Acer AL1732b 17 inch LCD Monitor
A few weeks back, I was helping a non-profit group upgrade their office computers. Both myself and another volunteer recommended that the office upgrade their monitors from the old, out of focus, 17 inch glass CRT monitors to new 17 inch LCD monitors. Our challenge was to find an LCD that didn’t break the budget, had good specs, and were easy on the eyes.
We did our shopping at MicroCenter here in Houston and wound up buying a couple of AMD 64 powered Compaq systems (Okay, I know what you’re going to say about buying a Compaq system. I’ll address that later). As I prowled through the LCD’s the store had on display, I was rather impressed by one of the 17 inch LCD’s they had on sale. It was an Acer AL1732b. Its colors were very bright, the picture looked razor sharp, and it was on sale for $239. The monitor had provisions for both VGA and DVI inputs and also came with integrated speakers that were not great but adequate. The black color of the monitor’s case and its styling gave off an aura of class and fit with the black cases of the Compaq systems we were buying. So, we bought two of them.
Set up was easy, and the monitor’s controls are on its side. The power and function buttons are hidden behind the monitor’s black and silver-lined edges and are within easy reach. I was so impressed with the monitor I decided to buy one of them on my way home. Its brightness, crispness, and esthetics would match my black XP PC better than the beige Samsung 760v analog LCD I had.
I’ve been using the Acer for several weeks now and am very happy with it. It is definitely brighter than the Samsung it replaced and a bit sharper, though overall picture quality is not significantly better. I’m using the DVI input with a Radeon 9550 AGP video card and have noticed no motion artifacts when running games or movies. My only gripe with the monitor is that black text on a white background appears green. Admittedly, I have not spent anytime trying to adjust that out, instead accepting the monitor’s automatic settings. I’m running the monitor under XP and Win 98SE using drivers downloaded from the Acer website.
I’m definitely happy with monitor. If you’re in the market for a new 17 inch LCD, give the Acer a look. But be sure to shop around. I’ve seen prices scattered all over the scale. I wouldn’t pay any more for this monitor than I did.
We did our shopping at MicroCenter here in Houston and wound up buying a couple of AMD 64 powered Compaq systems (Okay, I know what you’re going to say about buying a Compaq system. I’ll address that later). As I prowled through the LCD’s the store had on display, I was rather impressed by one of the 17 inch LCD’s they had on sale. It was an Acer AL1732b. Its colors were very bright, the picture looked razor sharp, and it was on sale for $239. The monitor had provisions for both VGA and DVI inputs and also came with integrated speakers that were not great but adequate. The black color of the monitor’s case and its styling gave off an aura of class and fit with the black cases of the Compaq systems we were buying. So, we bought two of them.
Set up was easy, and the monitor’s controls are on its side. The power and function buttons are hidden behind the monitor’s black and silver-lined edges and are within easy reach. I was so impressed with the monitor I decided to buy one of them on my way home. Its brightness, crispness, and esthetics would match my black XP PC better than the beige Samsung 760v analog LCD I had.
I’ve been using the Acer for several weeks now and am very happy with it. It is definitely brighter than the Samsung it replaced and a bit sharper, though overall picture quality is not significantly better. I’m using the DVI input with a Radeon 9550 AGP video card and have noticed no motion artifacts when running games or movies. My only gripe with the monitor is that black text on a white background appears green. Admittedly, I have not spent anytime trying to adjust that out, instead accepting the monitor’s automatic settings. I’m running the monitor under XP and Win 98SE using drivers downloaded from the Acer website.
I’m definitely happy with monitor. If you’re in the market for a new 17 inch LCD, give the Acer a look. But be sure to shop around. I’ve seen prices scattered all over the scale. I wouldn’t pay any more for this monitor than I did.
posted by Andy Foster at
10:21 AM
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