« Return to: Top 10 19-Inch Monitors
| Rank | 19-inch monitor | Month tested | Street price (12/8/00) | Overall rating | Quality of text/graphics | Comments |
| 1 | Best Buy ViewSonic GS790 800/888-8583 www.viewsonic.com | Aug 00 | $389 | 82 | Good/Very good | FEATURES: 18.1-inch viewable area, .26mm dot pitch tube, up to 116-Hz refresh rate,1 Plug and Play ready,2 TCO'99 compliant, three-year warranty, 24-hour toll-free support. SUMMARY: Vibrant colors in photos and on Web pages make this model a good choice for graphics pros. Around-the-clock tech support is also a plus, especially for SOHO users. |
| 2 | Best Buy NEC MultiSync FE950 888/632-6487 www.necmitsubishi.com | Aug 00 | $449 | 80 | Good/Very good | FEATURES: 18-inch viewable area, .25mm-.27mm varying stripe pitch,3 up to 119-Hz refresh rate,1 Plug and Play ready,2 TCO'99 compliant, three-year warranty, 24-hour toll-free support. SUMMARY: Displays vibrant colors on Web pages and in photographs, as well as crisp text in documents. Includes advanced on-screen controls. |
| 3 | Optiquest Q95 800/843-6784 www.optiquest.com | Aug 00 | $279 | 79 | Good/Good | FEATURES: 18.2-inch viewable area, .27mm dot pitch tube, up to 107-Hz refresh rate,1 Plug and Play ready,2 TCO'99 compliant, three-year warranty, 24-hour toll-free support. SUMMARY: $30 price drop keeps this model easily the least expensive on the chart. That affordability makes the Optiquest appealing, despite its less-than-stellar image quality. |
| 4 | MGC 997SN 877/428-9642 www.mgcusa.com | Aug 00 | $369 | 79 | Very good/Very good | FEATURES: 18-inch viewable area, .25mm dot pitch tube, up to 120-Hz refresh rate,1 Plug and Play ready,2 TCO'99 compliant, three-year warranty, 12-hour weekday toll-free support. SUMMARY: Displays sharp text on spreadsheets and offers lively graphics, but lack of weekend tech support might make it a better choice for business users. |
| 5 | ADI MicroScan G910 800/228-0530 www.adiusa.com | Aug 00 | $418 | 78 | Very good/Good | FEATURES: 18-inch viewable area, .24mm-.26mm varying stripe pitch,3 up to 137-Hz refresh rate,1 Plug and Play ready,2 TCO'99 compliant, three-year warranty, 12-hour weekday toll-free support. SUMMARY: Produces dense, sharp text, but colors appear pale, especially on Web pages. Good choice for people who work primarily on word processing documents and spreadsheets. |
| 6 | Acer P911 800/733-2237 www.acercm.com | New | $449 | 76 | Good/Good | FEATURES: 18-inch viewable area, .25mm stripe pitch,3 up to 130-Hz refresh rate,1 Plug and Play ready,2 TCO'99 compliant, three-year warranty, 24-hour toll-free support. SUMMARY: Good all-around monitor with respectable, though not breathtaking, quality on both text and graphics. Single knob for screen adjustments is confusing and clumsy to operate. |
| 7 | Cornerstone Technology p1450 800/562-2552 www.monitorsdirect.com | Dec 00 | $419 | 76 | Very good/Good | FEATURES: 18-inch viewable area, .26mm dot pitch tube, up to 110-Hz refresh rate,1 Plug and Play ready,2 TCO'99 compliant, five-year warranty, 24-hour weekday toll-free support. SUMMARY: Produced very clear text, even at small point sizes, but was less impressive on graphics. Provides comprehensive advanced controls and comes with an extra-long warranty. |
| 8 | HP P920 800/752-0900 www.hp.com | New | $529 | 76 | Very good/Good | FEATURES: 18-inch viewable area, .24mm dot pitch,3 up to 130-Hz refresh rate,1 Plug and Play ready,2 TCO'99 compliant, three-year warranty, 11-hour weekday toll-free support. SUMMARY: Earns high marks for text quality and also renders respectable graphics. Features intuitive controls with easy one-touch access to brightness and contrast settings; expensive. |
| 9 | Sony CPD-E400 800/352-7669 www.sony.com/displays | Dec 00 | $499 | 76 | Very good/Good | FEATURES: 18-inch viewable area, .24mm-.25mm varying stripe pitch,3 up to 110-Hz refresh rate,1 Plug and Play ready,2 TCO'99 compliant, three-year warranty, 24-hour toll-free support. SUMMARY: The CPD-E400 produced crisp text and rich, realistic colors, especially in photos. But you can find similar quality at a lower price. |
| 10 | Iiyama I90A 800/394-4335 www.iiyamadirect.com | Dec 00 | $479 | 75 | Very good/Good | FEATURES: 18-inch viewable area, .25mm-.27mm varying stripe pitch,3 up to 143-Hz refresh rate,1 Plug and Play ready,2 three-year warranty, 8-hour weekday toll-free support. SUMMARY: Crisp text makes this a good choice for word processing. Not the best option for SOHO use, as skimpy tech support is available only on weekdays. |
How We Test: Ten judges rate a monitor's text and graphics quality. We evaluate each unit on how well it displays typical business letters, a newsletter, spreadsheets, Web pages, and scanned images. The overall rating is based on text and graphics quality (25 percent each), price (25 percent), features and ease of use (20 percent), and service and support (5 percent). The best possible overall rating is 100. Data based on tests designed and conducted by PC World Test Center. All rights reserved.
1Maximum refresh rate at 1024 by 768 resolution.
2Plug and Play monitors and graphics cards can communicate bidirectionally. However, Windows 95 does not fully utilize monitor Plug and Play.
3Uses an aperture grille whose parallel wires near the sides of the screen are strung farther apart than those at the middle.