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Like everything else associated with computers, monitors are constantly getting bigger and better. Long a standard, 14" monitors are now only sold with economy model computers - usually in discount houses like Circuit City or Sam's Club. The 15" monitor has become the new standard and there is plenty of talk about 17" being a realistic minimum for comfortable Windows use.
If you want to stay ahead of the performance and coolness curve, 17", 20", and especially 21" monitors are what you should be considering. The 17" Qume we review here will be typical of the low cost, medium sized monitors that will become standard as more and more people end up on the receiving end of the data glut flowing over the Internet and World Wide Web.
If you habitually have several programs open at once or if you are a CAD or graphics professional, 21" monitors are essential business tools. If you fall into this category your system is probably already fairly high end and you're not going to want a cheap 21" monitor. In these articles we will be covering the industry leaders - the standouts capable of very high resolution, very high refresh rates and sophisticated color correction.
If you are the type of user that typically only uses one or two programs at once but still want something bigger than the 14" eye strainers we grew up with, than you should consider something like the Qume QM1791. Most people using a 21" monitor don't work with common business applications open to full screen - it's just too much neck strain to have a word processing document spread out that much. 17" is quite nice for most business uses.
We will try to cover the kinds of monitors our readers want to hear about based on our reader surveys and informal chit-chat with users. So let us know what you're interested in: monster 36" presentation monitors, black and white 12" antique monitors, or what? Send us e-mail and tell us.
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