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Complete listing of June 1996 reviews
By Michelle A. Tyrrell
It seems easy to accept the monitor that's bundled with your system until you break down and buy a monitor you really love. But that can mean shelling out $600 to $1,000-not exactly pocket change. Nokia is making this decision easier with two of its newest and best monitor offerings, the Multigraph 449X and the Valuegraph 447W.
The Multigraph 449X is a 15-inch monitor with a 13.5-inch diagonal measurement maximum viewable area. The $625 price tag might seem expensive, but don't let that scare you off. It's loaded with features-and its picture is the best I've seen on a 15-inch monitor.
It features a high resolution (maximum 1024x768 pixels at an 80Hz refresh rate) Sony Trinitron tube with a 0.25-millimeter aperture-grille pitch, and a flatter-than-flat screen for brilliant colors and razor-sharp images. This monitor is literally bursting with color and detail. The antiglare, antistatic coating is a great finishing touch.
The 15-inch Multigraph won't take up a lot of desktop space. It measures 14.6 by 14.6 by 15.7 inches and weighs a mere 33 pounds. Its sleek, uncluttered casing is sturdy and attractive. Two pairs of buttons on the unit's front provide easy access to myriad on-screen controls, including contrast, brightness, vertical centering, height, horizontal centering, width, pincushion, trapezoid, orthogonal, tilt and degauss.
The Valuegraph 447W is an outstanding 17-inch flat-square multimedia monitor (15.63-inch maximum viewable area) that is priced to sell. At $799, it's affordable.
The Valuegraph's integrated stereo speakers are located in the casing between the bottom of the screen and the base of the unit, so they literally point straight down. Nonetheless, the sound is better than average with no noticeable distortion, even at the highest volume level. Audio-in jacks are placed on the unit's back. The audio component makes the Valuegraph 447W equally appropriate for business people making multimedia presentations or audiophile homebodies with huge CD collections and multimedia games. Headphone and microphone jacks are conveniently located on the front of the unit.
The on-screen menu system lets you control every aspect of the picture and is even more extensive than that found on the 449X. The two pairs of buttons on the front feature controls for color temperature (with six preset tints), RGB adjustment, factory preset recall, contrast, brightness, vertical and horizontal centering, height, width, pincushion, trapezoid, orthogonal, degauss, high-contrast mode, and adjustments for balance, volume, speaker on/off and microphone on/off. The on-screen display also informs you of the current resolution and vertical and horizontal frequencies. The monitor synchronizes vertically from 48Hz to 100Hz and horizontally from 31kHz to 85kHz.
The Valuegraph 447W supports a maximum resolution of 1280x1024 pixels at an ergonomic 79Hz refresh rate for flicker-free viewing, and the 0.26mm dot pitch presents crisp images and sharp detail. The Valuegraph features Invar shadow mask technology and an antiglare, antistatic coating.
This model measures 16.9 by 16.8 by 19 inches and is relatively light (by 17-inch multimedia monitor standards) at 41.9 pounds. The unit is sturdy and not unwieldy, effortlessly swiveling 90 degrees to either side and tilting 15 degrees upward and 5 degrees downward for easy adjustment.
Setup was quick and effortless. After I made the connections and plugged them in, Window 95 instantly recognized the units. Both are Windows 95 Plug-and-Play compatible for automatic configuration of the display upon connection, and I quickly and easily made on-the-fly adjustments to the monitors' resolution and color. They meet MPRII standards for reduced heat emission, power consumption and exposure to electromagnetic fields.
The two monitors are equipped with VESA DPMS power management capabilities and are EPA Energy Star compliant, and they automatically power-down to standby, suspend and off modes.
Nokia is known for offering monitor casings in several colors, and the 449X is available in black and the ever-popular beige.
If you spend a lot of time with your computer, make it quality time. Don't scrimp on the most important external system component: your monitor. It's "in your face" all day long. The Multigraph and Valuegraph monitors from Nokia can make that experience a pleasurable one.
Info File
Nokia Multigraph 449X
Price: $625
Pros: Picture; image controls
Cons: None
WinMag Box Score: 4.5
Nokia Valuegraph 447W
Price: $799
Pros: Multimedia; price
Cons: None
Nokia Display Products
800-BY-NOKIA, 415-331-0322
WinMag Box Score: 4.5
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