Well, I got to tell you, going back to that 17" monitor was not easy. A week later, I just couldn't stand it, and went back to the drawing boards to find a new monitor. This time, I decided to go with a brand that's a bit more common in the monitor world, Optiquest. If I'm not mistakened, Optiquest often share the same technologies with another very popular brand, Viewsonic, making their products very reliable. So, I went online, and bought their only 19" offering, the Q95. The main quality that caught my eye when I was picking this monitor out of the rest was the fact that it had a horizontal dot pitch of only 0.23mm! Compared to the others, which have dot pitches of 0.28mm-0.26mm, this monitor looked great on paper. Let's see if it's up to what it claims to be on paper.

When I first received this monitor, the first thing I noticed was the huge neck of the monitor! Compared to the KDS, which had an extremely skinny neck, the Q95's neck was huge. It was extremely wide and was almost box-shaped, giving it a very "industrial" look, as if it belonged in one of those professional, high-tech corporation offices. The KDS, however, looked like it fit more into a home environment, as it's a bit more "jazzyier-looking." It's up to you which look you want for your computer, but I personally prefer the "professional" look over the "jazziness" look.

The huge neck of the Q95 can be good because now, compared to the KDS which only had a vent about 10"x4" for heat dissipation, this monitor had a huge vent across the entire top area of the back, which means that you shouldn't expect any heat-related problems. The only bad thing that I can think of about the Optiquest's large size is that if you must fit this monitor into a tight enclosure, like one of those cubbyholes in a lot of the computer desks out there, it might not fit. Anyways, I took it out of the box, plugged it in (the Q95 is PC99 compliant, so the head on the cable was blue) and turned it on (oh, and there was no "farting" sound like KDS had made I first plugged it in).

Let me tell you, what a huge difference in picture quality this monitor had compared to the KDS! The picture on this monitor was excellent, even at high resolutions and high frequencies. There were also no signs of moiré at any resolution and the picture was flawless. The on-screen controls were also a pleasure to work with, as the buttons don't jiggle around like the KDS's on-screen buttons do.

When it comes to the quality of the picture when playing games, well, if the KDS was great for gaming, I'll let you figure out how this monitor looked when playing a game on it.

Pros

• Very nice picture
• "Professional" look
• PC99 Compliant, blue plug
• Solid construction, no jiggling buttons
• No signs of moiré at all resolutions
• Small dot-pitch
• Reputable brand

Cons

Large size A bit more expensive than the KDS

Conclusion
At first, I thought I had gotten an excellent deal with the KDS, but it turned out to be a complete flop. The picture quality was terrible and there were obviously design problems as some of the picture problems were cause by the monitor overheating. The Optiquest, however, was excellent for it's price compared to other monitors in the same class. Picture quality was excellent and the extremely small horizontal dot pitch really allows the monitor to display very fine pictures and text with ease. I would certainly recommend the Optiquest Q95; however, in the case of the KDS VS-190, I wouldn't even touch it unless someone gave it to me for a present… even then, I would only use it for very minimal work at lower resolutions. Regardless of which, having a larger monitor really makes my work more efficient, and play more engaging (I just hope I don't "outgrow" this monitor as fast as my 17" one).