an old brand returns to high tech

My long-time favorite monitor, an ancient 17" Trinitron-type, finally gave up the ghost. Or actually, 1/3 of the ghost: the red electron gun became erratic, so the on-screen image would shift to very blue and then back to normal, depending on what the dying gun was doing.

Seventeen inches was large when I first got that monitor maybe a decade ago, and all through its long life, I enjoyed the excellent clarity and definition of the images it painted. I could stare at that screen for long, long days, and never experience eyestrain.

I'd look at LCDs from time to time over the years but none looked as good. And I wasn't particularly motivated anyway, as the old monitor was doing great. There was no valid reason to junk a perfectly-good monitor; I've never believed in upgrading just for the sake of upgrading.

But once a monitor's guns start dying, it's time. I did some serious comparison shopping.

I wanted a larger screen, excellent clarity and eye-ease, and all the other benefits of LCDs (less power consumption, fewer toxic components, less weight, etc.).

I initially bought an Optiquest 20" LCD Monitor (Q201wb). It's made by Viewsonic, a company I had come to respect in the past. I bought it via the web, and when the unit arrived, it had 5 "stuck" pixels--- 4 always-on red, and one always-on green--- arranged in a constellation right in the middle of the screen. The unit wasn't shipping-damaged; this was a factory defect.

I tried various software tools that can sometimes unstick an always-on pixel. I even tried some mechanical fixes (believe it or not: gently massaging the pixel area; using a pencil eraser to redistribute the liquid crystals, etc. See http://www.wikihow.com/Fix-a-Stuck-Pixel-on-an-LCD-Monitor or http://lifehacker.com/software/lcds/fix-your-lcds-dead-pixels-152062.php or http://tinyurl.com/6jax6v ) No dice; nothing helped.

Many LCD makers use the "10 or more" rule; an LCD panel with up to 9 defective pixels is considered fine (by them), and you'll only get an exchange if the LCD has at least 10 dead pixels.

Knowing this, after researching the monitors, I'd ordered it through Walmart. (Don't laugh.) They had the best price ($199), and a liberal return policy, and indeed did give me a no-hassle refund when I brought the Optiquest monitor back.

I didn't want to try the same brand again, and so sought alternatives.

I ended up at Best Buy, and got a 22" LCD (with zero dead/stuck pixels) for $229. Picture's bright and gorgeous, excellent text clarity, good contrast (1000+/1) so photos look good, etc.

The big surprise to me was the brand: Westinghouse, a company I haven't associated with consumer high tech in decades. But if this product is any indication, it may be a brand to watch.

The quality is high and the price was quite aggressive, apparently enabled by a "one version for all markets" approach: The monitor's manual is printed in about 8 different languages so the same box can be sold just about anywhere in the world, without localization.

Next time you need a new monitor, Westinghouse just might be worth a look. So far, I'm very happy with mine.

http://www.westinghousedigital.com/details.aspx?itemnum=183