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By Hailey Lynne McKeefry
Using a monitor is a lot like a blind date-you really don't know what it's like until you spend some time face-to-face. If you're shopping for a 17-inch monitor, make sure you put the Panasonic PanaSync/Pro P17 on your dance card before you make a purchase decision.
This 0.25mm-dot-pitch monitor offers resolutions of up to 1600x1280 pixels, non-interlaced at a 65Hz refresh rate. It fared very well on Sonera Technologies' DisplayMate monitor tests. The Pro P17 received high marks on geometry, distortion, resolution and sharpness, and the colors it displayed were vivid and uniform. The only problem I could not address using the monitor's controls was its poor vertical pincushioning.
The Pro P17's on-screen display (OSD) is provided by the intuitive PanaPerfect Controls software. The OSD is accessed via four front-panel buttons: two arrow keys, a menu button and a select button. You can customize a variety of monitor settings, including the usual adjustments such as contrast, brightness, degauss, and horizontal and vertical position and size. The list continues, though, with options such as trapezoid, parallelogram, rotation, color temperature, display frequency, video level, input select, horizontal and vertical moiré, and language.
The controls offer quite a bit of latitude in setting the monitor to suit your specific needs. Each choice is represented by an icon, with the feature name displayed below it. The parameters for selected settings are expressed in bar charts, with the appropriate measurements shown alongside. This arrangement makes fine-tuning extremely easy. There are also some standard features if you want to set the monitor quickly. For example, the color-temperature option offers a choice of 9300 or 6550 degrees Kelvin, plus a user-definable mode. You can also revert automatically to all factory settings with the touch of a button.
The Pro P17 isn't a desktop hog, measuring a svelte 16.4 by 16.1 by 17.5 inches and weighing in at 38.5 pounds. It provides a more than acceptable viewing area of 16 inches diagonal.
The PanaSync Pro is Plug-and-Play compatible and meets a variety of standards, including the MPRII standard for reduced electromagnetic emissions and VESA DPMS (Energy Star) for power management. Other Pro P17 features include an anti-glare, anti-reflection, anti-static coating, and a tilt-and-swivel base.
You could spend less for a 17-inch monitor, but the Pro P17's clear, crisp picture and relatively diminutive footprint make it the ideal monitor for a long-term relationship.
-- Info File --
Panasonic PanaSync/Pro P17
Price: $879
Pros: Menus; size; weight
Cons: Some pincushioning
Platforms: Windows 95, 3.1x
Panasonic Computer Peripherals Co.
800-742-8086, 201-392-4812
WinMag Box Score 3.5
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