The Shamrock Monitor was a classic budget monitor from the mid to late 90's through the early 21st century. Shamrock corporation, which operated from 1994 to mid 2002, produced a simple line of generic midline monitors that were shipped with a lot of OEM computers at the time and provided excellent quality video at a very reasonable price. But what really set the Shamrock's apart was their durability. Shamrock's out lasted every other single monitor brand from that time period and provided a good quality user experience that, while not bleeding edge or top of the line, it was an experience that was well worth the money and then some.

But that also became somewhat of an Achilles heal for the company. For the prices that they asked, their monitors tended to outlast other brands by quite a bit. Now they weren't the longest lasting, as there's monitors out there today which are far older than any of the Shamrock's, but they have the unique distinction of being the only monitor brand with more monitors that are over 10-15 years old and still in perfect working condition than any other. While most monitor brands last 4-7 years maximum before giving up the ghost, the Shamrock's were on their second wind when they hit ten years old and still kept going.

By the time most brands, even some of the most expensive monitors out there, hit the 4 year mark, the numbers of still functioning monitors begins to taper off. By the time you hit 7 years the die off rate is at a steady trot and at a dead run by the time they turn ten. Amazingly, the Shamrocks didn't see their "trot" start until they were over 12 years old and still haven't seen their die off rate break into any kind of run at all. Sure, there's a natural rate of attrition for the Shamrocks, but it's at such a ridiculously low level that it's more than worth mentioning. Currently to this day, of all the Shamrock monitors sold between 1994 and 2002, about 45%-95% are surprisingly still functional and in use in some shape or form. That's a huge difference between other brands which have a 3%-75% functionality rating on monitors that are 5 years old and older.

The only real complaint I heard about from users and owners of the Shamrock was its lack of good image quality. I used one for over 10 years and a few years back switched to a much newer monitor for my PC, and honestly, the difference between my 10 year old Shamrock at the time and my brand new top end AOC was nearly nil. Now that's not bashing AOC in any manor, but rather complimenting my Shamrock monitor. Even after 10 years it was still rock solid with good picture quality. It's currently serving my mother faithfully to this day and shows no signs of giving up, dying, fading or anything even remotely to that effect. I expect it to last well past its 15th birthday and into it's 20's easily.

It's a pity that Shamrock corporation didn't last any longer than what they did, because if they were still making monitors today, I'd buy one in a heartbeat, because Shamrock corporation believed in quality at a reasonable price, and the legacy they left behind is a strong testament to that commitment. Long live the Shamrock, one of the best monitors ever made.

If you're curious about some of the models that Shamrock made, just check out the Shamrock Driver Page over at Monitorworld.com. It won't tell you much, as there's a vast scarcity of information on the company anymore, but it will give you an idea to a few of the offerings they had in their brief few years in business. They may not have had many different models, but they did have quite a range of offerings from their 14" monitors first released in 1994, all the way to their pinnacle 21" monitors released in 2001, about a year before they went out of business. If you ever find one of these monitors in the wild, grab it and hold onto it tight, because you've got a treasure on your hands.