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Sauerkraut

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 4, 2005
17
0
I will be purchasing a Mac mini for my mother-in-law in the next week or so and I have a question about monitor choice for the mini. She currently has a 2001 Dell 17" Trinitron CRT, used but appearing to be in fine working order. She also has a Viewsonic 17" E70 CRT that is new in box that she bought for her new HP computer which she is now selling. My question is which monitor should she keep and which should she sell with the HP? Will the Dell offer that much better picture compared to the Viewsonic since it is a Trinitron or is she better staying with the Viewsonic since it is newer and has a 3 year warranty. I would appreciate any information. Thanks
 

CanadaRAM

macrumors G5
Kind of impossible to say, but the Dell is about halfway through its life, it will start fading in brightness and focus at some point. A TV technician can bring it back up to snuff at that time *if* there is sufficient leeway in the internal adjustments to compensate. Don't try it yourself, bad high voltage juju in there.

The Viewsonic is a fine economy monitor. It won't have the dark blacks and saturated colors of a Trintron, but it may look "clearer" depending on the condition of the Dell. As soon as you open the box though, the resale value of the Viewsonic will start dropping.

How about this: sell both the Dell and the Viewsonic and get M-I-L a 17" LCD panel, choose one with a DVI connection so you don't have the low-brightness VGA problem that troubles the Mini on some monitors. That way she'll have a nice sharp stable picture and a new warranty, low power consumption, small desk footprint, and you'll get major S-I-L brownie points.
 

jared_kipe

macrumors 68030
Dec 8, 2003
2,967
1
Seattle
You've gotta be joking, just because a monitor is old doesn't mean its about to die. And it isn't that old!!! The first 17" CRT ever purchased in my family was in the 90's and my dad who is a MD still uses it as his main use computer. He programs medical software in his spare time.

Oh and any MDs out there need EMR, drop me a private.
 

firewire

macrumors newbie
Feb 24, 2003
28
0
Alabama
Check out the Samsung SyncMaster 173P 17" silver. It matches the MINI and the NEW Powerbooks !!!!!!!!!!!!!! It is on sale at Amazon.com for $399.99 It retails for $789.99.
 

Ringo

macrumors regular
Mar 30, 2004
173
0
Quebec
firewire said:
Check out the Samsung SyncMaster 173P 17" silver. It matches the MINI and the NEW Powerbooks !!!!!!!!!!!!!! It is on sale at Amazon.com for $399.99 It retails for $789.99.


dont get fool by retail price. when rebate from retail is that much it's either a) a really bad product b) a product that dont sell well(but can still be really good c) an inflated reatail price to make think people are saving lot of money or d) a mix of all that
 
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