An excellent low-profile flatscreen at soon-to-be bargain prices
Written: Jul 26 '02
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Pros: Excellent resolution, low eye strain/fatigue, improved price
Cons: Still expensive, now replaced by TFT8030 and priced almost the same..
The Bottom Line: One of the best TFT monitors - only recently dethroned by the TFT8030 - the 8020's price is ever decreasing and performanceis commendible - certainly recomended.
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| nick1326's Full Review: Compaq TFT8020 (White) 18 inch LCD Monitor |
I can still remember using COmpaq's (Once state-of-the-art, now horrendous) TFT15 monitors - they were small, had terrible resolution, strained your eyes AND were terribly UN-low-profile; Meaning the frame around the screen was huge, about 2 inches thick!!!! The TFT8020 was introduced about 18 months back and is still a workhorse monitor with excellent reputability and superb quality. The ironic thing is that since it is so LOW profile (meaning the frame is very small, only 3/4 an inch or so) The total size of the TFT8020 is hardly any bigger than the TFT15 - however of course the TFT8020 is an 18" viewable screen and the TFT15 is only 15" - the difference is HUGE.. Prices have come down substantially on the 8020 and on the street they are around 900 or less... This is a big difference from the 2200 they were selling for only a year or so ago! However now the TFT8030 is introduced as the 8020's predecessor and IT is only selling at around 1170-1200 which means prices will come down further.
The TFT8020 is Compaq's second highest ranked Flat-panel TFT monitor in the line. As well as being low profile for screen-frame-perimeter, the unit is also very shallow, meaning it is fairly narrow from screen to back panel. Graphics on this flat screen are what really put Compaw back on the map in terms of flatscreen competition -- Remember, about the same time COmpaq introduced the 8020 EIZO had come out with a gorgeous low-profile competitor with similarly great resolution. Nevertheless corporate pressure and substantial corporate alignment with Compaq kept the 8020 ahead of the EIZo in sales and well ahead in terms of popularity. Graphics wise, it blew away past monitors because it was capapble of handling well beyond 800x600 resolution which stretched the limits of its 15" sibling...The TFT8020 in fact handles super-high resolution such as 1024x768 AND even 1600x1200 without any issues...The Dot pitch of the monitor is still just about on par with comparable tube monitors and this is what really sets it apart from alot of the competition - INCLUDING (most importantly) many of the no-name clone-based flat panels with super-cheap advertised prices of 200 or less...Naturally you DO get what you pay for, and if you choose to pay 200 bucks, you'll get a terrible flat panel with 640x480 resolution and a terribly large dot-pitch causing blotchy graphics and sub-standard color saturation. Color handling is another huge attribute of the 8020- graphics look nearly real-life and even some of the highest quality super-dense photography from amazing cameras like NIkons D1X digital line appear gorgeously rich in color and ultra sharp - nicely done guys!!!
As far as compatibility and support, the 8020 is easily compatible with nearly all PCs using Windows 95 or better. A driver disc in included anyway, but 98% of the time unnecessary. The power transformer is very solid and nor prone to dust-carry or static problems like some of the older units (a la TFT15) and you need not worry about heat issues, because the powersupply runs fairly cool and unnoticable. ALso, unlike many cheaper flat panels, your boot-up screen information will show up correctly (the "Energy Saver" screen as well as your autoexec info etc) This is important, because with the TFT15 I would have squiggled lines during boot up - so if I needed to change any boot-up features I'd be stuck using a regular monitor!!! (what a pain) However the TFT8020 handles the boot up flawlessy and you have no errata or funky looking lines- very smooth.
The only issue with the monitor is the price. At 900 bucks it is certainly steep, however now with the onset of the TFT8030 and it's reign as king of the TFT's (at least in the compaq line) The price of the TFT8020 is said to be expected to come down to below the 600 dollar mark -AND for those of you ebayers, you can typically find barely used TFT8020s for around 550-600 right now! With superb graphic, resolution and color performance, combined with an ever-decreasing price, the TFT8020 is an excellent flat panel TFT monitor which will satisfay even the most demanding gadget-geeks and state-of-the-art aligned toy-lovers like myself. FOr the record, I've had my TFT for over a year and have no desire to go to the 8030....at least for now. An excellent monitor and highly recomended if you can afford it.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 925.00
Operating System: Windows
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Epinions.com ID:
nick1326
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Location: Long Island, NY
Reviews written: 232
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