The monitor I have been using for the past four years is beginning to show signs of dying, and I want to invest in a new one - not a whole computer, just a good monitor. I want one that is at least 17 inches and that will not send my eyes the way of my old monitor. What should I be looking for? LIM BHOON KIAT Hong Kong There have been rapid advances in monitor technology in the past 18 months and your choices have increased dramatically. Even a 15-inch, flat-panel monitor costs less today than a 17-inch CRT (cathode ray tube) box cost 18 months ago. Some of the latter boxes no longer come with just speakers built in as an add-on, but also include teleconferencing capabilities (built-in cameras and such like).
Make a list of needs and then give yourself a budget. As a rule, a flat-panel monitor will cost you about 60 to 70 per cent more than a no-frills CRT model of equivalent screen area, although prices are dropping rapidly.
With CRT monitors, the viewable screen area is going to be generally an inch less than the published screen area (a 17-inch monitor will have only a 16-inch viewable area). Be aware of that. Also look for high resolution, and a refresh rate of about 85 Hz. The latter will go a long way to saving your eyes.
I have received two letters recently from readers asking if a single computer can support multiple users at the same time without setting up a peer-to-peer or client-server network. Both readers seemed to have in mind dividing up resources of their whopping Pentium II systems better by performing concurrent computing.
Buddy System allows you to connect a second monitor, keyboard and mouse to the external module, which is hooked up to the add-on card, which, shares system resources. Everything from hard disk to peripherals is shared, and the second set-up can be up to 15 metres from the mother machine.
