to a local non-profit that does refurbishment of PCs for schools, nonprofits and people who can't afford them. What they don't use in their build program, they sell in their thrift store--which is a great place where I dump a lot of cash every year. Perhaps there is a similar organization in your area? They are a certified "e-cycler" in our state, they break down stuff they can't use or sell to scrap and make sure any nasty hazardous stuff is disposed of properly..
http://www.freegeek.org/
Click Here to see My Detailed BOINC Stats
RE: I take all of my
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Now THAT is cool! Sadly my area does have a computer parts recycling place and it's open 2 days per week, but they only take 3 pieces per person per month and they too cut the line off after a couple of hours, in short it just isn't worth getting in line once a month to just be sent home with your 3 pieces anyway!! Also 'businesses' are NOT allowed to recycle that way, and when I showed up for 3 months straight they told me 'you ARE a business and can't come back'. I told them I was NOT a business just a hobbyist, and they said 'we have made our decision, go away', there is NO appeal process, it is final. If you are a 'business' you must PAY to dispose of the stuff, I'm guessing they are being encouraged to force people to pay. So I put one piece a week in the bottom of the trash can and the guy on the trash truck couldn't care less.
Depending on the size of the
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Depending on the size of the electronics in question there are several places to dispose of it. Smaller items can be taken to Lowes or Best Buy. APC UPS can be taken to Staples. Really large items there is a recycling company but you have to drive down there and pay them to drop off the items. Fortunately there is also a private company in town that will take those big items for free.
I like smaller smart TVs with lots of HDMI inputs and/or use a HDMI switcher to move between different machines when only have 1 HDMI input.