Improvised Big Screen
Imagine setting up your own entertainment theater at home. Watching movies at a big screen. Surround it with a high definition speakers. This is not a dream. This is not impossible. All you need is a computer, cool speakers, and an LCD projector.
Enjoy watching with your family with the latest movies in town. No special setups required. No need to hire an electrician to setup your system. Just clear a wall, connect your LCD projector to a computer, then play the movie from the computer with its display set to the LCD projector. Enhance watchin with high definition speakers surrounding your room. Be comfortable as you are as you’re at your own home, but enjoy the experience at it was in a real movie theater.
Two Monitors at a Time
Even how high the resolution of your monitor is, it seems that it is not enough especially for persons who are used to multi-tasking. A single monitor won’t be enough to display a lot of open documents that the user wants to be displayed at the same in the screen.
A way to address this problem is by connecting two monitors in your computer and extending the display to the second monitor. This would have different displays for the two monitors, one would be the main desktop, where the other is an extended display of your desktop. I usually do this when I watch a movie while doing something else. Media player would play full screen on one display, and I could still see the other documents I’m working at in the other display. Talk about multi-tasking.
How does Monitors Work?
Monitor is usually overlooked as part of a computer. It is an important part of a computer as you won’t have any display and don’t know what you’re doing without it. And it would be better to know how a computer monitor works.
HowStuffWorks discuss certain things such as its Display Technology, what is aspect ratio, connections, LCD/CRT monitors, trends, and a lot more. It would answer questions such as What does “aspect ratio” mean? What is dot pitch? How much power does a display use? What is the difference between CRT and LCD? What does “refresh rate” mean?
Detailed discussions can be read in their website. You can find these things very useful especially in choosing the right monitor.
Importance of Monitors
As browsing the web, I read this article from PCGuide.com about monitors. A basic discussion regarding importance of monitors.
As discussed in the website:
Monitors are important not because of their impact on performance, but rather their impact on the usability of the PC. A poor quality monitor can hamper the use of an otherwise very good PC, because a monitor that is hard to look at can make the PC hard to use. Despite the fact that they don’t have a direct impact on performance, many people spend almost as much on their monitor when buying a new PC as they do on the PC system itself.
You may read more on their website.
You Still Use CRT Monitors?
With the emergence of LCD monitors, you would think, would anyone still buy CRT monitors? Yes some would say that CRT monitors still have the advantage in performance over LCD monitors but this kind of monitors would also be expensive.
My main focus in writing this post is PRACTICALITY. Most of us would be dreaming of the stylish LCD screens in our home. Emergence of cheap LCDs make it affordable for us to purchase one. But is anything affordable practical? For me even if we say that something is affordable, it doens’t automatically say that it is the most practical choice.
Would affordable stylish LCD screens be practical for those who use their computer maybe an hour a day? And for those who use only command prompts in operating their computers? You won’t need a monitor that would have a fine dot pitch or cool brightness and great contrast ratio. That is why standard CRT monitors are still available in the market. This is to feed the demand of customers who don’t need a high-performing monitors.
Do I Need a High-End Monitor?
Some people who want to have a great display for their computers would think if they still need to buy a monitor with great specifications even if they have the best video/graphics card for their computer. I honestly thought that, no, I don’t have to. But I guess I was wrong.
Having a great graphics card would be important especially for gamers who don’t want their games to be slowed down by the display. But having the best graphics card won’t be enough. You might not get the best experience because of the limitations of your monitor. I wasn’t a computer expert before, and I was wondering why I can’t have a higher resolution after purchasing a great graphics card. The reason was the maximum resolution of my ‘old’ monitor.
So don’t blame your graphics card provider when not having the best results. Your monitor might have been the reason so also take into considerations specifications of monitor to be purchased.
Monitor Power Consumption
A question that every computer user needs to ask: which hogs more power, the bulky CRT monitor, or the sleek LCD screen? According to this article:
Flat panel displays (i.e. LCD monitors) consume less power than their bulky CRT counterparts. Reports indicate that LCD monitors use about 66% less electricity than CRT ones.
I’m glad I’m using an LCD right now, though it did set me back serious bucks. But in the long run, buying an LCD monitor and reducing your overall computer power consumption pays off. The source article, Power Saving Tips for Flat Panels, focuses on TVs, but I think you can apply some of the tips with your computer monitors. It pays to conserve!
A Note on Anti-Reflective Screens
Laptop manufacturers these days are popularizing LCD monitors with ClearView technology or other similarly-branded screens. This basically means that the screens are coated with shiny or glossy anti-reflective material instead of the usual matte anti-glare finish common among LCD monitors until recently.
Those who have been shopping for desktop LCD monitors may notice differences across brands and models, namely that some have glass screens, while others retain the soft, matte LCD membrane. In laptops, however, it’s a bit different since it’s not as easy to incorporate this coating or overlay onto the LCD screen.
Here are common marketing names for anti-reflective LCD screens used in laptops (from Wikipedia):
- Acer: CrystalBrite
- AG Neovo: NeoV Optical Filter
- ASUS: Color Shine, Crystal Shine
- Dell: TrueLife
- Fujitsu: Crystal View, SuperFine
- HP Compaq: BrightView
- Gateway: UltraBright
- Sony: XBRITE, X-black, Clear Bright, ErgoBright
- Toshiba: TruBrite, Clear SuperView
No matter how they call it, the underlying concept behind the anti-reflective screen is the same. Let’s explore a bit of physics (images from Screentek Inc).
Traditional LCD Screens
Traditional LCD screens have matte surfaces resulting to reduced glare. The intensity of the reflected light is diffused. However, this is at the expense of the actual LCD image being a bit hazy especially when there is light reflected off the outside.
Anti-Reflective LCD Screens
Anti-reflective LCD screens have an anti-reflective polarizer coating or overlay that are usually glossy. Anti-reflective screens provide sharper images, better contrast and richer colors.
An added benefit of anti-reflective LCD screens is a wider viewing angle. This is either a pro or a con, depending on your preferences. Some would prefer to be able to view their laptop or monitor screens from only a right angle, so their privacy is protected when using the computer in public places. However, for multimedia viewing (such as DVDs and presentations), a wide viewing angle would be needed.
Uses, Prices and Preference
Most laptop and LCD screens today are still of the anti-glare (not anti-reflective) type, but anti-reflective screens are usually standard features in higher-end laptop and LCD monior models. Some manufacturers allow this as an optional add-on for a nominal amount (usually around $ 50 on top of the list price).
As mentioned above, not everyone might appreciate anti-reflective screens. For instance, in an office environment, where the use of computers would mainly be for documents, spreadsheets and email, the anti-reflective screens would not be necessary. In fact, given the fixed lighting in office environments (and sometimes positioning against windows), anti-reflective screens might put off too much glare.
In a situation where crystal clear images are better, though, such as when playing games or movies, anti-reflective LCDs would be best.
Fun With Widescreen
I got myself a new laptop to replace my old ThinkPad, which practically died on me just recently. Not requiring the most high-end of machines with top-of-the line specifications, I settled for one relatively low priced model, which is the Compaq Presario V2617. It’s a Celeron-M based model, but housed in the V2000 form factor, meaning 14-inch widescreen.
(I’ll be reviewing this laptop soon on bLaptops–do watch out for it!)
Looking at the V2000 from a few feet away, I would say the design is reminiscent of a MacBook Pro because of the rear-mounted hinges, metallic-grey finish and widescreen format. So I’ve come to call it the poor man’s MacBook Pro.
Okay, sorry, I’m probably pushing it too far!
First-time Widescreen User
I never thought I’d appreciate having a widescreen, most especially on a laptop, at that. At first I found it weird and uncomfortable how the laptop seemed so, well, wide. Also, I thought the screen didn’t have enough height to be comfortable. I was coming from a full 14-inch ThinkPad, and the screen was sufficiently large enough for comfort, and I was used to that form factor.
However, when I got to install my applications, fired up the Web browser, and started multitasking–which is, for me, dozens of open tabs and open windows strewn around the screen, as I hate maximizing windows–I was amazed at the experience.
To put it shortly, I loved the added real estate!
This laptop screen’s aspect ratio is 16:9, with a native resolution of 1280×768. This means as compared to a conventional 4:3 monitor, such as one with a 1024×768 resolution, you get that extra 256×768 space of screen real estate. That’s good enough to fill in with whatever extra sidebars you have or your OS’ sidebar itself (I’m fond of docking my Windows sidebar, OS X dock, or KDE taskbar to the right instead of at the bottom of the screen), widgets of all sorts, or even left as space, so your windows can have a lot more desktop to play on.
My wide desktop
So what fun stuff could I do with a widescreen?
So what can one do with this extra screen real estate?
- It’s easier to drag and drop across windows (no more overlapping into the screen edges when you have windows side-by-side).
- It’s easier to compare between two documents side-by-side. You would no longer have to switch across windows in order to effectively compare these.
- One word: spreadsheets! Okay, that may not necessarily be “fun,” though, but it’s good to see as much as you can on a single page. This way, widescreens can boost productivity.
- Another one-worder: videos! If you’re fond of watching DVD movies on your laptop or computer, having a widescreen monitor sure helps, as you get to watch the movie in its more native wide format, and without those black bars on top and bottom.
It’s good to have that extra space on the left or right of the main window I work on, which is usually the Web browser. I have quick access to my IM buddy list, some widgets, and even a Windows explorer window, for those times I need to copy images or text off the Web into a local folder.
Some gripes
My only gripe with widescreen is that it sometimes tends to distort things. For instance, if you have a Web browser maximized, then webpages you’re viewing might come out too wide, unless they’re designed to be fixed-width. In this regard, I think it’s best to keep windows non-maximized.
Also, the uncommon form factor may render widescreen notebooks to be difficult to fit into bags already constructed for the more conventional 14″, 15 “laptops.
Gripes notwithstanding, I would say switching to a widescreen lapotop is worth it!
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