TOPIC: IIYAMA
From convex to concave: reflections on decades of computer monitor usage
10th March 2025Within the last week, I changed my monitor and am without an Iiyama in my possession for the first time since 1997. The first one was a 17" CRT screen that accompanied my transition from education into work. Those old screens were not long-lasting, though, especially since it replaced a 15" Dell screen that had started to work less well than I needed; the larger size was an added attraction after I saw someone with a 21" Iiyama at the university where I was pursuing a research degree.
Work saw me using a 21" Philips screen myself for a time before Eizo flat screen displays were given to us as part of a migration to Windows 2000. That inspired me to get a 17" Iiyama counterpart to what I had at work. Collecting that sent me on an errand to a courier's depot on the outskirts of Macclesfield. The same effort may have been accompanied by my dropping my passport, which I was using for identification. That thankfully was handed into the police, so I could get it back from them, even if I was resigned to needing a new one. More care has been taken since then to avoid a repeat.
The screen worked well, though I kept the old one as a backup for perhaps far too long. It took some years to pass before I eventually hauled it to the recycling centre; these days, I might try a nearby charity shop before setting off on such a schlep. In those times, LCD screens lasted so well that they could accumulate if you were not careful. The 17" Iiyama accompanied my migration from Windows to Linux and a period of successful and ill-fated PC upgrades, especially a run of poor luck in 2009.
2010 saw me change my place of work, and a 24" Iiyama was acquired just before then. Again, its predecessor was retained in case anything went awry and eventually went to a charity shop from where I could go into a new life. There was no issue with the new acquisition, and it went on to do nearly twelve years of work for me. A 34" Iiyama replaced it a few years ago, yet I wonder if that decision was the best. Apart from more than a decade of muck on the screen, nothing else was amiss. Even a major workstation upgrade in 2021 did little to challenge it. Even so, it too went to a charity shop searching for a new home.
This year's workstation overhaul did few favours to that 34" successor. While it was always sluggish to wake, it did nothing like going into a cycle of non-responsiveness that it had on numerous occasions in the last few months. Compatibility with a Mac Mini could be better, too. The result is that I am writing these words using a Philips B346C1 instead, and it has few of the issues that beset the Iiyama, save for needing to remove and insert an HDMI cable for a Mac Mini at times.
Screen responsiveness is a big improvement, especially when switching between machines using a KVMP switch. Wake up times are noticeably shorter, and there is much better reliability. However, it did take a deal of time to optimise its settings to my liking. The OSD may be more convenient than the Iiyama, yet having Windows software that did the same thing made configuration at lot easier. While getting acceptable output across Windows, Linux and macOS has been a challenge, there is a feeling that things are nearly there.
Another matter is the fact that this is a curved screen. In some ways, that is akin to the move from a 24" screen to a 34" one when fonts and other items needing enlarging for the bigger screen. After a burst of upheaval, eventually things do settle down and acclimatisation ensues. Even though further tinkering cannot be ruled out, there is a sounder base for computing after the changeover.
A bigger screen?
23rd February 2010A recent bit of thinking has caused me to cast my mind back over all the screens that have sat in front of me while working with computers over the years. Well, things have come a long way from the spare television that I used with a Commodore 64 that I occasionally got to explore the thing. Needless to say, a variety of dedicated CRT screens ensued as I started to make use of Apple and IBM compatible PC's provided in computing labs and other such places before I bought an example of the latter as my first ever PC of my own. That sported a 15" display that stood out a little in times when 14" ones were mainstream, but a 17" Iiyama followed it when its operational quality deteriorated. That Iiyama came south with me from Edinburgh as I moved to where the work was and offered sterling service before it too started to succumb to ageing.
During the time that the Iiyama CRT screen was my mainstay at home, there were changes afoot in the world of computer displays. A weighty 21" Philips screen was what greeted me on my first day at work, only for 21" Eizo LCD monitors were set to replace those behemoths and remain in use as if to prove the longevity of LCD panels and the validity of using what had been sufficient for laptops for a decade or so. In fact, the same remark regarding reliability applies to the screen that now is what I use at home, a 17" Iiyama LCD panel (yes, I stuck with the same brand when I changed technologies longer ago than I like to remember).
However, that hasn't stopped me wondering about my display needs, and it's screen size that is making me think rather than the reliability of the current panel. While that is a reflection on how my home computing needs have changed over time, they also show how my non-computing interests have evolved too. Photography is but one of these and the move to digital capture has brought with a greater deal of image processing, so much that I wonder if I need to make less photos rather than bringing home so many that it can be challenging to pick out the ones that are deserving of a wider viewing. Though that is but one area where a bigger screen would help, there is another that arises from my interest in exploring some countryside on foot or on my bike: digital mapping. When planning outings, it would be nice to have a wider field of view to be able to see more at a larger scale.
None of the above is a showstopper that would be the case if the screen itself was unreliable, so I am going to take my time on this one. The prospect of sharing desktops across two screens is another idea, one that needs some thought about where it all would fit; the room that I have set aside for working at my computer isn't the largest. After the space side of things, then there's the matter of setting up the hardware. Quite how a dual display is going to work with a KVM setup is something to explore, as is the adding of extra video cards to existing machines. After the hardware fiddling, the software side of things is not a concern that I have because of when I used a laptop as my main machine for a while last year. That confirmed that Windows (Vista, but it has been possible since 2000 anyway...) and Ubuntu (other modern Linux distributions should work too...) can cope with desktop sharing out of the box.
Apart from the nice thoughts of having more desktop space, the other tempting side to all of this is what you can get for not much outlay. It isn't impossible to get a 22" display for less than £200 and the prices for 24" ones are tempting too. That's a far cry from paying next to £300 (if my memory serves me correctly) for that 17" Iiyama, and I'd hope that the quality is as good as ever.
It's all very well talking about pricing, but you need to sit down and choose a make and model when you get to deciding on a purchase. There is plenty of choice so that would take a while with magazine reviews coming in handy here. Saying that, last year's computing misadventures have me questioning the sense of going for what a magazine places on its A-list. They also have me thinking of going to a nearby computer shop to make a purchase rather than choosing a supplier on the web; it is easier to take back a faulty unit if you don't have far to go. Speaking of faulty units, last year has left me contemplating waiting until the year is older before making any acquisitions of computer kit. All of that has put the idea of buying a new screen on the low priority list, nice to have but not essential. For now, that is where it stays, but you never know what the attractions of a shiny new thing can do...