Compaq Computer Corp has released the first results of its pact with Mitsubishi Electric Corp’s Advanced Display Inc subsidiary made earlier this year (CI No 3,089), introducing its first flat panel display, the TFT500. The 15.1 viewable, active matrix flat-panel monitor will go for $3,800, and Compaq says it was designed in conjunction with customers in the financial and healthcare markets – who will be the earliest adopters. It’s particularly popular with investment bankers who like to cram as many monitors as possible on their desks. Healthcare users like the high quality, 1024 x 768 at 75Mhz resolution for patient interaction and educational systems using full motion video. The display is said to be virtually the same as the viewing area of 17-inch CRT monitors, but occupying 60% of the space, and offering side-to-side viewing angles of 12% degrees. Three Universal Serial Bus utilities – such as mouse, keyboard and digital camera – can be plugged into the monitor, which itself plugs into the standard VGA port. It’s out in July.
