Product Reviews

It's tempting to think that the three major changes in the monitor market recently are a response to the rise of the flat panel display. These changes are the drop in price of larger tubes, the introduction of the 19in screen and, most recently, the launch of the flat screen CRT. You could argue this is all about adding value and keeping the CRT an attractive display technology in the face of encroachments by flat panels.

But a decent-sized, high resolution flat panel monitor still costs thousands, whereas you can have the new flat screen 19in Diamond Pro 900u for just £475. What you get for your money is a compact display measuring 456mm in depth, and weighing 26kg. The stand is a little stiff, with a distinctly reluctant swivel and tilt, but apart from that the 900u is the sort of well-made kit we've come to expect from Mitsubishi.

To get the best from the device at high resolutions you can use the five-way BNC connectors in preference to the standard D-SUB VGA input. The unit also has a powered USB hub with two upstream and three downstream ports. The tube itself is Mitsubishi's

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own Natural Flat Diamondtron, also used by Iiyama for its Vision Master Pro 450 (reviewed issue 49, p168), but not to be confused with the very similar Sony Trinitron alternative.

The monitor is controlled by a detailed on-screen setup menu, which is particularly strong on geometry. There's also moirÚ reduction - which wasn't needed - horizontal and vertical convergence tuning, corner colour purity correction and a continuously variable colour temperature function.

If you install the monitor properly with the disk provided and the USB port on the host machine, you get a tab added to the Display Properties dialog box duplicating the most commonly used controls. It's not entirely necessary, but it's easier to use than the OSD.

Vertical refresh support is good, with maximums ranging from 118Hz for 1,024 « 768 resolution to 89Hz for 1,280 « 1,024. The tube is rated for 1,600 « 1,200 at 75Hz vertical refresh but, unless you want to get friendly with the zoom function on your graphics card, 1,280 « 1,024 is as high as I'd care to take it from the point of view of readability.

The Diamond Pro is usable at 1,280 « 1,024, unlike many 19in monitors, but it's sharper and more readable at 1,152 « 864. The picture is bright and sharp too, and has the fine-grained appearance typical of good-quality Diamontron and Trinitron tubes.

The flatness may look nice but the difference with conventional Diamondtron isn't that great. Instead, it's the excellent detail reproduction and 18in diagonal that keeps the image readable at high resolutions. This, along with the detailed image controls and the reasonable £475 price point, sets it apart from the run of the mill.