Tuesday, August 26, 2014

PC Gamers Can Now Game With 4K Resolutions While Thumbing Nose At Console Gamers Yet Again

4K is literally taking over, much like DVD took over VHS. Pretty soon, 4K is going to be your only option when it comes to screens, whether they be on tablets, phones, televisions or computer monitors. When it comes to the gaming community, there is a division as to which is better, console gaming or PC gaming. While console gaming may have a more mainstream following, there is still an incredible amount of PC gamers out there. And if there's one thing PC gamers have over console gamers, it's that they are not hindered by resolution. Even with the current crop of next-gen consoles, gamers on the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 are struggling to hit full 1080p HD resolutions with their games. On the flip side PC gamers are already starting to branch out into 4K resolution gaming thanks to new hardware that is both powerful and expensive.

4K laptops have already begun shipping to consumers around the world with the first one out of the gate being Toshiba's 15" Satellite model. Apple has already entered the market with a 4K-friendly Mac Pro desktop, though a lot of PCs are capable of pushing resolutions higher than 1080p with Nvidia's newest generation of 8000-series GPUs. However, it doesn't matter how high you push the resolution if the monitor you are playing on can't run higher than 1080p. That's where 4K monitors come into play. These devices are similar to their TV siblings, meaning they are still new and still very expensive.

Monoprice is known for having very reasonably priced PC and AV accessories and looks to be taking that business model into the 4K monitor world with the announcement of its newest model, which looks to be cheaper than some comparable models that are currently available.

The new monitor is Monoprice's 28" UHD (ultra-high definition) monitor, which runs at a ridiculous 3840x2160 pixel resolution. The monitor became available for preorder last month and is available now from the company's website with a limit of 10 per customer (because obviously you can afford more than one). Current pricing for the monitor, which is dubbed the UHD CrystalPro 4K monitor, is $550 on Monoprice's website. At the beginning of the year comparable monitors like this were priced in excess of $1,000, though recent price cuts by both Dell and Samsung have helped in driving prices down.

Physically, the UHD CrystalPro 4K is relatively thin and comes with a brushed-metal bottom bezel as well as a sharper look than some of the other budget displays. This monitor also comes with three HDMI ports and a DisplayPort. Performance reports have come in from all over the place, but one that should put it into perspective comes from CNET, who tested the monitor on a 4K-ready gaming PC. Playing Battlefield 4 at full 4K resolution with "ultra" graphics settings CNET acknowledged that the game "looked and played fantastic."

The majority of PC gamers won't be making the switch to 4K anytime soon, much like a majority of console gamers didn't switch to the Xbox One or PlayStation 4 immediately. However, should hardware prices continue to drop like they are, PC gamers will have more of an incentive to make the switch, plus it will also give them even more bragging rights over their console gamer foes. If you have the money to drop on 4K then check out Monoprice's website here to purchase the UHD CrystalPro 4K gaming monitor.

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Tuesday, July 29, 2014

Seiki Bringing Three 4K Monitors Into The Market

So I was walking around Best Buy today and I happened upon some of those new 4K curved screen HDTVs and, needless to say, they were pretty impressive. The one that they had front and center was a 70" 3D Smart TV that had an eye-opening $8,000 price tag (and it was on sale) but from what I witnessed, it was probably worth it. Seeing something so crisp and vibrant was fantastic, especially for something that is 70". But I want to talk about the same technology, only smaller, like computer monitor small.

California-based, Chinese-owned Seiki became well-known for its 50" 4K HDTV (among the first of its kind). Since then, the company has fallen to the background because companies like Asus, Dell and Samsung have all dipped their toes in the 4K market, delivering products that sell for $600 to $1,000. But that hasn't stopped Seiki from trying to get back into the ring.

The company recently announced plans to disrupt the 4K market with all new 4K dedicated monitors. A total of three monitors are being prepped for launch by the company. The 28" 28U4SEP-G02, the 32" 32U4SEP-G02 and the 40" 40U4SEP-G02 are said to come with a host of features that will give other 4K devices a run for their money.

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All three monitors are said to feature the standard 4K UHD (ultra high-definition) of 3,840 x 2,160 along with 12-bit color processing, ports that include HDMI 2.0, DisplayPort 1.3, MHL 3.0, DVI and VGA, picture-in-picture mode capable of supporting four non-scaled 1080p streams, a USB 3.0 hub and a VESA-compliant mount. If that doesn't do it for you then maybe this will: All three monitors will also feature a 60Hz output, which is absolutely crucial for gaming and any motion-based media tasks. For a quick reference, the first 4K UHD sets to come from Seiki featured a 30HZ output so we're talking double here.

While these features and specs are extremely impressive, a physical representation of them has yet to be seen. Seiki has yet to make any demos available so all we have is what the company tells us. Until a physical model can be acquired, the real-world quality and performance of these monitors cannot be determined.

Sitting at home on the couch at a distance seems like the right fit for something that has a resolution like this. Putting a 4K monitor on your desk a foot away is a completely different story. I wonder if the resolution on these devices will be too good for use as a computer monitor. I use a dual-monitor setup and I know plenty of people that do as well, if not a tri- or quad-monitor setup. My only concern would be that having 2, 3 or 4 28" monitors may be a bit much at a 4K resolution, let alone having multiple 32" or 40" monitors running 4K. But who knows, I could be completely wrong about this. It's just my humble opinion.

Expect to see these three monitors from Seiki hit store shelves at the tail end of this year or in the first quarter of 2015.

Tuesday, July 1, 2014

Philips Shows Off 2-In-1 Monitor

During COMPUTEX 2014 in Taipei this year Philips Monitors announced that it was the recipient of the show's d&i Gold Award for the world's very first "virtually" seamless two-in-one matter. Known as the 19DP6QJNS, this monitor setup combines two 19" IPS screens mounted on a single "space-saving" base. As a result a nearly-seamless 32" panoramic display is created.

In talking about the design of the monitor Philips stated that both screens have a 3.5mm narrow border that can tilt forward and backward up to 22.5 degrees. In addition to that, the monitor also includes two USB ports on each panel along with one DisplayPort and one VGA input on the first panel and one VGA input and one MHL-enabled HDMI port on the second panel. For the not-so-tech-savvy, MHL stands for Mobile High-Definition Link and is capable of charging an MHL-compatible device while its digital audio and video are sent to the big screen. MHL delivers power, video and audio instead of the standard two lanes in HDMI.

According to Philips press release about the monitor, "The Philips Two-in-One Monitor is the optimum display for any environment. Perfect for expanding space at the office, the monitor allows side-by-side comparisons and more screen area for reviewing documents, helping to enhance efficiency and productivity. Ideal for designers using 3D graphics or requiring extremely detailed information for CAD-CAM solutions, the connected screens allow or more space to create and use multiple designs."

In addition to that, Philips also indicated that this monitor setup would be perfect for PC gamers as it allows for a cool panoramic view in single-player. In addition to that, you can also hook up two different machines to the two monitors and compare game quality side-by-side. Multiplayer games should also benefit from the dual screen setup as well, according to Philips.

Having a dual-monitor setup isn't revolutionary in the PC world. I'm currently writing this article using my own dual-monitor setup and I know some coworkers that take it a step further with quad-monitor setups (4 monitors). Having multiple monitors is a great way to work on a PC, especially if you like to multitask. In addition to that, if you are a graphic designer or you use your PC in other creative ways then having more than one monitor can be an essential part of your work. The only problem is that in order to have a setup like this you have to physically purchase two separate monitors. I got my two monitors during a Black Friday deal but the still set me back $120 a piece.

Philips appears to be trying to get rid of this by fusing two monitors into one. While this may seem like a great idea it is far too early to tell. Aside from what I mentioned above, Philips has yet to unveil any pricing information, specifications or a release date and market for this monitor other than it will be launching this fall. Until then, we won't know for sure if this setup will actually save people money or not. Stay tuned, though, as we will have all the details on this as it unfolds.

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Monday, June 2, 2014

Understanding How A Computer Monitor Works Can Make Picking Your Next Monitor More Of A Dream And Less Of A Nightmare

When it comes to the new technology that we use today, it helps to be knowledgeable on the subject. You never want to go in blind when deciding what type of tech product you are going to buy, because you need know if you could be wasting your money. There are some products that we never really think about becoming knowledgeable on however. Take your monitor for example. You're capable of reading this right now on your computer screen, but does that mean you know how it works? What if your monitor were to die on you? Would you know enough about monitors to confidently go out, spend your hard-earned money, and come back with a solid investment? You always want to know about your devices. In the end, it'll help you decide what type of monitor you want/need, and you'll know exactly what you're spending your cash on.

Your monitor is arguably the most important, if not one of the most important, pieces of your computer. You really couldn't do anything without it. You're going to want it to be a high resolution, right? The resolution rate is a big part of why we buy the monitors we buy these days. There are some of us out there who aren't exactly tech savvy, and we may not be familiar with computer monitor resolution rates. There are a myriad of different resolutions, but if we are looking at today's standards, the WQHD resolution is the one everyone seems to be going for. This particular acronym stands for "Wide Quad High Definition", and you've seen it more times than you think. Every time you are looking at the specs for a new tech device and you see the pixel resolution say 2,560 x 1,440, you've been looking at a WQHD display. Another handy tip to know is that the first number is referring to the number of pixels on the horizontal axis and the second number is referring to the pixels on the vertical axis. Just from that alone, you'll be able to tell how good a monitor is and if it's widescreen or not.

Another thing to learn about is the aspect ratio. There aren't a lot of us familiar with this term either, even though we see it all the time. Whenever you see a monitor with an aspect ratio of 16:9, this describes the ratio between the width of the display screen compared to the height of the display screen. This is just one way to describe the size of your monitor. The other way is just flat out finding out the screen size, another fact that can easily be misinterpreted. When a display is 20", that doesn't mean horizontally. It's talking about the diagonal measurement. Measure your screen from one corner to the corner opposite, diagonally, and you'll find out your display's screen size.

The Bit-depth of your screen is something else to take into consideration. The bit-depth of your monitor is basically describing how many colors your screen can emit. Most screens today are 24 bit-depth or 32 bit-depth. They both have the same amount of colors. The only difference between the two is that the extra 8 bits on the 32 bit-depth have to deal with translucency of the image. This is mainly used in video games and different styles of animation to get the desired effects. If you're using an LCD display right now, you're dealing with a lot of different colors. Each pixel is brought up with 3 subpixels. The 3 subpixels come with a red, blue, and green filter and come with roughly 256 shades for each filter. So you figure, 256 x 256 x 256. You're dealing with around 16.8 million colors. This is explains why your screen may, or may not, be as vibrant as it is.

These are just a few basics on learning about monitors. If you're seriously considering upgrading your monitor or just want/need a new one, knowing about them is going to help dramatically in the long run. That knowledge could leave you with a better monitor choice and a fatter wallet!

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Monday, May 5, 2014

Lenovo May Have Gone Under The Radar At This Years CES With These Two Monitors

CES may have been a few months back, but that doesn't mean that there weren't some surprises that you may have missed. Conventions like that one are pretty easy to get excited about. Every tech company you buy your gear from was at this event. Everything from tablets, to game systems, to monitors were showcased at this year's event. Branding is all about marketing. Basically, who ever has the biggest and best marketing campaign will more than likely have the better turn out for product sales. This is why, seemingly, everyone and their mother owns an Apple device. Brands like Lenovo may have been swept under the rug at this years event, but they had some pretty decent products, especially in terms of monitors!

Lenovo revealed two different versions of their ThinkVision 4K displays. Thats right! Even Lenovo is getting involved with the 4K craze. One of the ThinkVision displays is a Smart display while the other is just a monitor.

The Lenovo ThinkVision 4K 28 Smart Display is essentially an Android device and remarkably beautiful display all at the same time. The pixel resolution sits at a gorgeous 3,840 x 2,160 output. The display also happens to be touchscreen which is always a nice "touch" as well. This 28 inch monitor packs quite the load of goodies. It comes with a plethora of different ports at the base of its stand, including 3 HDMI ports, an Ethernet port, and a display port. This smart "monitor" also comes with 2 noise cancelling microphones, a 2 megapixel front facing camera, as well as 2 5-watt speakers in the monitor as well. Since this new monitor can basically run on its own as a tablet, it does come running with Android 4.4 OS. Price for this particular model will start at around $1,199. Definitely not bad for a 4K display, which essentially doubles as a tablet.

The Lenovo ThinkVision Pro 2840 4K Display is offering the same output resolution as its smart cousin. The monitor itself also features a 5ms display response time. Naturally since this model isn't going to be doubling as a tablet, the amount of ports is nearly doubled. 5 USB ports total, along with an HDMI, MiniDisplay port, and more come ready on this model display. The monitor only model of the ThinkVision 28 also comes complete with 2 speakers, as well as a microphone jack. This monitor can also be adjusted on its swivel for better viewing for the consumer. The display can be adjusted to view in either portrait or landscape mode, and can also be moved 5 degrees towards you or 25 degrees away from you. Naturally, since this model isn't running extra features like the smart version, the price tag has been cut quite a bit. Since most 4K displays are pretty expensive, getting a 4K display for your computer at only $799 is not a bad price at all.

It's inevitable that 4K will eventually take over. It's another classic case of Blu-Ray vs. HD DVD. Everyone knew that the higher resolution was going to win. That being said, this just goes to show that there are some companies doing their best to keep up with all of the others. You should expect to see these monitors become available some time in July of this year. Here's to hoping that Lenovo starts getting the credit they deserve.

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Tuesday, April 8, 2014

You May Have An Extra Monitor Sitting On Your Nightstand And Not Even Know It!

Far to often do we humans tend to get in our own way. We always tend to make things a bit more difficult than they need to be. Mind you, some of us do it more than others, but nevertheless, we all do it. Take, for example, trying to be more productive at work. There have been way to many times than I care to remember, where I have attempted to do something to make myself more productive at work. My "attempts" were met by me just getting in the way of myself. Much like the time I tried to go out and buy a new monitor for my workstation. Little did I know, I had a second monitor just waiting on me to notice it the entire time. Not sure what I mean by that? Think of that pretty little iPad sitting on you coffee table right now, or the one sitting in your hands while you read this. Behold, your second monitor.

Think about all of the things we use our tablets for. There are a multitude of different uses for your tablet. Mind you, most of us tend to use it to check our Facebook's and update our Twitters, there are some uses that you may not have thought of for it. I know I never would have expected to be using my tablet as a second monitor.

Most people tend to use their tablets for more mobile purposes, and that's fine. However, if you happen to own one but never really feel the need to go out with it for fear of it getting broken or something else like that, now you can use it in a more productive way. Keeping up with productivity in the work place or even at home can be a chore at times, especially if you don't know where to start. By adding your tablet as a second monitor to your desktop, you'll be able to give yourself and your computer a bit more breathing room.

Should you want to go ahead and use your tablet as a second monitor, your first step will need to be getting a "second display" app on your tablet. There are a few apps that you can look at on the app stores right now that will help you configure your laptop to be your second monitor. Instead of extra wires and connectors, these apps will trick your computer into thinking that you are just hooking up an extra external monitor, instead of an actual tablet. Some of the apps out there include iDisplay, Air Display, and Splashtop XDisplay. The Splashtop XDisplay is something a bit different, as actually gives you remote access to your desktop screen. Obviously with the right configurations however, you can still use your tablet as a second monitor.

Not keen on spending money? Can't really blame you, as no one is. Should you want to use your tablet still, but don't want to front even more money for apps, you could just use it as a standalone monitor. Do it the old fashioned way. Writing up an article? Pull up your research or source on your tablet, get a stand for you tablet or use its cover as a stand to place it next to your primary monitor, and type away on your laptop or desktop without having to constantly switch back and forth between the tabs.

If you don't have a tablet but you're interested in seeing what it could be like using it as a second monitor, there is nothing wrong with renting. By renting, you'll be able to test the waters and see if having a smaller monitor is right for you, or if you should just pick up a larger monitor. Either way, trying before you buy is always the smart choice.

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Monday, February 10, 2014

Top 3 Monitor Upgrade Choices!

It can be extremely easy to get caught up in new tech and products. Take buying a new computer for example. It's beyond easy to get wrapped up in the excitement of having a new computer. Anyone would be excited to replace their old Gateway 2000. During that rush of emotions though, some may not think about the monitors they come with. Just because you may have gotten the newest and hottest computer doesn't mean that you also got the newest and hottest monitor as well. If you are going to do it, then you might as well do it big, right? After all it is a new year. Might as well get a new monitor to go along with your new computer. In case you are not sure where to start, here are 3 choices to get you going in the right direction!

The Apple Thunderbolt Monitor is perfect for any Mac fanatic out there. Apple is known for offering the very best in quality, and the new Thunderbolt display doesn't shy away from that principle. This 27 inch monitor is big enough to properly display anything you may need to view, with amazing clarity. The 2560x1440 pixel LED backlit screen makes sure of that. The monitor offers 6 different input ports. With 3 USB 2.0 ports, a FireWire 800 port, a Gigabit Ethernet port, and a Thunderbolt port, this particular monitor offers a lot of room for add ons. The fact that the included MagSafe connector can charge and power your Macbook is also a nice little addition. Again, perfect for any Mac user looking for a beefed up monitor.

The Dell Ultrasharp LED-Lit Monitor is a monitor that looks to base its selling point on one word: adjustable. This 24 inch monitor uses IPS technology in conjunction with its LED back lit display to give off a beautiful image. The height of the monitor can be adjusted to whatever makes you feel comfortable, or just whatever fits. The display can also be adjusted by turning it for a vertical view or a landscape view. The overall color temperature and text brightness of the monitor can also be adjusted to your own personal preferences. A good pick for someone who is... picky.


Finally, the Asus Full-HD LED-Lit LCD Monitor might become your solution if you are looking for an energy saving monitor that is still a powerhouse. This 23.6 inch monitor is VESA compatible for those of you who may be looking to have a wall mounted monitor. The high def visuals, coupled with the LED back lit display, ensure that you have a bright and crystal clear picture. The 2ms response time guarantees it's owners will have smooth visual playback for movies and videos. It is Energy Star approved, so you won't be killing your electricity bill whenever you turn this bad boy on.

There are many other monitors out there currently, and many more to come out during the rest of the year. If you are unsure of your monitors specifications, be sure to look up the model and do some research. If you feel a need for an upgrade, these are some good starts. And should you feel a bit more inclined to try before you buy, it is never a bad idea to rent before deciding on a purchase!

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