A flat panels display is always the measurement stated, a monitor is normally at least an inch less than stated, also a flat panel will alway take up far less space.
Buy Now...
Until around a year ago flat panels were an awful lot more expensive than monitors, now there is still a differential but its shrinking fast.
My first 17inch monitor was something you only moved when absolutely necessary and you always had the area where is was going clear. My current 17inch monitor is not that heavy but certainly something you carry with two hands. This Philips panel comes in a box that is easily carried in one hand rather like a briefcase.
It is sitting where my monitor normally sits and takes up no more width and only a small proportion of the depth. My monitor has a display area of 15.9inches and I use it at 1024x768. This Philips panel will work at that resolution but is designed to work best at 1280x1024 and believe me thats a great deal more display area.
If like me you have a monitor at a high refresh rate turn this down to a lower level before the change or you may be greeted by a blank screen. I found that 72Hz was possible with the panel. On first use you will probably need to use the Auto button to centre the display fully on the screen. I experimented with the other adjustments but only really the contrast and brightness needed any adjustment to satisfy me.
The screen surround is 39x32cm, the maximum depth of the screen is 5.5cm. The semi circular base is a maximum of 15cm deep and 34cm wide.
Viewing things at the higher resolution was no problem, the only adjustment I made was with Microsoft Word where I upped the magnification from 150% to 200% more for the fact that this just fits the screen width to the page width. Things like email and web pages I left as a window that represented the 1024x768 that I normally use. It means that rather than one application taking up the whole screen area at least two can be almost fully open and parts of around four items can be shown and easily brought forward.
Movement on the screen is perhaps the weakest part of any panel, I would prefer to watch TV or a DVD on a monitor rather than a panel. Fast scrolling text such as a long document, a spreadsheet or long web page tend to break up a little on a panel but not to any disastrous amount. When you first use a flat panel the image tends to look concave but that soon vanishes.
Would I swap my notional 17inch monitor for a true 17inch panel, Y E S. Would I swap it for this panel Y E S. PC World have it for £229.99
http://www.consumer.philips.com/consumer/catalog/product.jsp?language=en&country=GB&catalogType=CONSUMER&productId=170C5BS_00_GB_CONSUMER
!!
