Of Monitors and Work

[llcoolvad]

So I work in the Design department of my company. This means that I spend all day long looking at tiny things, and as I get older I've been noticing eyestrain a little more. We got five new snazzy flat panel monitors into my department. They are black ViewSonic 21" ones, and they're just keen. Our old monitors were 21" ViewSonic CRTs, which are still perfectly good, but are simply enormous and heavy. The supervisors and my boss got three of the new ones, leaving two for all the rest of us to scrabble over. (Presumably we will get more as time goes by)

They've been in the department now for about two months. The idea was that we would get one when our monitor died. One coworker snagged one earlier this week (her monitor was "broken") but couldn't get the refresh rate to work on her system. She's the kind of person that nothing ever works right for, though. She got our crack IT guys to come and help, and, not surprisingly, had no luck there. So she offered it to me. I don't know how office politics will work on that, but I just installed it, reset the refresh rate on my system, calibrated stuff, and it works great.

Well, as great as these things work. So now I have to decide -- do I keep it? It might make everyone else cranky. I figured a Pros and Cons comparison might help:

Pros

• It's pretty!
  
• It takes up a lot less space on my desk
  
• There is no glare! Our old CRTs have shiny slightly rounded glass faces that reflect light from the windows, the ceiling, and everywhere. I have to keep my blinds down just so I can see because I hate those antiglare screens. This doesn't have that! In fact, it's completely glare-free
  
• It lets me change my resolution to 1600 X 1200, which are Monk-like shiny round numbers, but which also gives me more space to work. I can see my workspace better.

Cons

• Office politics. Why should I get it and no one else? My old monitor still works fine. Of course, I'm the one most likely to be bitter about someone else getting it (I like the shiny pretty geek toys), so maybe I am overstating this one.
  
• Display quality. It's not a huge deal, and I managed to get used to my system at home with a less expensive flat panel, but it's noticeable. I've futzed around with the refresh rate and stuff, and no happiness. I think work probably bought the least expensive version of these.

Hmm. Basically many pros, but all superficial (except the glare), and one con, which is pretty serious (the quality). I don't know what to do!

Comments

[livingdeb.livejournal.com]

Regarding the politics issue, one could argue that the person who gave it to you already made the decision of who gets to have it. Any resulting unfairness is all her fault. (No childishness here!)

[(Anonymous)]

Take it. Take it. and take it. It is absolutely typical of them to have the equipments but hide them in the closet. People will complain regardless. You don't get what you want by asking nicely in the office. You get it by acting on it. You should know that by now...