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What You Can Live With: At work, I keep four computers on my desktop. Hope is the Web development and mail center, Patience is the home of Storyspace development, Faith is a shiny new Windows box, and recently I've been trying to spend time with a PDA. We've got a new system in planning that ought to be perfect for PDAs, so everyone around here has been told to use the things.

Hope is a big server that's showing some age, and replacing it's old 800x600 15" monitor has been on the wishlist for years. Other things came first (like adequate monitors for everyone else at Eastgate!)

Recently, though, Hope has been looking like an old Mac Classic shortly before the power supply would blow: shimmery video, constantly shifting, feathery screen edges, the works. Every day was a little worse.

Rather than wait for it to give out entirely, I broke down and ordered a generic 17" monitor. The difference is astonishing. How could I have put up with the old display? I can't imagine.

Total cost: $225. Oy.