Product Reviews

Iiyama may have stolen Mitsubishi's thunder on its 19in M2 tube, but Mitsubishi has armed its Diamond Pro 930SB with a bargain price of £229. This is amazing for its new flagship 19in CRT, sitting above the new Diamond Plus 93SB and ousting the Diamond Pro 920.

With this in mind, you'd expect the 930SB to outstrip the 920 everywhere, but you soon notice some cost-cutting, particularly the weedy captive cable. The 920 only had one non-captive input, but at least you could replace it for one with better shielding.

Comparatively, the Iiyama Vision Master Pro 454 (see Labs, issue 96) has two non-captive inputs and a four-port USB hub, which some would argue is worth the extra cost. However, not everyone needs this functionality, and if you're looking to save a few pounds the Diamond Pro 930SB is still worth considering.

In fact, the Diamond Pro 930SB is a pleasure to use at 1,152 x 864, which it performs comfortably at 118Hz. The focus is sharp, colours are vibrant and it's bright too.

To examine the monitor's finer points, we used DisplayMate Multimedia Edition 2.03 at 1,024 x 768 at 85Hz. Both horizontal and vertical convergence was almost perfect across the board. After a little tweaking in the OSD, the colours fell only slightly out of alignment at the

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bottom and far right edges of the screen.

The power regulation was similarly impressive, with only a slight movement in the borders between light and dark screens. However, it also adjusts the brightness slightly between these screens, which can be distracting, although to be fair the Iiyama does this too.

SuperBright is the M2 tube's extra brightness feature and is otherwise a great inclusion. It gives colours an extra lease of life and most notably improves 3D games and DVD movies.

Mitsubishi has made this switchable without going through the OSD menu, and usability seems to be the company's new forte. The OSD is easy to navigate and it's full of extra features such as top and bottom hooking in the geometry options, which was notably lacking in the Iiyama.

Mitsubishi can also be proud of the geometry. There are no bows or bends, and it doesn't take long to set up almost perfectly square with the bezel.

What's more, despite its captive cable, the moire interference is minimal. This is one area where the Mitsubishi is better than the Iiyama. On the same Matrox Millennium G550-based test system, the Iiyama had more interference, which was instantly noticeable on fine-grain patterns found in applications like the Outlook 2002 Calendar.

The only problem occurs when you increase the resolution. The Mitsubishi starts to struggle even at 1,280 x 1,024 at 85Hz, where it loses focus, text becomes fuzzy and it's uncomfortable to look at. Comparatively, this is where the Iiyama wins out, retaining fantastic image quality at 1,280 x 1,024.

With its superior high-resolution performance and extra features, the Iiyama remains our 19in CRT of choice. However, at just £229, the Mitsubishi still offers a great monitor and superb value for money. If you're still unconvinced by TFTs but short of money, this is the monitor for you.