Cornerstone Imaging Color 50/101SF

Cornerstone Imaging Color 50/101SF

The light-gray, conservatively styled Cornerstone Imaging Color 50/101sf earns our Best Buy with an unparalleled picture: It's the only monitor in our review to win a score of excellent for both text and graphics. Whether you're editing photographs or crunching endless numbers on huge spreadsheets, this $1535 monitor outperforms all comers.

Details leaped out in our shaded waterway screen, and the colors were rich and vibrant in our photo of fresh fruit. We also noted a fine display of three-dimensional qualities in our photo of Olympic runners and in our photomontage. The smallest text was crisp and sharp--whether we were viewing the fine print in our newsletter or the smallest font on our worksheet.

As with the Cornerstone's 19-inch sibling, we appreciated the way the 12 buttons offer direct access to controls. The controls on both Cornerstones are identical--right down to the annoying idiosyncrasy of requiring you to hit Store to save adjustments.

Unlike the other 21-inch monitors that made our chart this month, the Cornerstone lacks BNC coaxial connectors. For mainstream PC applications, you won't miss them: BNC connectors are used mainly to link up to non-PC image generators, as in flight simulators and other specialized terminals. A more notable omission is the lack of a convergence control. Though it's unusual for an electron gun to drift out of alignment as the monitor ages, if it happens, you'll have to send the monitor to a service center. Support and warranty match the Color 45/101sf's.

SUMMARY

PRO: Top-notch image quality, buttons give direct access to control functions. CON: Must press Store to save settings, no convergence or focus controls. Cornerstone Imaging 800/562-2552 www.corimage.com