SynchMaster: A Flat Panel Worth Watching Columbia SC

Posted by : Joe Farace

The first thing I noticed about Samsung's SynchMaster 570pPlus TFT monitorwas that getting it out of its box didn't snap my back. Fifteen-inch CRTmonitors can be heavy and awkward to handle, but at a little more than 13 pounds, the SynchMaster waseasy to carry from the foyer up two flights to my office.

The SynchMaster 570pPlus features clean styling and is a true 15-inch TFT (thin film transistor)monitor whose usable screen area is only slightly smaller than the 17-inch CRT it replaced. The base of themonitor pivots, allowing you to view the screen in traditional landscape (horizontal) mode or vertically inportrait mode.

Flat-panel monitors generate less heat and radiation than equivalent-sized CRT models, and takeone-third less desktop space. If you have room, installing the SynchMaster 570pPlus as a second monitorusing Windows 98 may be an interesting option.

Setup is easy. After connecting power, video, and sound cables, both Windows 98 and Windows 2000identified the monitor and allowed me to put it to work.

For even better viewing and control, I recommend installing the Pivot drivers. Anyone using desktoppublishing, word-processing, database, or spreadsheet software will want to use the monitor in portraitmode. Yet, under Windows 2000, I couldn't get the Pivot software to work in vertical mode, although itworked perfectly in landscape mode. In Windows 98, double-clicking a taskbar icon or using the Ctrl-Shift-Rkeyboar...

Click here to read the rest of this article from Computer User