Sony STYLEPRO CPD-E540 21 inch CRT Monitor
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- Screen Size: 21 inch
- Monitor Type: CRT
- Family Line: Sony StylePro
- Native (Recommended) Resolution: 1600 x 1200
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Monitor: Brand Name 21" Trinitron with no Frills
Pros
Appearance, build, 24/7 support, price, illumination, color.
Cons
menu control, no frill features, ghosting with KVM and extension cable.
Recommended it?
Yes
The Bottom Line:
The prices for E540 didn't change much for the last few month. If you like E540, you probably should not wait for price drop. It's a good buy.
Abstract: 21" trinitron multiscan monitor for about $600 and a minimal stylish appearance, it should be on your list of large monitors to consider.
Objectives of this review:
This review is created to effectively save readers time and effort by clearly identifying my own personal experience and expressing my opinion in comparison with other well written reviews. Any information that I feel could be referenced to another review or vendor's website will not be included. Recommendation will be offered with specific user type in mind. Please be so kind to comment if you do not find this review very helpful. Thank you.
Critical Update: [Added 10/02/2002]
I forgot to mention something very important. E540 is coated with a subtance that reduces glare and you MUST NOT clean your E540's screen with common household detergent. Refer to your user manual or contact your dealer for detail. Personally, I use my girl friend's new makeup applicator-you know those sponge like thingy-but do so at your own risk; and don't put back the used sponge-it'll be hell to pay if she finds out.
Acronyms or Conventions:
NEC AccuSync 125F: AS125F
Sony CPD-E540: E540
Compaq P1220: P1220
ViewSonic P225f: P225f
Past experience:
CTX, IBM, Dell 19", Gem 17", Gateway2000 EV500, Sony SDM-M81.
Reason of interest:
Since 1998, I have been using a GEM 17" CRT monitor for home use. The contrast, brightness, color, and clearness had gradually degraded. At about the same time that ATI introduced Radeon 8500, I set my mind to replace my home monitor while I try out the Radeon 8500 to evaluate the graphic card's value and to determine the need to include it in the list of my system building spec. Essentially, the capability, the value of graphic components, let it be graphic card, digital video, DVD drives, and softwares, have out-paced the display to the point that almost no one is getting the best output performance from their computer system. The uniqueness about the introduction of E540 is that while the output is still beneath the maximum capability of graphic components, its price significantly boosts its value and competes head to head against high end 19" CRT and LCD. So after some research and a suggestion from an epinions member, I wrote down the following requirements:
1) Less than $700 including tax
2) Trinitron Multiscan
3) No more than .24mm dot pitch
4) Simple adjustment control logic but with plenty of adjustment options
5) Small footprint of no more than 10" in diameter
6) Supports resolutions of highest consumer graphic cards
Unlike how I bought Sony Vaio laptops, I researched the prices online first, Pricegrabber, PC Connection, Bestbuy, Outpost, and then bought the best price offer at a reasonably local retail--Fry's electronics for $599 plus tax. Of course, I shopped and compared the different brands at Circuit City, Bestbuy, Compusa, before I decided to go with Fry's. Online, the prices varied from $500 to $650 excluding shipping cost. Shipping were on the average of $30 to $50 for something like UPS. Very few online retails clearly identified the terms and procedures of refund and exchange. With that dilemma in mind, I chose to buy at a local retail instead of online in the event that I have to return the item.
In the end, honestly, I think I went with E540 just because it looks prettier than other brands. Let's face it, the damn thing is huge. You step in the room and there it is--you can't miss it. And so to me it had better look cool than some bulky plain PC monitor look. I am suprised that Viewsonic's P225f quality was nothing to parade about. I thought all but E540 suffered from poor illumination and contrast--and I did try different adjustment. Only Compaq P1220 was better than E540 (I wonder if Compaq may be putting its label on a Sony monitor?). But P1220 was over my budget in local retail.
Expectations:
Strong illumination, clear contrast with the ability to give good solid black and white for color calibration, rich color by default with minimal adjustment. Long life expectancy of same output performance with little degradation for 5 years--on the average of 3 to 5 hours use per day. Little or no geometric distortion, discoloration near the edges or corners. Capable of 85Hz at the usual 1024x768.
Anticipations:
Competitive clearity and color than rivals but much better in illumination and more stylish.
Surprises: could be major concerns
Noticeable shadowing or ghosting to text and images if used with common KVM switch or extension cables.
Text is not as clear as P1220 or smaller monitors and images or visual objects tend to have soft edges at resolution greater than 1024x768.
Significant disorientation and discoloration depending on what hemisphere and what direction you're at or facing. In fact, Sony provides literatures explaining that if you switch from facing south to facing north, you will likely have to adjust the display controls. Don't ask why, but I am one such person who rotates his monitor 180 degrees on a regular basis.
Outcome:
For most of us who just type a few documents, surf the net, watch some DVD and play a few games, the quality of a monitor's resolution really does not concern us as long as it performs. So to put it simply, E540's picture is flat, clear and its color is great. However, this may not be top notch for high-end graphic users. The horizontal lines appear to be too fat, and the sharpness is subpar. Also, it does not come with the BNC connector.
To me, this one is a keeper. Maybe in the near future, I switch to plasma HDTV, but until then, this will meet my demand.
PC System used:
Intel Pentium III 600mhz, 768mb sdram pc133, 40Gb HD 7200rpm, Windows 98SE, XP, 2000 Adv Server, ATI AIW Radeon 8500, highspeed internet behind router.
Applications used:
ATI MMC 7.6, PowerDVD, MS Office 2000, Rogue Spear game series, IL2 Flight simulation, Ulead Media Studio Pro 6.0, Ulead DVD Workshop, Adobe Premier 6.0, Adobe Photoshop 6.0, Corel Draw 8.0, Cosmos World, 3D Max Studio, Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.
Setup/Installation: Plug and play
Plug and play autodetects and updates your display driver. You may see that at first it shows Plug and play display in the system devices properties, but it will show the proper Sony E540 after you restart your computer.
Feel:
No eye strain, but a bit annoying on small fuzzy text.
Gaming Performance:
Fantastic improvement over my old 17". Most online action game players like to increase gamma or brightness so that they won't miss an enemy in the shadow. This monitor will give you that edge of brightness and without too much loss in color and contrast.
Strength:
Better illumination and color richness than all others except P1220. Much more stylish appearance, rich color and texture than all others. It seems to have thinner glass too but I'm not sure--the image does not look like it's deeply embedded.
Weakness:
Fuzzy text at higher resolution than 1024x768. Lack of considerate features like USB ports. No setting memory--it would be great to change from one preset configuration to another without having to adjusting a bunch of controls.
Objectives of this review:
This review is created to effectively save readers time and effort by clearly identifying my own personal experience and expressing my opinion in comparison with other well written reviews. Any information that I feel could be referenced to another review or vendor's website will not be included. Recommendation will be offered with specific user type in mind. Please be so kind to comment if you do not find this review very helpful. Thank you.
Critical Update: [Added 10/02/2002]
I forgot to mention something very important. E540 is coated with a subtance that reduces glare and you MUST NOT clean your E540's screen with common household detergent. Refer to your user manual or contact your dealer for detail. Personally, I use my girl friend's new makeup applicator-you know those sponge like thingy-but do so at your own risk; and don't put back the used sponge-it'll be hell to pay if she finds out.
Acronyms or Conventions:
NEC AccuSync 125F: AS125F
Sony CPD-E540: E540
Compaq P1220: P1220
ViewSonic P225f: P225f
Past experience:
CTX, IBM, Dell 19", Gem 17", Gateway2000 EV500, Sony SDM-M81.
Reason of interest:
Since 1998, I have been using a GEM 17" CRT monitor for home use. The contrast, brightness, color, and clearness had gradually degraded. At about the same time that ATI introduced Radeon 8500, I set my mind to replace my home monitor while I try out the Radeon 8500 to evaluate the graphic card's value and to determine the need to include it in the list of my system building spec. Essentially, the capability, the value of graphic components, let it be graphic card, digital video, DVD drives, and softwares, have out-paced the display to the point that almost no one is getting the best output performance from their computer system. The uniqueness about the introduction of E540 is that while the output is still beneath the maximum capability of graphic components, its price significantly boosts its value and competes head to head against high end 19" CRT and LCD. So after some research and a suggestion from an epinions member, I wrote down the following requirements:
1) Less than $700 including tax
2) Trinitron Multiscan
3) No more than .24mm dot pitch
4) Simple adjustment control logic but with plenty of adjustment options
5) Small footprint of no more than 10" in diameter
6) Supports resolutions of highest consumer graphic cards
Unlike how I bought Sony Vaio laptops, I researched the prices online first, Pricegrabber, PC Connection, Bestbuy, Outpost, and then bought the best price offer at a reasonably local retail--Fry's electronics for $599 plus tax. Of course, I shopped and compared the different brands at Circuit City, Bestbuy, Compusa, before I decided to go with Fry's. Online, the prices varied from $500 to $650 excluding shipping cost. Shipping were on the average of $30 to $50 for something like UPS. Very few online retails clearly identified the terms and procedures of refund and exchange. With that dilemma in mind, I chose to buy at a local retail instead of online in the event that I have to return the item.
In the end, honestly, I think I went with E540 just because it looks prettier than other brands. Let's face it, the damn thing is huge. You step in the room and there it is--you can't miss it. And so to me it had better look cool than some bulky plain PC monitor look. I am suprised that Viewsonic's P225f quality was nothing to parade about. I thought all but E540 suffered from poor illumination and contrast--and I did try different adjustment. Only Compaq P1220 was better than E540 (I wonder if Compaq may be putting its label on a Sony monitor?). But P1220 was over my budget in local retail.
Expectations:
Strong illumination, clear contrast with the ability to give good solid black and white for color calibration, rich color by default with minimal adjustment. Long life expectancy of same output performance with little degradation for 5 years--on the average of 3 to 5 hours use per day. Little or no geometric distortion, discoloration near the edges or corners. Capable of 85Hz at the usual 1024x768.
Anticipations:
Competitive clearity and color than rivals but much better in illumination and more stylish.
Surprises: could be major concerns
Noticeable shadowing or ghosting to text and images if used with common KVM switch or extension cables.
Text is not as clear as P1220 or smaller monitors and images or visual objects tend to have soft edges at resolution greater than 1024x768.
Significant disorientation and discoloration depending on what hemisphere and what direction you're at or facing. In fact, Sony provides literatures explaining that if you switch from facing south to facing north, you will likely have to adjust the display controls. Don't ask why, but I am one such person who rotates his monitor 180 degrees on a regular basis.
Outcome:
For most of us who just type a few documents, surf the net, watch some DVD and play a few games, the quality of a monitor's resolution really does not concern us as long as it performs. So to put it simply, E540's picture is flat, clear and its color is great. However, this may not be top notch for high-end graphic users. The horizontal lines appear to be too fat, and the sharpness is subpar. Also, it does not come with the BNC connector.
To me, this one is a keeper. Maybe in the near future, I switch to plasma HDTV, but until then, this will meet my demand.
PC System used:
Intel Pentium III 600mhz, 768mb sdram pc133, 40Gb HD 7200rpm, Windows 98SE, XP, 2000 Adv Server, ATI AIW Radeon 8500, highspeed internet behind router.
Applications used:
ATI MMC 7.6, PowerDVD, MS Office 2000, Rogue Spear game series, IL2 Flight simulation, Ulead Media Studio Pro 6.0, Ulead DVD Workshop, Adobe Premier 6.0, Adobe Photoshop 6.0, Corel Draw 8.0, Cosmos World, 3D Max Studio, Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.
Setup/Installation: Plug and play
Plug and play autodetects and updates your display driver. You may see that at first it shows Plug and play display in the system devices properties, but it will show the proper Sony E540 after you restart your computer.
Feel:
No eye strain, but a bit annoying on small fuzzy text.
Gaming Performance:
Fantastic improvement over my old 17". Most online action game players like to increase gamma or brightness so that they won't miss an enemy in the shadow. This monitor will give you that edge of brightness and without too much loss in color and contrast.
Strength:
Better illumination and color richness than all others except P1220. Much more stylish appearance, rich color and texture than all others. It seems to have thinner glass too but I'm not sure--the image does not look like it's deeply embedded.
Weakness:
Fuzzy text at higher resolution than 1024x768. Lack of considerate features like USB ports. No setting memory--it would be great to change from one preset configuration to another without having to adjusting a bunch of controls.
