Introduction to Display Components
Organizations evaluating the hardware needs of their organization frequently contemplate whether they can use monitors currently in-house for their document imaging applications. During this evaluation stage there are a number of considerations to address. The monitors (or displays) used throughout the document imaging industry are different than those used for general purposes. The difference lies in the resolution, refresh rate, and "dot pitch" of the display devices.
First let's take look at your current monitor settings:
Video resolution is measured in pixels or dots, which are the smallest viewable part of a monitor. When a monitor provides 640 x 480 dots per inch (DPI), there are 640 pixels or dots which can be addressed horizontally and 480 pixels or dots vertically.
Monitors which can display 640 x 460 DPI up through 1024 x 768 DPI are considered standard monitors for general computing activities.
The refresh rate is the frequency with which the screen is redrawn, measured in MHz. The higher the frequency, the lower the strain for the human eye. The display should have a refresh rate of 70 MHz as a bare minimum. Other factors to consider are the video adapter and the horizontal refresh rate of the monitor. These factors when all taken into account are user to determine what the display device requirements should be. The monitor type, size and number of colors displayed all impact the adapter requirements.
The video adapter and the horizontal refresh rate of the monitor must be considered. These factors when all taken into account are used to determine what the display device requirements should be.
The dot pitch, or proximity of the "guns" to each other needs to be evaluated next. The higher dot pitch display devices will not produce as high a quality image as the lower dot pitch devices. Most document imaging production quality monitors will have a .22 mm dot pitch and the monitors used by general users can be as high as .28 mm. Caution should be exercised when planning on viewing documents at high resolutions and high dot pitches.
Consider the following:
Using standard business sized documents (size A); you want the users to see as much of the entire document as needed with minimal eyestrain. In such a case we would consider using either a 17" monitor with a display rate of 1280x1024, or a 19-20" monitor with a display rate of 1600x1280.
Why? The clarity of the document being displayed is extremely important, and the higher the resolution the more information displayed. Using a higher resolution on a 17" monitor produces images with great detail, but too small to read easily. Users generally work around this issue by increasing the font sizes displayed; this of course defeats the purpose of displaying information with greater density.
The
monitor selection must also take into consideration its routine use. A
heads-down production user has different needs than the more casual user who
access the system only occasionally. Typically, 19" monitors work very well
for end-users. While 21" monitors provide more viewable space, the
difference in additional space as compared with the additional costs typically
result in only a few 21" monitors throughout organizations
Some other factors to consider are how far the user will sit from the monitor and how much room is available. The larger production quality monitors currently require significant desktop space. Commonly referred to as the "footprint", this aspect is being addressed by many vendors. Still a 19" monitor will weigh as much as 50 pounds and up to 20 inches of desktop space on all sides.
Some may wish to consider flat panel or flat screen monitors. These have an increasing degree of quality, however the cost remains prohibitive. As with the above, a myriad of factors must be considered for the cost to determine suitability. The flat panel display technology is improving rapidly, but the cost for the higher resolution is still highly restrictive.