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CTX EX710

SUMMARY

PRO: Good price, good selection of on-screen controls. CON: Ho-hum picture. $555; 15.6-inch viewable area, .26mm dot pitch, up to 110 Hz refresh rate at 1024 by 768 resolution, Plug and Play ready, TCO'92 compliant, three-year limited warranty, 12-hour weekday support. CTX International 800/289-8808 www.ctxintl.com

Except for its price, which is a little less than what you'll pay for most other 17-inch monitors, CTX's business-class EX710 is average all around--so average, in fact, that you can find a much better deal on this month's Top 10 chart. For example, our second-place Best Buy, Mitsubishi's $549 Diamond Pro 87TXM, gives you a better picture for about the same price. On the EX710, our test newsletters and spreadsheets were readable, but they weren't sharp. The URL on our Web page was slightly out of focus, too. Picture quality, although satisfactory, couldn't compete with that of any of the monitors on our Top 10 chart. Flesh tones, for instance, weren't as realistic, and the reds and blues in our photo of runners had a faintly fluorescent tint. The EX710 has a wide array of controls that span the bottom of the monitor, including one that helps reduce moiré. It's also handy that you can adjust brightness and contrast with just one click. CTX covers parts and labor for three years, but guarantees its cathode ray tube for only two.