High Display

These days, 17-inch and 19-inch monitors are becoming a thing of the past, especially those using the classic 4:3 format. While a lot of good 22-inchd LCD monitors have flooded the market recently, Dell takes a step further and releases a 24-inch model that seems to belong to a higher class than most existing models.

The Ultrasharp 2408WFP LCD monitor from Dell, pictured above, comes with a 1900X1200 resolution, 178-degree viewing angle, an impressive 1300:1 contrast ratio (no artificial "contrast enhancing" technology used, as far as I know), 400cd brightness, a decent 6ms response time, and 102 percent color gamut.

The connectivity part is impressive, the Dell 2408WFP sporting HDMI, 2XDVI connectors, a DisplayPort, VGA, Composite, S-Video, Component, one USB upstream and two USB downstream. Sounds pretty insane to me, especially since there is 1 percent chance you'll need at least half of the above connectors, but something has to justify the $749 price tag, don't you think?

Don't get me wrong, I was simply evil with that remark... I always loved Dell's products, and for its price, the Ultrasharp 2408WFP gives you a lot, especially if we add the 5 years limited warranty, with 5 years advanced exchange included in the price. If you want to spare a small amount of money, you can choose to have both of the warranty and advanced exchange for 4 years($20 less), or only 3($49 less), it's your choice.

It is well known that LCD displays are not capable of displaying perfectly natural colors, and those that get very close to this point are extremely expensive. Being given this fact, it's obvious that, leaving the low-price market aside, LCD producers try to bring up displays with the best color reproduction possible for a decent price, and at the start of this week, NEC announced a very interesting 30-inch LCD display...

The new LCD from NEC, named LCD3090WQXi', can be found at NEC Display booth, #2348, at the 2008 Macworld Conference and Expo, until January 18. This new model is an extension of the highly-rated MultiSync 90-series, having a 2560X1600 native resolution, designed as a wide-gamut widescreen display for computer graphics professionals who need the best color reproduction possible.

According to NEC, "The LCD3090WQXi also includes a 12-bit, internal look-up table (LUT), 2560 x 1600 resolution, and HDCP (High Bandwidth Digital Content Protection), which is supported through the DVI-D connector that allows for use with HDCP-equipped devices and encrypted content."

At last, it would be interesting to tell you that this display is capable of delivering 102 percent color gamut vs. NTSC, and 97.8 percent coverage of the Adobe RGB color space, has an extended 190mm height adjustment range, which allows unprecedented ergonomic flexibility, all functions, including power, can be locked out at the display for greater setting security, and a lot more, especially a standard 4 years limited warranty.

At this time, it is known that the LCD3090WQXi should be available in February 2008, and the estimated street price will be $2,199.99, so let's hope none of these will change too much (well, the price could go down a bit, I won't mind that at all!).

Yesterday, Planar Systems, a worldwide leader in specialty display solutions, announced six new touch screen displays that are going to join the existing models from its PT series of products. The PT line contains desktop LCD touch screen monitors, widely used by VARs, kiosk integrators and OEMs. While you won't probably need such a display at home, I am sure that those operating a business in the retail, POS, self-service stations and others, would be interested in finding out more about these products, so here we go...

The new PC LCDs from Planar include 4 surface acoustic wave(SAW) touch screens, and 2 5-wire resistive touch screen displays, between 15 and 19 inch in resolution, and priced from $559 to $939, as it follows:

- PT1505MU (MSRP: $559) – 15-inch SAW touch screen
- PT1555MU (MSRP: $659) – 15-inch SAW touch screen with integrated card swipe
- PT1550MX (MSRP: $649) – 15-inch, 5-wire resistive touch screen with integrated card swipe
- PT1705MU (MSRP: $659) – 17-inch SAW touch screen
- PT1915MU (MSRP: $939) – 19-inch SAW touch screen
- PT1910MX (MSRP: $929) – 19-inch, 5-wire resistive touch screen

According to Planar's press release, these PT monitors "are backed by Planar's industry-leading three-year Customer First(TM) warranty, with free two-day advance replacement." Obviously, if you want to know more about them, simply go to the official site, here.

The natural step from LCD and plasma displays is, for some of us, a projector. In my opinion, it's better to have them all, if you can afford, because each has its advantages and drawbacks, at this time. Anyway, today I want to tell you about two new projectors from Optoma, the EP1691 and EP7155.


The EP1691, pictured above, has only 3.2 pounds in weight, and is able to deliver a picture quality and resolution matching existing 16:9 notebook displays, so you won't need to adjust your laptop's display settings each time you have to use the projector.

With the same looks and weight, the Optoma EP7155 comes with 2500 Lumens brightness, just like the EP1691, but its Native XGA (1024 x 768) resolution is a bit lower than the EP1691's WXGA+ (1680 x 1050).

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to find anything about the pricing, so you should check availability and pricing for your area by visiting the official site, here.

This story is very hot, and very simple - JVC is going to launch four new LCD HDTVs, each one of them featuring built in iPod docks. The announcement was made at last week's CES 2008, and the press release issued yesterday gives some more details about the devices, as well as giving away the approximate date when the first two of them will become available to the public...


As you can see in the image above, the iPod dock is going to be nicely integrated into the set, being able to offer playback through the TV's speakers, as well as to display the song title and artist name on the screen.The four announced models will include a 1080p trio, with screen sizes of 42, 47 and 52 inch, while the 32 inch set will only offer 768p video, according to JVC.

While pricing wasn't announced yet, we know that the small sets (32 and 42 inch ones) should be available in March, with the 47 inch one scheduled for April, and the big 52 inch set, in the summer.

At last, it is also known that the iPod will be recharged as soon as being placed into the dock, no matter if the TV is on or off.