Lamp Life

For business I have two computers. i have an apple notebook which is my primary computer that I take all over the place and I have an emachines tower that doesn’t go anywhere but runs the PC only programs I use (AutoCAD, Access). Recently, mainly for the PC, I purchased a new flat panel monitor. Up until now I had been using my brothers 20″ View Sonic CRT which replaced my Apple Display 20″ CRT (nearly identical) which I found next to somebody’s garbage can one night when driving around with Sandra. The main reason I replaced was not because it was old or didn’t work, but had to do with the fact that while setting up a display of my work I used the tower at my booth to showcase my web and DB work and it’s tremendously heavy. It wasn’t the first time I was required to move it, I remember it being heavy when I moved into my current apartment about a year ago. It is heavy and it is BIG. Very Big. It’s small for a television, but huge for a monitor, and took up a lot of room on my desk.

So I went to Fry’s, where I already had to have my car alarm fixed, and I bought a next flat panel monitor. It is a budget one, Otiquest from View Sonic (which I always thought was a a more budget brand anyway), the q19wb… fancy right? It is widescreen and 19”, which I thought would be nice because the width allows me to have a skinny window with info open next to a window with a project instead of on top. I also got a kvm switch so I can us it as a second monitor for my laptop, a habit I picked up in undergrad (it’s nice in the adobe programs or an drafting program to have the project clear and open with the tools on a second screen).

And then the issues began. Not with any piece of hardware, but with one of those reminders that while I float between machines for work and typically have no problem using Mac or PC, that PCs are just more retard in their design and logic. I mean, let’s not get into an aesthetic question, I feel that most PCs industrial design are contract workers that fit in as an afterthought… PC box design is not an ergonomic pursuit. But the issue was with making the display useful.

So I got it all connected to everything and the switch was ready (which was already annoying because the KVM switch I got doesn’t deal with USB so I’ll have to convert that to ADB or whatever the PC’s call the Apple Desktop Bus port after Apple went all USB and they stopped having serial ports on their mice and keyboards.) and I turned on both machines. The emachine started up. The monitor did a little self test and was nice enough and stretched a little and It got to the login screen and said: Please change to 1440 x 900 resolution for best viewing.

Okay, easy enough. I got the control panels, open the monitors panel and click on the display performance and… It’s maxed. It’s maxed at the maximum for the old CRT display… 1440 x 900 isn’t an option… why? We’ll get into that in a moment.

So I switch to my laptop. I pull down the display menu, select detect displays, and select 1440 x 900 from the menu which has recognized the make and model and appropriate settings for the new monitor.

Sigh

So what is the problem with the PC? I try to find solutions on the CD with the Monitor… is there a driver I’m missing? No. Okay, Windows troubleshooting… nothing. So the internet becomes my choice. I find, in a forum somewhere that someone is having a similar issue and to solve it that he needs to update his BIOS on his motherboard. At least they provide a link to BIOS updates. I click, it downloads something, and it sits there. So I look up how to update that on my own. Windows can’t help and directs me to the manufacture. I go to emachine’s website and go through a few menus trying to figure out the configuration of the tower and it finally tells what i already suspected, that my video card doesn’t support that resolution.

So I got searching for a video card that will. And, I want it to be cheap. I’m not gaming, I just want to run office at the right resolution, which is a lot to ask of course. So I find a bunch of recommendations and warnings. And I search for pricing and I search for something declaratively saying the proper resolution is supported. I didn’t quite get that, but I did get that for the card I got, there is a driver for Windows ME to allow it to support that resolution, because the packaged driver doesn’t because ME didn’t come out when 1440 x 900 was an option. I figure that if there is a driver for the card that you can update to from a previous OS, that for XP it will be included. That’s as solid as it gets.

In the end I bought a monitor, a new video card and some RAM for good measure. I’m still worried about the power supply and just wait till I need a new one of those because the new card requires too much, or the RAM puts it right over. And all I ultimately want is to be able to use the monitor properly.

But let’s recap, cause this post is about the subtle differences in the PC and the MAC worlds. To use the new monitor with my laptop as an external second display took two clicks on a drop down menu. To use the new monitor with my PC desktop (which is 8 months newer than the laptop mind you) I have to buy a new video card after a couple hours trying to find a solution online because the help that comes with the computer and the display don’t have anything about it. I don’t want to return the monitor. It’s nice and light and bright and takes up a lot less room… the reasons i got it to begin with… but the hidden surprises that come with PC ownership make me glad that I do have the alternative machine.