Author Archives: Khara

Acer H233H Monitor Review

Posted on by
14

Earlier this week I ordered two 23″ Acer monitors from walmart.com to replace the 19″ Dell LCD monitor that came with my computer in 2006 and the mis-matched off brand monitor that I sometimes used as a secondary monitor. I ordered the Acer H233H. Here are a few features of the monitor as listed in the item description on walmart.com:

The Acer 23″ full HD widescreen LCD Display (H233H) is made to amplify high-def multimedia enjoyment. The panoramic, 23″ full HD LCD has a 16:9 aspect ratio and 1920 x 1080 resolution, making it perfect for advanced 1080p full HD gaming and multimedia applications. Using a very high contrast ratio of 40000:1, it delivers the best picture quality for a superior viewing experience. Advanced digital HDMI connectivity delivers exceptional high-def viewing and gives the highest-quality video and audio. A DVI input maximizes the connection quality between LCD monitors and other digital sources, including PC graphics cards. High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection (HDCP) support ensures enjoyment of full-quality DRM-protected entertainment.

Acer H233H

I received my monitors yesterday afternoon and had them unboxed and set up yesterday evening.  The monitors were very nicely packaged with easy to carry handles built in. Included in the box were an instruction booklet, a CD with quick start guide, etc. a speaker cable (it has built in speakers), power cable, HDMI cable, DVI cable, VGA cable, monitor base, and monitor. As you can see in the photo, the monitor bezel and base are a glossy black, the base is actually metallic black. Unpacking and sitting the monitor on the base were very easy. I hooked the first monitor up through DVI in my aftermarket video card (NVIDIA 7300 LE) , and it said “no signal”. I then decided to glance at the instructions – I missed a very important note. I was supposed to turn the computer off, then hook up the monitor, then turn the monitor on, then the PC. After I used this method it worked the first try.

I then hooked the second monitor into the second input in my video card, which was a VGA input. The monitor started working on start up of my PC, I then noticed that my highest resolution was 1660×1050, and that the monitor was stretching it to fill the screen. I went to the NVIDIA site and downloaded the most current driver for my video card, installed it, and rebooted. After reboot 1920×1080 was available was my as my highest resolution, and I was a happy camper.

Now that I’ve used the monitors for a  few hours here are some of the pros and cons I’ve noticed:

Pros

  • Easy to unpack/assemble
  • Comes with a cable for every input
  • very sleek looking and has touch buttons
  • VERY bright
  • Good contrast

Cons

  • Stands are a bit short (there are mounts on the back for mounting to wall or different stand though)
  • blacklight bleeding, on dark/black backgrounds, white bleeding around the edges can be seen

All in all I am pretty happy with the monitors, they were on sale for $190 with free shipping and I had been in need of new monitors for a while, but didn’t want to unload a lot of money. These fit the bill very well. If you are interested in these monitors, I recommend reading their review on cnet.com and also making sure that your video card can handle the native resolution of the monitors.

What kind of monitors do you have? If you have any questions about the Acer H233H, feel free to ask in the comments.

LCD Cleaning Wipes

Posted on by
2

LCD Cleaning Wipes

I picked up these LCD wipes hanging next to the LCD TVs at the local Wal-Mart for $1.98. Being a little leery of using them on my TV without knowing what they would do, I tested them out first. I used a wipe on my LCD computer monitor, and while it removed most of the stray spots and smudges with little effort, it left behind a lot of streaks.

The streaks aren’t noticeable when the monitor is illuminated, but in it’s off state the streaking doesn’t look too great. I also tried them out on an LCD laptop screen, and the streaking was even worse.  The wipes did work fine on the keyboard and outside surfaces of the laptop (it was a hard plastic).

I read up online about LCD screen cleaning and apparently it’s pretty common for wipes to leave streaks no matter the price and the way to go is special LCD cleaning spray for no streaking. I have also heard that if you take a polishing cloth (for glasses/sunglasses) and wipe the moisture off from the wipes it will not leave streaks. I haven’t been brave enough to try this on the TV yet.

How do you clean your LCD TV screen?

Otterbox Defender for Blackberry Storm and iPhone 3Gs

Posted on by
11

Otterbox Defender for Blackberry Storm 9530

Black Bear is now on his third (yes, third) Blackberry Storm in less than a year, so I ordered him an Otterbox Defender case for it tonight. They are supposed to be pretty awesome cases. I went ahead and ordered one for my iPhone 3Gs as well, but I’m hoping I don’t think the screen is too unresponsive with the full plastic screen protector that is built into the case.

I have been pretty satisfied with the Otterbox Impact case that I got after sinking my first iPhone 3Gs in an eternal spring, aka toilet. The Impact case has enough grip on the outside so that it will stay in a back pocket. I am pretty sure the Otterbox Defender won’t fit in any of my pockets, but it should be safe being tossed in my purse.

I ordered both cases off of amazon.com and got pretty good discounts. Both phone cases retail for $49.95  - the Blackberry case was $32.88 and the iPhone case was $27.99. Both should be arriving this week, so I should have a review up soon.

Do you have an Otterbox case? Let me know what you think of it in the comments.