Sampo Technology Alphascan 912ST

WHAT'S HOT: Though its image quality was not the best of the 21-inch group, the 912ST nevertheless rendered easily legible text and bright images on Web pages and in photos. And at only $589, the AlphaScan 912ST is a fairly priced monitor with a 19.9-inch viewable area.

WHAT'S NOT: Sampo provides just 10 hours of support, on weekdays only; if you have a problem on the weekend, you'll have to wait until Monday to call. The AlphaScan 912ST's case is one the bulkiest of the 21-inch models that we've tested: It's relatively deep (20.1 inches) and significantly taller (22.7 inches) than most of its competitors.

WHAT ELSE: The 912ST's controls are fairly easy to use, once you get the hang of pressing hard on the bezel buttons. Unfortunately, the display for the on-screen controls times out quickly and is not adjustable to a longer duration. Sampo's generic documentation covers driver installation only for Windows 95.

UPSHOT: If you're looking for a cheap, big display, you may want to consider the AlphaScan 912ST, though you can find better image quality for less money.

SUMMARY

Sampo AlphaScan 912ST 19.9-inch viewable area, .25mm dot-pitch shadow mask tube, 85-Hz maximum refresh rate at 1600 by 1200 resolution, up to 1600 by 1200 resolution at 70 Hz, TCO '99 compliant. Three-year warranty, 10-hour weekday toll-free support. $589 888/409-2279 www.sampotech.com