Digital BW, The Print

John,

Thanks for your information on LCD panels.

Along with the fine brands you mention, I've also heard good things 
about the Sharp monitors.  Jonathan Sacks uses a Sharp LT--T1820 and 
swears by it.  Two nice features of the Sharp monitors: 10 bit gamma 
correction, and independent, 6 color adjustments.

On the other hand, the Formac 2010 is very tough to beat at its 
current price ($1400).  600:1 contrast ratio, .26 dot pitch (oddly, 
they don't list this spec on their website: I had to hunt for it and 
found it on Cnet), and fast response (10-25 ms).  Not too shabby for 
a 20" LCD.

The problem point with Formac is their disreputable customer 
service.  You can read some horror stories here:

http://hwreviews.netscape.com/hardware/0-2295747-418-20749942.html?
tag=subnav

... including one user who discovered a bug with the monitor using 
the video card I'll have (the ATI Radeon 9700): if you shut down, you 
have to unplug the Formac to get it to display on power-up.

When I called Formac's sales department, I was put on hold.  After 15 
minutes, I hung up.  I phoned a few hours later and was again put on 
hold, this time for 10 minutes.  I asked what the shipping charges 
would be to my address, and was put on hold again--this time for 20 
minutes!  When the salesman finally returned, he had forgotten what 
I'd asked.

If this is what their _sales_ deparment is like, I shudder to think 
of their customer support!

Dan