Tom's Hardware > All Reviews > Peripherals > Monitors > Comparison: Seven 21" and 22" CRT Monitors

Comparison: Seven 21" and 22" CRT Monitors

07:00 - Monday 5 August 2002 by Philippe Ramelet

1. Introduction
2. Sony G520
3. Sony G520, Continued
4. Sony G520, Continued
5. Cornerstone C1035
6. Cornerstone C1035, Continued
7. Cornerstone C1035, Continued
8. Mitsubishi Diamond Pro 2060u
9. Mitsubishi Diamond Pro 2060u, Continued

The 21" and 22" monitor market is easy to understand. On the one hand, in the lower and middle range, there is a raft of 21: monitors of FST type with a Shadow Mask tube, which vary, and can be of best or worst quality. On the other are monitors with a Sony FD Trinitron tube and a truly flat screen, but which are decidedly more expensive. And then there are the 22" with the Mitsubishi DiamondTron tubes fitted by several manufacturers of top-range monitors.

Now don't get carried away with the idea that a 22" monitor has a working diagonal higher than a 21". DiamondTron tubes do actually measure 22 inches, and this label gives them marketing impact, but to obtain a better image quality, the maker has to eat into the edges considerably. So the paradox is that what you gain with a 22" compared to a 21" is the bit of actual on-screen image that has been removed!

For an explanation of the technologies, you can refer to the introduction to the 19" monitor test Comparison: Twelve 19" CRT Monitors .

Each monitor was tested by analyzing the following:

Characteristics claimed by the manufacturer; Functions and inputs; Optimal adjustment; Display quality (sharpness, brightness, contrast, convergence, moiré, purity, evenness, legibility) using Ntest; Color rendering using the color charts; Refresh rates obtained to the nearest decimal; OSD; Performance in games.