fellman@celece.ucsd.edu (Ronald Fellman) (01/18/90)
I currently have a standard monochrome monitor on my Mac II. My video card is stuffed full of chips and ready for color. How much can I expect it to cost me to change to a standard (13"?) Apple color monitor? Can one get these things used for much less? Can I get any trade-in value for my old B/W monitor? Thanks for the comments, -ron fellman (rfellman@ucsd.edu)
dce@smsc.sony.com (David Elliott) (01/18/90)
In article <7709@sdcsvax.UCSD.Edu> rfellman@ucsd.edu (Ronald Fellman) writes: >I currently have a standard monochrome monitor on my Mac II. My video >card is stuffed full of chips and ready for color. How much can I >expect it to cost me to change to a standard (13"?) Apple color monitor? >Can one get these things used for much less? Can I get any trade-in >value for my old B/W monitor? Apple monitors can be had for $800-$900, as can the Sony. With the Apple, you may want to buy the tilt/swivel stand, which is another $30-$50. NEC and Magnavox have 14" monitors that run on the same video card for around $500 through mail-order houses. I've had a Magnavox for over a year now, and I really like it. It's got a built-in tilt/swivel, and still has almost a year on the warranty. I think you can expect to get about $150 for a used mono monitor, but I think your best bet is to keep the B/W monitor. If your color monitor ever needs a repair, you'll be stuck without a monitor. A few of us did some research last year, and found that most repair places have no loaner program for monitors, and repairs generally take two weeks. Also, you might find a used mono video card cheap, and that would give you two monitors. One thing to realize is that going color is not painless. If you have been lax with upgrades, or rely on software that you didn't buy (freeware, shareware, or "borrowed" stuff), you will probably find that some software just doesn't work in color. Also, you have to change your buying habits. For some reason, the people who write software reviews still think everyone lives on a Mac Plus, and don't think to mention whether or not the products run on a color monitor (among other things). Yes, I realize that Switch-a-roo and other products make the switchover without too much trouble, but they shouldn't be necessary. Since you already have a stuffed video card, try running all of your applications in full grayscale mode. This will give you an idea of what the change to color will break. -- David Elliott dce@smsc.sony.com | ...!{uunet,mips}!sonyusa!dce (408)944-4073 "Never call a crazed psychotic a crazed psychotic."
dks@shumv1.uucp (D. K. Smith) (01/19/90)
In article <7709@sdcsvax.UCSD.Edu> rfellman@ucsd.edu (Ronald Fellman) writes: >I currently have a standard monochrome monitor on my Mac II. My video >card is stuffed full of chips and ready for color. How much can I >expect it to cost me to change to a standard (13"?) Apple color monitor? >Can one get these things used for much less? Can I get any trade-in >value for my old B/W monitor? Me too! There must be an alternative (short of larceny) to the current prices I see for the Mac's RGB. The cheapest I have come across thru basic pricing is $500 for a Magnavox or NEC xSync. As we all know, any product destined to connected to a Mac (a virtue?) is priced higher (discl: it seems to me) than the comparable piece of equipment to be connected to one of those Blue machines. Does anyone know of an RGB monitor that would match the Vert retrace rate (and whatever else needs to match) of the signal coming out of the Apple RGB/greyscale card? Any suggestions or leds of where we may look would be appreciated Thanks, dk smith dks%shumv1.ncsu.edu dks%eceugs.ncsuvx.ncsu.edu
stevem@hpvcfs1.HP.COM (Steve Miller) (01/20/90)
>There must be an alternative (short of larceny) to the current prices >I see for the Mac's RGB. The cheapest I have come across thru basic >pricing is $500 for a Magnavox or NEC xSync. I thought the same thing until I went to MacWorld and saw all the third party color monitors hooked up to Macs. None of the low end 13" color screens look as good as Apple's. Most of them had fuzzier pictures. I don't know why but it was kind of depressing how bad a mac can look hooked up to some of these. Not all were bad, but none were quite as good. Steven Miller