KDS AV-195TF

Recommended Monitor for Corporate America

The 19” KDS AV-195TF with a Sony Trinitron tube for $405. At this price, what corporation will ever buy a 17” monitor again?

 

October 9, 2000

by Eric Svetcov

Around two months ago I was searching for a good, inexpensive 19” monitor for my company. I looked at the well known monitors from Sony, Viewsonic, Mitsubishi and others. I even purchased some of those monitors. Then I came across the KDS AV-195TF and was struck by two things. First, the tube in this monitor was a Sony tube. Then I looked at the price and I knew I had to have one.

 

The KDS AV-195TF has an Estimated Street Price according to the manufacturer of $499, but can be found at Bay Area Micro (aka ComputerHQ.com) for $405 or at Cyberian Outpost for $469.95 including overnight shipping and tax (Note: the computerhq.com price is typically less; however, if the shipping charge is particularly high or if you need this monitor right away, consider using outpost.com). This is less than any other 19” Trinitron or DiamondTron based monitor and is less than many Shadow Mask type tubes.

 

What’s good about this monitor:

  1. 19” .24mm flat Sony Trinitron Tube
  2. 1600 x 1200 at 85Hz (I recommend 1280 x 1024 or lower resolution for daily tasks).
  3. Excellent, Sharp picture at what I consider the optimum resolution for a 19” monitor - 1152 x 864. As good as any Sony or Mitsubishi.
  4. Excellent 36 month warranty that features Advanced Replacement of the monitor with a valid credit card as collateral (first 90 days includes free shipping in both directions, then for the remainder of the period you pickup the shipping of the monitor to the depot only with free shipping of the replacement).
  5. Overall Value

What’s not so good:

  1. This is a very deep monitor that takes up more space than many comparable units. (Big problem if you have small desks)
  2. I don’t like the image quality of this monitor at 1600 x 1280. Then again, I don’t like any 19” monitor at that resolution. That being said, the 19” Sony G400 at 1600 x 1280 is better than the AV-195TF, but costs $150 to $200 more. If you are planning to hit this resolution, step up to a 21 inch monitor.
  3. Nobody gets fired for buying a Sony, Mitsubishi or Viewsonic monitor, so there is a risk in buying KDS. If you choose to buy this monitor, spin it two ways - 1. It costs less and 2. It is a Sony tube.
  4. The default settings out of the box need to be adjusted. The Contrast and Brightness are set too high.
  5. Fewer vendors than other brands. This might mean you need to setup terms at another vendor. For a larger company this could be a problem.
  6. Two faint lines in the screen for the tension wires that all Trinitron tubes have

Conclusion:

 

I have now purchased seven of these monitors and have recommended this monitor to other people during this testing period who have responded very favorably. I am a big fan of the Trinitron tube because of the clarity and the overall uniform appearance throughout the entire viewable screen area.

 

I believe this is an excellent companion monitor to the Basic Corporate System and as the low-end option to the Power-user Corporate Desktop. At this price, I don’t believe there is any reason to buy a 17” monitor again.

 

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