A friend is buying a new Dell pc (ok not so much my friend as my mother-in-law :eek: ), and has a choice between a 17" flat panel monitor with a contrast ratio of 400:1, and an upgraded one costing $80 more with a contrast ratio of 600:1. She uses the pc mostly for word processing, internet, etc., no intensive imaging or the like, although she will probably store/view digital camera images of the "snapshot" variety with the machine. She's 65 years old. Is she likely to appreciate the image difference of these 2 monitors? Anything else one should look for in a flat panel? Contrast ratio is the only area where there's a sizable difference in the 2 monitors.

TIA

BA

I would bet she won't see the difference. Chances are good that all but imaging experts would be hard pressed to see the difference unless the 2 monitors were sitting right next to each other and maybe not even then. That said, I would want to actually see them in person before putting money on either of them...

Thanks BudFred. You’re probably right about the contrast issue. I have no experience with flat panels, but I've heard that they are not as amenable to operating at other than the spec'd resolution as are CRT's. All Dell flat panels over 15" are spec'd at 1280x1024. At this resolution text etc. is getting pretty small to my eyes (I run my 17” CRT at 1024x768). I wonder if it is true that flat panels prefer their "native" resolution & in this example these panels performance may deteriorate at less than the 1280x1024 resolution.

BA

Both of my flat panels operate much better at the native resolution. However, if you (or your mother-in-law) have trouble at that resolution, you can use a number of tweaks to get icons, text and other things larger/easier to see...