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LAB NOTES
The Peculiarity of Panels
LAB NOTES
The Peculiarity of Panels
LAB NOTES
IN THE LAB^
HANDS ON WITH THE LATEST HARDWARE AND SOFTWAREIt’s time for LCD monitor manufacturers to tell you what they’re selling
L
CD monitors come in all shapes and sizes.
And as you’ve read in this month’s monitor
feature (page 42), even the types of TFT
panels found in modern consumer displays vary,
the most common types being TN, S-PVA, and
S-IPS. Each one has it pros and cons.
The trouble is, manufacturers abhor
mentioning panel types on their specifica-
tion lists. While this might not discourage an
in-store shopper who can judge a screen’s
attributes first-hand, online shoppers are out
of luck. That needs to change.
The unique diff erences between the panel types are important and
distinguishing characteristics for your purchasing decision. Transparency
would also prevent manufacturers from pulling a bait and switch with
a product’s panel type (as when Dell moved from S-IPS panels to S-PVA
midway through the 2407WFP’s life). With all the marketing drivel that
surrounds display technology, the least monitor makers could do is tell
you exactly what kind of panel you’re staring at.DAVID MURPHY
ASSOCIATE EDITORKATHERINE STEVENSON
DEPUTY EDITORAfter both the notebook
and desktop PC I use
at home lost Internet
access following a Win-
dows Update conflict
with Zone Alarm, I
started wondering why
I even use ZA. Over
the years, I’ve become
so desensitized to its
permission popups that
I just automatically hit
“Allow”—kind of like
the Vista UAC issue.WILL SMITH
EDITOR-IN-CHIEFAh, the workaday
world of a magazine
editor. This month,
I spent a ton of time
separating fact from
fi ction when it comes
to Microsoft Vista. It
turns out many of the
operating system’s
fl aws have been fi xed!
I also did a guest
turn at Amazon’s PC
store, helping them
confi gure a kick-ass
$1,500 PC.NORMAN CHAN
ONLINE EDITORHewlett-Packard’s
Voodoo Envy 133 is
such a sexy notebook
I literally licked it. But
I don’t feel the least bit
ashamed of my behav-
ior—this carbon-fi ber
ultra-mobile PC is so
yummy that it even
contains the sweet
taste of desire. Also,
carbon fi ber.TOM EDWARDS
MANAGING EDITORThis month, I worked
with Gordon to
benchmark the
iBuyPower Gamer
Paladin 990 (see
page 87). While it’s a
pretty solid machine,
I was a bit perplexed
by the company’s
decision to spend
big bucks on the rig’s
custom paint job but
include GTX 260s
cards rather than
GTX 280s.GORDON MAH UNG
SENIOR EDITORWith PCI-E sound-
cards now avail-
able, I’ll fi nally be
able to dump the
onboard audio in my
main home rig. I’ve
been cardless since
running out of PCI
slots (a RAM drive,
PATA adapter, and
double-slot GPU left
nothing) and thus
suff ering random
audio anomalies and
substandard sound
in games.The unique diff erences between the panel types are important and
distinguishing characteristics for your purchasing decision. Transparency
would also prevent manufacturers from pulling a bait and switch with
a product’s panel type (as when Dell moved from S-IPS panels to S-PVA
midway through the 2407WFP’s life). With all the marketing drivel that
surrounds display technology, the least monitor makers could do is tellASSOCIATE EDITOR