Flat panel monitors have been available for quite a while, but recent price reductions have made them affordable for the average computer user. Why buy one of those large CRT monitors when, for a few extra dollars, you can get a flat screen that takes up less space, is more energy efficient, has no radiation, and is easier on the eyes? The well-priced 15-inch Envision EN-5100e may be just the ticket for an entry-level flat panel monitor. It is sturdy, well designed, and delivers an excellent picture.
The monitor comes with the base unattached. The biggest problem I had was in determining which part of the base faces in which direction. (The rounded part goes to the front.) Once I determined the correct orientation for the base, it snapped on easily. I then only had to plug the monitor into the computer and the power source, and set up was complete. When powered on, the monitor self-adjusted. The entire process took less than five minutes. The monitor worked with all the current versions of Windows.
You won’t find any of the extras like USB connections, speakers, or DVI (digital) connectors that grace the higher priced units with this Envision model. The monitor can be tilted back and forth, but the base does not swivel. Yet, the Envision has everything needed for a basic monitor, offering the space and energy savings of a flat panel monitor at a great price. CNET’s laboratories rated the Envision En-5100e the best image quality performance of the six flat screen monitors recently tested. My eyes confirmed their findings. The display, which has a native resolution of 1,024 x 768, was clear and crisp with well-balanced colors and no obvious distortions or bad pixels. The only shortcoming is that peripheral viewing of the screen is limited. You have to stay pretty much centered in front of the monitor, since viewing angles from the side or top and bottom are limited. In everyday use, this proved to be of little consequence. If, however, you plan to use the monitor to display something to a group of people who gather around the monitor, you may want to look elsewhere.
This monitor has an analog-only connection. Previously, analog flat panel monitors were known to produce a kind of pixel jitter where individual pixels on the screen moved around slightly. You don’t need to worry about this with the Envision monitor. Improved technology in this and other newer analog monitors on the market have eliminated this problem. The Envision’s analog connection means that it will work with the regular video cards that are installed on most computers today. Digital flat panel monitors are known to produce even better picture quality but require a DVI, or digital output connector, on the video card.
The screen of the 5100e is surrounded by a white bezel with an on-off button and four buttons for monitor settings on the bottom front of the bezel. The buttons include an auto-adjust, contrast, brightness, and a menu button for making onscreen adjustments. These controls can be used to tweak the monitor settings to your liking, and I found the onscreen menu easy to navigate. You may, however, only need the auto-adjust button, which, in my testing, adjusted the monitor correctly every time I moved it to a new computer or changed the video settings.
Envision 17-inch
The 17-inch Envision EN-7100e increases the maximum resolution of 1,280 x 1,024 and increases the screen size. Even though it is only 2-inches larger than the 5100e, the difference seems dramatic.
The 7100e shares good picture quality and all of the other features of its smaller brother, the 5100e. Yet, the 7100e is better looking. Its bezel is slightly thinner and is an attractive silver color. The base of the monitor is a dark gray, making a style statement that the 5100e cannot claim. The power button and the four adjustment buttons have been moved to the top of the monitor, contributing to the monitor’s clean lines and style. At first, I thought that the buttons on the top would be inconvenient since you have to stand up to see them. In everyday use, however, I found that the power button was set apart from the other buttons and could easily be found without looking. The other buttons were used so infrequently that their unusual placement made no difference.
Although the 17-inch monitor is $200 more than the 15-inch, if you use your computer often, it is definitely worth the additional cost.
