MaximumPC 2007 H

LCD Monitor vs. LCD TV

And the Winner Is...

GAMING

But enough about work—an even more com-

pelling use for a screen of this size is playing games. If your rig

sports anything less than the fastest graphics cards—GeForce

8800 GTXes—your frame rate is going to suffer if you try to play

games on the 30-inch monitor at its native res. But, when the

resolution is at, say, 1360x768, gaming is perfectly acceptable

and free of motion artifacts with a single midrange card.

Gaming on the TV was also ghost-free at that screen’s

1360x768 native res, but we did notice a lot of banding and

contouring throughout the graphically rich content, which is

most likely due to that screen’s inferior grayscale performance.

In general, the panels used in desktop monitors—especially

high-end models—tend to be of a better quality than TV panels.

WINNER: MONITOR

MOVIES

Resolution-scaling

issues with today’s

30-inch monitors and

restricted HDCP sup-

port in the majority of

videocards (see the May

2007 issue for details),

means you’ll likely be

forced to watch your

commercial high-def

discs at 1280x800 res

on these desktop LCDs.

That’s far from ideal.

But so is the

1366x768 32-inch

LCD—we want some-

thing that gives us full

1080i output. At least

with the monitor, you

can turn to AnyDVD

as a means of bypass-

ing the HDCP issues

and reaching a higher

res—with the TV, you’re

forever limited.

Plus, as with

games, we could see

evidence of the TV

poorly rendering gray-

scale in our sample

high-def content.

WINNER: MONITOR

LCD MONITOR

Samsung SyncMaster 305T

$1,800, http://www.samsung.com

A

32-inch LCD TV might be somewhat cheaper and serve a wider

range of uses, but it really can’t compare to a 30-inch LCD

monitor if what you’re after is a desktop display. Screen real-estate

alone makes the latter a better fit for PC power users—as does

superior screen performance with demanding content. Be that as

it may, we still don’t recommend you buy one of today’s 30-inch LCD

monitors, as they have issues that must still be improved upon. We’d

rather wait for an ultra-high-res screen that offers more input options,

a more modern interface—such as DisplayPort or HDMI—and internal

scaling before we plunk down that kind of dough.

DESKTOP

USABILITY

It’s great to have so

many open windows

exposed on the

monitor’s ultra-high-

res screen, but things

can be pretty darned

small, especially if

you’re inclined to sit

a little further back

when using such

a large display. Be

that as it may, the

TV is unquestionably

inferior to the monitor

for desktop work. We

certainly don’t need

everything to look

that big. And even

from a couple feet

away you’ll be both-

ered by the “screen

door” effect of the

TV’s spacious pixel

grid and nearly blind-

ed by the increased

brightness of a

screen that’s meant

to be viewed from a

greater distance.

WINNER:

MONITOR

round^3

round^4

round 5

HOLIDAY 2007 MAXIMUMPC 17