Oddball Update

Well, it’s on my desk! The new Mitsubishi 22” monitor I ordered, that is. I’ve been spending the last two hours or so just tweaking the settings to get the display where I want it. The recommended resolution is 1600×1200×85Hz, so that’s what I’m running—I love it, except the text seems a bit blurry. Adjusting convergence didn’t help, but I was determined to stick with this resolution for a while to see how I like it. Then I thought of something—Windows’ own built-in text antialiasing. I decided to switch it to “ClearType” to see if there was any improvement. OH YEAH! Now everything is much clearer! (Hence the name “ClearType”, I guess.)

I’ve yet to try playing any games, but so far I think I made a good choice in selecting this particular unit. The color reproduction and screen quality is absolutely beautiful, and when you’re looking at color images (photos, games, etc.) on this thing, it’s like being in the same room as whatever you’re looking at. I had absolutely no idea how much color gamut I was missing on other monitors I’ve used. There are ranges of colors and neutrals that I never knew existed in images I just spent the last few days Photoshopping.

The monitor has two D-sub inputs on the back, meaning that two computers can be connected at once, and switched back-and-forth with a button on the front panel. So, just for kicks, I hooked up my old Dell Pentium II-300 that’s still languishing under my desk. (I don’t have enough AC outlets to plug in both computers at once, though, so perhaps this is a non issue, at least until I get a three-to-two prong adapter.) The screen is a perfectly flat 90°, and the case is surprisingly slim—this 22” monitor has a much smaller case and even lighter weight than my old 21”. The box is a lot more manageable, too!

The only thing I’ve found that I really don’t like so far is the on-screen controls, managed from the keypad on the front of the unit. But it really doesn’t matter, because Mitsubishi provides a utility they call “NaviSet” that integrates all of the monitor’s hardware controls into the Advanced tab of Windows’ Display Properties. I’ve been tweaking them around all afternoon, and it’s much easier than dorking around with the buttons on the face of the unit.

This screen is damn bright. I had to actually back off the brightness and contrast to keep it from hurting my eyes. And in case you’re crazy and want even more contrast, there’s a “Super Bright” mode with two settings that are meant for games and DVDs, respectively. They brighten up the picture to insane amounts and really bring out the colors. But they also add a lot of “ghosting” due to jacking the contrast way up, so I probably won’t use them often.

Overall, I’m quite happy with this monitor so far! Evening is fast approaching, and the ambient light is going down. When it gets completely dark, I’m going to turn out all the lights and try a round of Painkiller or some other suitably dark game. Should be quite immersive.

Oh, wait…first, I’d better go reconnect my wife’s monitor to her computer before she gets home from work.

Categorized as Computers