Plasma screens for drafting

[Chad Smith]

We are in the process of designing our new office which we will be moving into early next year, and there is talk about giving all the drafties something like wall mounted 42" plasma screens for working on.

Now, I know absolutely nothing about plasma screens, but my biggest worry is that there won't be enough resolution.

Has anyone had any experience with this, and if so, are there any specific specifications to look for or particular brands that are better than others? Or are all plasma screens fine? I thought I would start looking into this now, so I can give management the low-down when the time comes.

[BigBopper]

Apparently you have an unlimited budget, or as your signature says, you haven't gotten a quote yet!

Don't use a Plasma TV to do a monitor's job. Your maximum resolution will be 1080 X 720, that is the international standard for High Definition television. I have a Samsung 61" DLP TV with a DVI input. I can plug my computer directly into it. My video card does not support this resolution (none do yet to my knowledge) so I set it for 1024 X 768 and the TV shrinks it down to fit. It's "just ok" to surf the web, but I would not recommend this for CAD work at all. I have a Viewsonic VP211b LCD monitor that I love. 21.4 inches, 1600X1200 res. You could get everybody 6 of those for the price of one 42" plasma screen.

My 02.

Another thing to consider, and not a small consideration, is neck strain. The top edge of your monitor should be no higher than your eyes. I personally prefer the bottom edge to be 2-3 inches off the table. A slight downward tilt to the head is more relaxing for a long session. I can attest that an upward tilted head will cause fatigue and headaches.

[Chad Smith]

Thanks for your reply David.

As I suspected, not enough resoution. I did another google search. Before I was searching for plasma screen, but this time I searched for plasma monitor and it pulled up a lot more relevant results. This should get me all the info I need.

I'm leaning more towards dual 21" TFT at the moment.
Fortunately for us, the boss has a big budget for our next office. I'm looking forward to it. And while I wasn't there at the time, he's been quoted as using the words 'state of the art' and 'ahead of the times' in his description.

I guess since we have Revit, we are half way there to that goal.