sharp contrast (Iiyama VM-403)

Member Name: a1m1m25

Product:	Iiyama VM-403
Date:	04/10/01 (107 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: contrasted, high resolution, degauss

Disadvantages: clunky menus, bit large

Welcome to the world of 17" monitors. If you have been somewhat bereft of desk space recently then you will no doubt have missed out on such luxuries. This is no exception space-wise; in terms of depth it is rather large. However there is a reason for this as it is a cathode ray monitor and as such needs a lot of room for the technical wizadry behind it.
This model benefits from a maximumm screen resolution of 1600x1200 but to be honest the picture loses its clarity. Technically speaking it is still sharp, but the colours do not converge on the screen giving a rainbow effect to everything. However at a resolution of 1280x960, the image is still sharp and is perfectly suited for graphics applications such as photoshop. The screen itself is very contrasty. A good thing to look for in a monitor is the colour of the screen when the picture is off. This may sound odd to begin with, but if the screen is dark when off, it will produce a mighty fine black when on, giving a fantastic contrast. When using this monitor through colour profiles in photoshop and printing on an epson stylus printer also with a colour profile, what you see on screen is literally what you will see printed out. Naturally if you are a professional designer you will find a flaw with the image, but for amateurs like myself this more than suffices!
One little grumble though which probably wouldn't put most people off is the three-button menu system which takes some getting used to. All the controls are there including distortion correction, brightness, contrast, phosphor temperature, and the now commonplace degauss, but finding them is initially tricky. Degaussing a monitor neutralises any build up of charge, getting rid of any of those pink or green patches we all have on our monitors sometimes!Although this monitor might cost more than the average one from a high street store, it is worth the investment as it wont go wrong in a hurry, will remain sharp, and certainly look fine in any c
ondition. I'm certainly proud to know one!

Summary: