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Diamond Pro 2040u

Mitsubishi
Star rating: 5 stars out of 5

Mitsubishi's newest professional-class monitor, the Diamond Pro 2040u, is a real joy to work with. Its 22" nominal (20" viewable) aperture-grille Diamondtron CRT produces a large, bright, high-contrast image that is very easy on the eyes. Mitsubishi's Natural Flat technology precisely distorts the interior surface of the CRT to optically compensate for the refraction of light passing through the glass. Combined with the antireflective coating, the end result is a virtually distortion-free, glare-free picture on a wonderfully flat screen.

The Diamond Pro 2040u boasts a 0.24mm center-to-edge continuous dot pitch. Maximum addressable resolution is 2048x1536—unsurpassed by any monitor in this review—with a vertical refresh rate of 75Hz. Its bandwidth of 240MHz and horizontal scan frequency of 30–121KHz support an eye-pleasing 96Hz refresh rate at 1600x1200, the recommended working resolution.

The Diamond Pro 2040u performed very well on our display-image benchmark tests. It was one of only three monitors to earn an A+ for image quality. Although we didn't need to make any adjustments for this review, the Diamond Pro 2040u's on-screen menu includes nearly 40 controls for adjusting everything from color convergence by quadrant to corner purity. All adjustments are easily made with four buttons located in the front.

Mitsubishi's warranty period of three years on parts, labor, and CRT is matched by most of the vendors in this review. However, its advanced exchange warranty, which provides for free delivery of a replacement monitor for a failed one during the entire three years, stands out from the crowd. Another nice feature is the self-powered USB hub built into the tilt/swivel base that includes two upstream and three downstream ports. This allows two computers to share the same USB devices.

Mitsubishi's official ESP for the Diamond Pro 2040u is $1,329, but we've seen it selling on the Web for under $1,175. In any case, the Diamond Pro 2040u offers superb performance at a reason-able price. Highly Recommended. — A.L.