I had my third monitor die recently and have been using just the 2
on my desk. However one of them is a little smaller, and so I've been
struggling to see it off to the side of my desk. I'd really like to get
a larger one, mostly because it's hard to see the smaller monitor
that's a little further away.
Yesterday I was in Wal-Mart,
grabbing a couple groceries and some blank DVDs when I saw a Sanyo 32"
LCD on sale for $350. Quite a bargain, and it's pretty large. On the
spur of the moment, I decided to invest in my career and test one out
as a PC monitor.
I got it home, set it on my desk, after clearing things off, and
plugged it in. My Windows 7 desktop detected it immediately, and let me
set the maximum 780p resolution, which is 1300x768. That's a decentn
resolution, and as you can see above, it makes things LARGE.
Very cool, and I was excited at first. The monitor on the left is a 22"
one that I really like. It's a Westinghouse and it works great for me.
It's bright, and clear, and that's the issue.
It's hard to see from the image, but the Sanyo LCD TV is much, much
less bright than the monitor. I wasn't sure how much of a difference it
makes, but it's a huge difference. It actually was a noticeable
difference on my eyes in about an hour of using both monitors. As much
as I love the large size, I can't use it for any length of time,
especially with the bright 22" one next to it.
So I'll return it today, and I'm going to grab another 23" one.
The Voice of the DBA
Steve Jones is the editor of SQLServerCentral.com and visits a wide variety of data related topics in his daily editorial. Steve has spent years working as a DBA and general purpose Windows administrator, primarily working with SQL Server since it was ported from Sybase in 1990. You can follow Steve on Twitter at twitter.com/way0utwest



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Posted by jcrawf02 on 27 August 2009
Interesting...I can watch tv for hours without feeling that way. Do you think it's just the contrast between the two that makes the difference? Or is it because you have to focus more on the actual detail on the screen?
Posted by Steve Jones on 27 August 2009
I think it's the contrast. Especially with a bright monitor right next to the other one. It's also noticeably less bright, even when the brightness is at the highest setting. I moved the contrast all throughout it's range and it didn't help either.
I'm a little disappointed as I was looking forward to a large monitor on my desk!
Posted by jcrawf02 on 28 August 2009
so....buy another one?