LCD monitors have become the de-facto standard for home users, but most businesses still choose to run on CRT monitors. This is mostly down to CRTs being cheaper than LCDs. However, LCDs have quite a few advantages over cheaper CRTs. They consume much less power, are lightweight and take up less desk space. Picture quality is generally better as well, except when compared with high end CRTs. LCDs don't have a refresh rate issue, so you don't see the screen flicker. This is a common affliction of cheaper CRTs, and it can be very tiring to look at a monitor that flickers. From an aesthetic perspective, LCDs look better as well, and if you oft en have clients coming into your office, LCDs just seem more modern.

This is a perceptual issue, but in certain offices, the perception matters a lot. The prices of 17-inch LCDs have come down quite a bit, and while they are still more expensive than similarly sized CRTs, they are no longer out of reach for most small businesses. The seven monitors we tested were priced between Rs. 7,000 (US$146) and Rs. 9,600; not extremely cheap, but not stratospherically expensive either. These prices were the manufacturer quoted MRP, so street prices should be lower. And, of course, if a bulk order is placed, these prices ought to come down quite a lot. The brands we tested--Acer, AOC, Benq, LG, Samsung and Zenith--are all familiar ones in this segment. AOC is the only new entrant, and it did pretty well against the big boys

The Test Process

We test the brightness of the monitors with our Konica-Minolta CS-200 Chroma Meter. All the monitors were first calibrated with a hardware color calibrator, the Datacolor Spyder 3 Elite. They were then set to a color temperature of 6,500 Kelvin. This corresponds to the "Warm" setting in most monitors, and is the ideal setting with our Konica-Minolta CS-200 Chroma Meter. All the monitors were first calibrated with a hardware color calibrator, the Datacolor Spyder 3 Elite. They were then set to a color temperature of 6,500 Kelvin.

This corresponds to the "Warm" setting in most monitors, and is the ideal setting for indoor environments. Besides the brightness, we use the chroma meter to test the contrast ratios, as well as the quality of the color output. Contrast ratio is essentially the ratio between the brightest whites and the darkest blacks. Higher numbers are better. Most manufacturers specify either a "Dynamic" contrast ratio, or the difference between a completely dark screen and a completely white screen.

This is also called the full contrast ratio. In real-world applications, some parts of the screen will be dark and some will be bright, and we test this by displaying a checkerboard pattern of alternating black and white squares on the screen and then measuring the contrast ratio. Besides these tests, we also ran a series of screens from DisplayMate Professional to test the display quality. The sharpness of the image, the ability to differentiate between subtle shades of white and grey, and the purity of the primary colors are some of the factors tested here.

Design and Performance

The Samsung SyncMaster 743NX topped the performance and design charts. In the brightness tests it was clearly ahead of the rest of the pack. In the DisplayMate tests too, it scored a lot of points. The primary colors of red, green and blue were slightly off though, as was the color temperature, so if color accuracy is extremely important, this monitor isn't the best. The monitor looks very nice, with the glossy piano black finish really standing out. Unfortunately, the control menus are accessed via touch-sensitive buttons. We've complained about this in the past, and we still don't like them. Since they aren't backlit, you really have no idea which button you're touching, and the complete lack of tactile feedback means that, basically, you randomly touch the panel and hope fervently that you manage to navigate through the menus.

The monitor, like others in the test, comes with only a VGA input. The lack of DVI isn't too much of a problem in this segment, and all the manufacturers seem to agree, since none of the monitors have this input. The high price was the only thing that prevented this monitor from winning, and it came in second. Zenith's V17B had excellent color reproduction. This was the only monitor to score five out of a maximum five on the color tests. The color temperature was also pretty close to the ideal score of 6,500 K. The outer shell of the monitor isn't of the highest quality.

The plastics used feel cheap, and it does not look very nice. The panel inside is a high-quality one though, and that, coupled with the lowest price of all the seven meant that Zenith won this shootout. The menu system is slightly complicated, and the buttons underneath the bezel are fiddly, but you do get a pair of speakers thrown in. The Benq G700AD monitor closely followed the Samsung 743NX through most of the tests, but lost out in the brightness stakes. It also had a little trouble displaying subtle gradations of white. The design is quite good. The monitor is finished in matte-black plastic, and it has a small footprint. In a word, it's unobtrusive.

Though the grille on the bottom looks like it has speakers hidden behind it, there's actually nothing there. This monitor has Benq's SenseEye technology built in. This essentially changes the brightness and color settings depending on what your image is. The Acer V173W was the first of three widescreen monitors in this roundup. We did not give any extra marks to the widescreens in this test. This monitor has a native resolution of 1440 x 900, unlike the 1280 x 1024 of the normal aspect ratio monitors. This means you get more horizontal space--good for working with spreadsheets-- but lesser vertical space. The trade-off may be acceptable or not, depending on the kind of documents you work with more oft en. This monitor was not very bright, and the viewing angles were quite a bit lower than what we're used to seeing. Acer quotes them at 140 degrees and 130 degrees for horizontal and vertical angles respectively. All the others had viewing angles of 160 degrees for both. Performance was acceptable, but not very good.

The contrast ratio was quite low. On the bright side, this monitor was quite sharp and clear, even with fine text. AOC's 177Sa, Samsung's 733NW and LG's Flatron L177WSB brought up the rear of the pack. AOC is a relatively new brand, and it did reasonably well, but it was priced a little too high to make an impact on our charts. The picture was the dullest of the lot, but the contrast ratio was quite good. The addition of speakers and a headphone port is welcome, since that saves you having to fumble around behind the computer every time you have to plug the 'phones in. Samsung has listened to our complaints about the touch-sensitive buttons, and the new 733NW has actual physical buttons.

Unfortunately, it also has a terrible way of attaching the stand to the body of the monitor. Unlike all the monitors we've ever tested, this one uses a stand that has to be pushed into the body of the monitor with a lot of force. By "a lot", we mean enough that one person has to hold the monitor and the other has to push the stand in with all his might. It does not just click into place--it moves around, and it's extremely frustrating to set up. This is a one-time thing for most people, but even so, it should be easier than it is. As a monitor, the 733NW isn't bad at all. It's a widescreen monitor. It's quite bright, but the contrast ratio is a bit off. Also, subtle whites posed a few problems.

The price is on the higher side, and the lack of any extra features like speakers slid it below the AOC, but it does look a lot better, with a nice glossy finish, and a gentle blue light emanating from below the "chin" of the monitor. LG brought up the rear, not because it's intrinsically a bad monitor, but because of the highest price of all the seven. Nine-and-a-half thousand rupees gets you into 19-inch territory, and this monitor isn't good enough to compete with that. In this test, the performance scores were pretty high, and if the price had been lower, this monitor would have easily jumped up into the top three. The model we tested did have one stuck pixel that was permanently turned to blue, but this is unlikely to affect the entire range. That one stuck pixel did lose it some points, seeing as it was the only monitor with this issue.

The Final Word

Seven seventeen-inch monitors tested, and it's clear that small businesses can consider purchasing these monitors to replace their aging fleet of CRTs. The prices we've listed are the manufacturer provided maximum retail prices; actual street prices are likely to be lower, and bulk purchases usually receive discounts on that. If you pick one of our top three, you won't be doing your company a disservice.

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