Microtek C893 review

hehe, been like a year since my last hardware review.
http://www.geniv.com/MPEG.HTM       review of a various hardware mpeg1/mpeg2 capture card

Quick Info about my Reviews:
    I'm pretty much a hardware guru, and can tell the difference between 60khz and 80 khz refresh rate of a CRT monitor using my naked eye.  I have an attention for details when it comes to my gears.   As much as I like to, I do not get paid for doing my reviews nor get any perks from any company so my reviews are honest and straight forward.  Since I'm spending my own time doing this, I don't proof read for grammatical mistakes or sloppiness only check for info accuracy.  I'm sure whoever read this is interested in the hardware anyway.   Do not get offended as I like to slap in sexual and politically incorrect jokes here and there

Intro:
    Recently, I started having a lot of eyestrain and occasional eye twitching from being in front of the computer/monitor too long every day.  So I asked around in the sharkyextreme forums whether getting an LCD display would help. The general consensus was I should get an LCD.

    As luck have it I found out that Walmart is selling a  18" LCD from MicroTek for only $398.  but I was thinking that's pretty cheap for a LCD that size is it any good? so being totally lazy to do research and dependant on sharkyextreme forums for every hardware purchase decision I make, I asked again .  The comment was pretty mixed on whether to get it or not so I decided to make the purchase just for my eyes sake.      Other people seems intested on the LCD so I will be kind as to write a review for everyone to see.

Purchase:
    It's $398 on the Walmart site.  I ordered it online and it ended up being $442 with standard ups shipping & tax (I'm in NYC).  The ordered took a little over a week to come, it might have been faster if I ordered on a weekday and there wasn't that big snowstorm in NYC (ordered Feb 18, came Feb 24).  I checked the tracking daily and for some reason the tracking keep saying "Shipping Info have been received and billed, but this does not mean the item is picked up ..".  Just when I was pissed offed I got a rang in the door bell and there was my friendly UPS guy (who thinks I'm some kind of techno criminal) with a package from Walmart.
    So you're thinking "Shut your pie hole, why are you telling me this!!".   Well, moral of the story.  If you want to get the monitor just drive to a Walmart near and pick it up yourself so u save on the shipping charge and get your monitor faster. (Or drive to an adjacent  state where there's no tax and save yourself $30+ bux)

First Impression:
    I back in 1999 when I worked for Circuit City. I saw alot of first generations LCD monitors and they all basically did what Monica Lewinsky did to Bill Clinton.  with all the ghosting and  fuzzyiness LCDs kinda left a bad impression on me and I didn't touch/mess with LCD until I got this one.  Mind you this is the first LCD I've purchase for myself.   I'll be making  comparison of it to my regular 19" CRT.  Sorry but I won't be able to compare this to other current generation LCD. Still you'll find this review informative.  

I took the packing out and it's pretty basic stuff they include: - Monitor - Standard Power Cord & Ac converter box - VGA Cable - Manual, Warranty card ... and other paperwork No CD or any software included. (not that I care for it)

      Style wise I was pleasantly surprised. The actual monitor is silver metallic color, when I saw it on the website it looks all white.  The black wavy line you see in the lower right corner are actually the control buttons.  Over all I think it looks pretty good and stylish. I wish the bevel around the screen would be thinner though.  The wide bevel give the illusion of a small screen.  My brother in law have a 15" lcd with a thin bevel and it made the screen seem bigger than it actually is.

    Size wise I LOVE IT.  It's alot smaller and lighter than my extisting 19" CRT.  You can see how much room it saves on my desk here:

Original  Desktop	David & Galioth	Holly crap, Thin!	A lot of free space now!

    Quality and build, the LCD. Don't feel cheap nor does it feel extreme durable, in other words it's midrange quality. 

Monitor Specs:

Performance:

    Even with the brightness set to 70% it's pretty bright and easy to see thanks to the 400:1 contrast ratio.  Image quality wise it's very good  color,  is almost as good as my CRT.  The actual screen size is .5 inch larger than my CRT, cool.   One thing I think it's great about this is the wide viewing angle.  I can still see the screen bright and sharp from an almost 180 degree angle!  so u don't have to be directly in front of it to make out the text.   I have NO DEAD pixel on my LCD :)

Snapshot of Display	Need a home for the Dog anyone want?

    Windows and desktop wise all icon and pictures seems fine, but if you look at a picture file say a JPG it doesn't look as good as it would look on a CRT.  kinda seems like the compression artifacts of the pictures are more noticable.  I can't blame the C893 for that since I'm comparing it to image quality from my CRT, not really fair and the problem is seen on other LCDs also.

    One of the problems I ran into with the monitor deals with the resolution. At standard resolutions. 640x480,800x600, 1024x768, 1280x1024 it looks fine.    The C893 offers you some non standard resolution like 1152x864, 1280x768, 1280x960.  when u goto those nonstandard resolutions the desktop seems to be "stretch" and not in proper ratio, the results is texts/fonts are kinda "strechted/blurred" and it's very difficult to make out what the words/font reads thus useless resolution.   It personally dont' bother me cause I don't use those resolutions but  other people might. 1280x1024 is the max resolution same like other LCD of same size. 

    Occasionally when you first goto a resolution you never went on before with the monitor. the image is off centered or colors slightly off .  The monitor have a "auto" button on it, once u press that 3 seconds later it readjust everything automatically, pretty cool.  (I only have to do this once for a few resolution, once u did it the next time it remembers the setting)

    During the resolution tests a couple of times this happened.  I would be in one resolution and when I went to another resolution that it supports the screen would black out. (I would have to turn the power off and on again to get my picture back).   During regular use resolution change is ok.

    Some people tell me that  .279 mm dot pitch is not that good,  I don't have any problem with it. Picture quality is good.  and mind you they probably paid like $200-$300 more for their LCD of comparable size so this is expected.

    75khz Refresh rate seems low. (heck I use 120khz on my CRT) but 75khz in LCD is not like 75khz in CRT. Normally 75khz on a CRT is too low for me. but on the LCD I don't have a problem with it, solid picture display.  My eyestrain is gone and no more eyetwitching. I don't know how to explain it but I don't get that wierd feeling in my eye anymore when I use to be in front of the CRT for hours.

    Watching Movies on the LCD is good but not great. Same as  the JPG pictures, you tend to notice compression artifacts more easily on the LCD then on a CRT.  I do notice slight ghosting during movie playback (though I try hard to see it) on the LCD. I've got a trained eye to notice these things but  most people will not notice any ghosting or compression artifacts. 

    In general when u scroll stuff in the screen it's not gonna be as clear and sharp as it use to be on CRT.

    Another Ranting is there's no DVI connector for the LCD.  How much better the image quality is between a DVI and VGA cable connection is up for debate, but I want one anyway. 

Gaming:
    30ms response time rear it's ugly head here, for normal web surfing, office type work it will make no difference. When it comes to gamming it's a whole different matter.  I wouldn't suggest you get this LCD if you're heavy into gamming, heck don't get any LCD.  When playing FPS or 2D shooters where objects move you notice things starts to get blurry/ghosting.   Face it no LCD is gonna be as sharp in games as CRT.

    Yes there is ghosting and blurring in games, but it didn't affect my game play at all.  I score the around the same kills in Unreal Tournament as I normally do with my CRT, and I can still beat the snot out of the computer in Marvel Vs Capcom on emulator.  Do I like playing game on LCD? No, I want my CRT for that.

    Probably why game looks so much worst than movies on the LCD is because there's more "scolling" type movements on games and games runs on higher fps.  Movie 30fps,  Unreal 100fps,   Emulator 60fps.

Test System:
    Incase you're wondering what I run:
    - WinXP
    - Athlon 1800XP,
    - 712meg DDR PC2100
    - Via333 chipset.
    - 99 Nissian Maxima
    - 120 gig WD HD
    - Geforce 2 MX440

The Good:
- Great image quality
- Low price, great value
- Looks pretty good
- Wide angle viewing and bright

The Bad:
- No DVI interface
- 30ms response time making it Not too good for gamming
- problems with certain resolutions and changing

The Verdict: 
    The only main grips I have with the LCD is no DVI and 30ms response time.  The other stuff I mentioned are minor faults.  You also have to put into consideration the low price of the unit.  Most 18" lcds are over $600 dollars.  Sure you don't get DVI and 30ms is only a concern if you play alot of games, but this doesn't cost you an arm and leg.   I would recommend this if you're interested in getting an larger size LCD without breaking the bank.

I rate it 4 out of 5 triangles.

Btw: I'm happy with this so I won't be looking to beat up those people in sharkyextreme who told me to buy.

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comments, questions, threats, ridicules?  geniv@geniv.com