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Why put up with poor viewing quality on your computer screen? 		  technofile
Al Fasoldt's reviews and commentaries, continuously available online since 1983

How to make the most of your color display


April 1, 2001


By Al Fasoldt
Copyright © 2001, The Syracuse Newspapers

   Pssst! Want a new color monitor for free?
   I'll confess that I can't work that miracle. But I do have the next best thing. Follow along and I'll show you how you can make your present computer monitor show the best possible color picture. It won't cost you a cent and will take only a few minutes.
   My advice works for all computer systems -- Windows PCs, Macs, Linux PCs and any other kind. You don't have to know a single syllable of geek talk either.
   First, give your monitor a break. Modern computer monitors are much better than TV sets, but many computer users don't ever give them a chance to show it. They keep the color depth set to 256 colors.
   Bah, humcolorbug! If your TV was limited to 256 colors you'd think "Seinfeld" was a paint-by-numbers commercial. There are millions and millions of variations of reds and blues and all the other colors in real life, and we've been blessed with TVs and cameras that take it all in.
   Why, then, should you put up with poor viewing quality on your computer screen?
   So let's find out if your computer display is set to 256 colors. Open your control panel and look for an icon for the display settings. (In Windows, it's called "Display." You'll find a similar function on a Macintosh and on some Linux PCs.)
   If you see "256 Colors" listed as the current mode, make sure no one else is watching -- after all, 256 colors is 'way uncool -- and switch the display to something better. You'll see all sorts of confusing names for color settings, so listen up while I explain what they really mean. It's not hard at all.
   You might see "16-bit" listed. That's OK. But "24-bit" is better. So's "32-bit." All this "bitness" is just technobabble, so I'll skip the dreary part and just point out that more bits means more colors.
   You also might see choices called "thousands of colors," "millions of colors" or "true color." The last two are the same, because colors aren't "true" unless you are able to see all of them -- and, as I just mentioned, there are millions.
   You might be wondering why there would be any choice at all. How come computers aren't automatically set up to show all possible colors?
   The problem is related to memory. (No, not yours; it's the computer's memory we're talking about.) Showing a lot of colors takes a lot of space in the computer's display thingamabob. (I told you I'd stay away from the geeky stuff.) Back when computers were still growing up, that kind of space -- that kind of memory -- cost a lot of money. So the folks who made PCs and Macs shaved the cost by leaving out memory for the display.
   But that's ancient history. These days there's no excuse for such shenanigans. Memory is cheap. Right?
   Yes, but that's not why so many computer users are stuck in the color swamp. Bad designs don't lead to good designs. They lead to more bad designs. The companies that gave us 256-color computers of yesteryear never cared enough to make sure we all have good quality displays today.
   So that's why you have to do this yourself. Set your color slider (or click the proper checkbox) to boost your color rendition as high as it will go. The setting called 16-bit color (called "thousands of colors" on a Macintosh) is the minimum setting you should accept. It's sort of OK, and that's all anyone could say about it.
   Far better is 24-bit color or 32-bit color, also called "true color" or "millions of colors." Geeks might alaready know that 24-bit color isn't the same as 32-bit color, but for the rest of us they're equal. With those settings, what you see in terms of color is what you get. At the lower settings, your computer has to simulate a lot of the colors. It has to dither them. (Don't laugh. It's a term that means putting two different colors close to each other to try to fool your eye into seeing a thrd one.) At the higher settings, you always see what's there -- no more and no less.
   A final caution: If you have an older computer, you might find that you can't change to some of the higher-quality color modes. There's nothing wrong with your computer if that happens. It just means the display thingamabob -- the graphics card -- doesn't have enough memory to store all those colors. You can usually upgrade your computer for better color performance by purchasing a new graphics card, at a cost of $40 to $80 for most models.