Sony Trinitron 21" For UNDER $600?? GO GET IT!
Written: Jun 13 '01
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Pros: Crystal Clear picture, Price, Resolution, SONY Name
Cons: Bulky, Initially confusing jog shuttle. Awkward cleaning rules.
The Bottom Line: Hands down the best value (Quality vs. Price) that I have found in a monitor. HEY!! IT'S A SONY!
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| badhmash's Full Review: Sony CPD-E500 21 inch CRT Monitor |
When I purchased my last computer about three years ago, I decided that I wanted to go for a 21" monitor. My heart was set on the SONY Trinitron 21" CPD-E500 model but it was selling for about $1100.00. In order to keep my budget in check, I had to settle for a MAG 21" monitor which was selling for around $700.00 US at the time.
Biggest mistake.
That purchase was the factor that made me decide never again to sacrifice quality for price when it comes to computers.
Over the past couple of weeks, I have been building my own system from scratch and have decided to put the best parts that I can afford into it. That's when I decided to pick up this CPD-E500 which is absolutely awesome.
This is a Trinitron monitor and is almost completely flat. It also comes with a special coating on the surface to reduce glare and reflection. But hands down the most impressive feature of the monitor is that it is so pleasing to the eye. I can get an 80Hz refresh rate at 1600x1280 and everything is incredibly clear. With my old MAG monitor, anything in the center of the screen was unreadable at 1600x1280. It looked like there was a smear of oil in the center of the screen that was making everything blurry.
I now know that it had something to do with the terrible architecture of the MAG and because I had extended the viewable image to the maximum parameters (you won't have this problem with the CPD-E500).
Before we go into the features, let me first say that I was considering several monitors before I purchased this one. I was looking at Viewsonic's line, as well as other SONY models. The closest monitor I came to buying other than this was the CPD-G500 which is the Graphics model of the same line. They say that the Graphics model has crisper images and is used for stuff like AutoCad etc, but to tell you the truth, I noticed absolutely no difference between the two of them and this one is much cheaper.
Specs:
The monitor has a maximum refresh rate of 60Hz on a maximum resolution of 2048x1536 (If you can read text without squinting at this resolution, I want to meet your optometrist). Of course you get much better refresh rates at lower resolutions. The Aperature Grille Pitch is at 0.24 which is rather good. This is just the separation between two pixels of the same color on your monitor screen. The smaller the value, the better. Many monitors have a 0.22 which is really good but for 21" monitors 0.24 is also very good. There is also a 3 year warranty for parts and labor from SONY. I really liked this part of it because my MAG monitor crashed * 3 * times in 1.5 years. I know that it was cheaply constructed but come on!
OSD Jog Shuttle
The monitor is controlled by an intuitive but initially confusing jog shuttle called the OSD (On-Screen Display) joystick. Like most new monitors, the OSD joystick just operates to set screen size, positioning and brightness/contrast/color etc. It's really nothing big but just a warning, some of the features are duplicated in the shuttle menu and as a result, the menu is more confusing than it has to be. I got the hang of it after about 2 minutes of fiddling.
Quirks
There are a few things that I found a little odd. The Trinitron monitors seem to have two horizontally positioned lines running across the screen at positions of 1/3 and 2/3 down the screen. I am only able to see these lines when the background screen is either white or a light color. I have been reassured that this is normal for these monitors and that the lines are actually physical wires within the monitor. The reason that other monitors do not have these lines has something to do with the flatscreen technology and that other CRT monitors are built entirely differently from Trinitron monitors. I will take their word for it.
To clean the monitor, I was surprised to learn that we are not supposed to use Windex or other glass cleaners as they will destroy the high contrast coating across the screen. I wish they had made this a bold faced note in the manual because I surely would not have known about it had I not read the entire thing thoroughly.
Overall
Overall this monitor is the best I have ever had (duhh .. it's a SONY). The contrast moreso than anything else is what amazes me. You can actually read everything across the screen as if you were looking at it at 640x480. I was never able to have that experience with my "lovely" 21" MAG.
I just recently installed a GEFORCE 3 card as well and have used the 3D glasses that came with it in games like Unreal Tournament and I am thoroughly impressed. When the lights are out, you actually feel like you are in the game. I know you and I have heard this before, but believe me you really do feel like you are there.
The monitor is also energy star compliant and comes with a MAC adapter and a disk containing drivers.
If you are looking for a new monitor and have 600 to blow, get this one because I've done all the research and I cannot find a better deal (Quality vs. Price).
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 590.00
Operating System: Windows and Macintosh
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Epinions.com ID:
badhmash
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Reviews written: 30
Trusted by: 12 members
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