Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!usc!wuarchive!uwm.edu!linac!att!att!cbnewsc!tjr
From: tjr@cbnewsc.att.com (thomas.j.roberts)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
Subject: Re: INFO ON NEW GATEWAY 2000 COMPUTERS??
Message-ID: <1991May14.150425.503@cbnewsc.att.com>
Date: 14 May 91 15:04:25 GMT
References: <1991May14.135043.21680@macc.wisc.edu>
Distribution: na,comp
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories
Lines: 46

From article <1991May14.135043.21680@macc.wisc.edu>, by pburke@vms.macc.wisc.edu (Peter Burke, MIC, 263-7744):
> In article <1991May14.053655.27468@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu>, phil@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu (Phil Howard KA9WGN) writes...
> 
>> 
>>I assume you mean what they are selling as their "Crystal Scan 1024NI".
>>Have you compared this with, say, the Sony 1304?  I am all ready to
>>order one of these machines (25 MHz DX no-cache) but because it is a
>>work machine, paid for by the department, I need to make sure I get the
>>right monitor the first time around, and no one around here has either
>>one of these.  All the existant G2000 machines here have some different
>>kind of monitor.
> 
> One of my friends recently bought a system from EPS (Gateway's 
> neighbors in South Dakota) with a Sony 1304HG and the Orchid ProDesigner 
> card. The card is slower than the Speedstar (in Windows) and the monitor 
> - well - I think it is not as useful in the 1024x768 as the Computronics 
> that Gateway ships. The sharpness of the Sony is impressive, but it 
> results into such fine characters under icons in Windows that one cannot 
> read them unless one is 10 inches in front of the tube.  This may be 
> because the Speedstar Card supplies some fonts for this resolution, but 
> the overall impression of the Computronics, ignoring this difference in 
> the readability of fonts althogether, is that it is at least as good as 
> the Sony. The price difference is not justified (Gateway did charge $250 
> extra to ship the Sony).  I wouldn't pick the Sony even at the same 
> price. 

Ah, but do you see flicker in a screen refreshed at 60 Hz ?? If you
do, then I strongly recommend the Diamond SpeedSTAR and the Sony 1304.
This combination can do all text modes, 640x480 graphics and 800x600
graphics at 72 Hz vertical scan rate. NO Crystal Scan monitor can do this!!
One of them (1024NI ?) can do 800x600 @ 72Hz, but not 640x480; the other
(1024 ?) can do 640x480 @ 72Hz, but not 800x600. The Sony 1304 can do
both at 72Hz. For me this overwhelms all other considerations, as I
find the flicker @ 60Hz to be unbearable.

I know of no setup that can do 1024x768 @ 72Hz, which does not cost
more than I am willing to spend. I use Windows in 800x600 mode, and
that's fine. The SpeedSTAR/1304 can also to 1024x768 @ 60Hz noninterlaced,
but I cannot stand the flicker.

The Diamond SpeedSTAR also includes Windows fonts so that text in
800x600 and 1024x768 modes does NOT get smaller - icons do get smaller.
This board is also very fast - I highly recommend it!

Tom Roberts
att!ihlpl!tjrob  TJROB@IHLPL.ATT.COM