The flat Diamond Pro 900u is easy on the eyes
Mitsubishi's Diamond Pro 900u monitor sports a futuristically curved exterior, but the screen is perfectly flat.
By Donovan CampbellGCN StaffMitsubishi's Diamond Pro 900u monitor sports a futuristically curved exterior, but the screen is perfectly flat. I tested the 19-inch display for several weeks under different lighting conditions without experiencing glare or eyestrain. Mitsubishi's Natural Flat technology showed images straight on, without distortion. The images looked natural even at very high resolution; older convex monitors sometimes stretch and elongate hi-res images. The 900u displayed pixels with precision, making graphics appear real and undistorted. Text was sharply focused and spread flat across the screen. Mitsubishi makes a bigger 21-inch version, the Diamond Pro 2020u, but I found the 900u's 18-inch viewable area just as good for keeping multiple windows open simultaneously.A sophisticated but easy-to-use on-screen display lets users control 34 adjustable settings in five groups. If an operation times out, the digital controls return to the previous screen.The screen settings were fully customizable by four buttons, each digital setting adjusting in a few easy steps. Screen adjustments also were possible through the computer using an on-screen panel installed with the Mitsubishi support driver.The Diamond Pro 900u has standard connections for a host of compatible systems including Apple Power Macintoshes and Unix workstations as well as PCs.It also can serve as a Universal Serial Bus hub for keyboards, scanners and digital cameras on both upstream and downstream ports.'' The USB feature works only under Microsoft Windows 9x, however. PCs that run the forthcoming Windows 2000 successor to Windows NT 4.0 will also support USB connectivity through the monitor. It has two upstream ports for connecting two independent USB-compatible computers at the same time. An on-screen function changes the active port to switch between computers. Three downstream connections are available for peripherals.Flat-screen CRT monitors have better color and resolution than LCD, and I expect them eventually to replace curved CRTs. As USB becomes the norm, the 900u looks like a good investment.
An easy-to-use on-screen display
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| Diamond Pro 900u 19-inch CRT monitor
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