new widescreen monitors....

[Hobbyer]

The widescreen screens are being pushed because they are cheaper to manufacture for a given screen diagonal. A 19" widescreen has a smaller physical area than a 19" 4:3 screen. To further reduce costs, manufacturers are starting to use stock HDTV panels in monitors. It is not even 1920x1200 anymore. The new monitors are 1920x1080, and for computer programs, the extra vertical distance really helps. 1280x1024 is a much nicer viewing experience than 1920x1080 at the same diagonal size. The difference is dramatic.

This is a big problem for elderly computer users. It is hard to switch them from a 19" CRT display running 800x600 or even 1024x768 to a new monitor. The new monitors have poor screen resolution choices, making them very hard to read text on. You can be into a 30" (2560x1600) monitor running at 1/2 resolution (1280x800) before you get a reasonable horizontal and vertical screen resolution (in terms of physical height of text).

Modern monitor selection sucks if you have elderly users.

Change to higher font size (DPI) for Windows. Default is 96 DPI, go to 120 DPI or even higher on very resolution monitors. Increase default font sizes on your browers as well. My dad had this problem on his 24" until I increased the font for him. It's sharp all over and easy readable. Use Large Icons too while you're at it.

I would recommend against anything other than native resolution on a LCD since it's just flat out blurry.

 

[tboy]

Well my replacement viewsonic finally kicked the bucket so I went out shopping for a replacement.

Didn't realize everything was "widescreen" now. What a ripoff. An 18 or 19" "widescreen" is only 9" fricking high.....it's like looking through a bloody mail slot!!!

I guess people are going to have to start writing in widescreen because any PDF document, fax, or letter is still in the old format........

 

[Hobbyer]

Go 1920x1200 or higher. I originally wanted 26" but had to get 24" since none were in stock and needed one ASAP. Documents remained the same size like you mentioned but screen size doubled, i.e. you can fit 2 PDFs, letter, internet browsers on the same screen without minimal to no horizontal scrolling since most web pages are optimized for 1024 and below.

If you can only afford (money or space) a smaller 19 or 20" widescreen then get it and use it Vertically so that it's a vertical long page, not a wide page if you know what I mean. Thus viewing documents is even better.

4x3 ratio monitors obsolete and serve no purpose anymore.

 

[tboy]

I disagree somewhat with the 4:3 being obsolete, they are only that way because the OEMs have decided what we need. I SO much prefer working on a 4:3 because that is how just about everything is designed for. The only thing designed for 16:9 are widescreen movies and then not everything is. (just look at many HD movies on HBO and TMN, they "say" they are HD yet they're shown in 4:3......PMRO).

I wasn't aware that you can rotate them, I'll look into that......

 

[Hobbyer]

I was a diehard stuck in the mud 4:3 user until started using widescreen for computing. Just more real estate period. You still keep your main thing whatever it is, Photoshop, Word, Excel, BUT you can put a whole array of tool bars on one side, it's like having 2 4:3 screens if you will. Especially if you do coding or spreadhsets,widescreen is godsend.

As for 4:3 movies HD, note that nothing is originally filmed in 4:3. Every "fullscreen" 4:3 DVD will say on the box something along the lines of... "this movie has been reformatted to better fit your TV". In other words, you are watching a compromised version of the original production since 16:9 is the real version, i.e. the persective you watch in the theatre because that's how the director intended the movie to be watched. 4:3 is still popular because many people still don't have widescreen TV's yet so stations still show 4:3.

 

[wumpscut]

here is a 4x3 19" for you

http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4008601&CatId=170


I'll bet you never heard of I_Inc but I have thier 28" widescreen for a couple of years now and enjoy it, for a while I even hooked up the hdmi connection to my HD rogers box so it doubled as my HDTV as well

http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3326540&CatId=3774

 

[Hobbyer]

here is a 4x3 19" for you

http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4008601&CatId=170


I'll bet you never heard of I_Inc but I have thier 28" widescreen for a couple of years now and enjoy it, for a while I even hooked up the hdmi connection to my HD rogers box so it doubled as my HDTV as well

http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3326540&CatId=3774

Very close to buying that I_Inc when I was shopping for mine, but at 28" I was hoping to get higher than 1920x1200 native resolution, how is the sharpness?

 

[wumpscut]

excellent picture but I would hold out on buying it now as recently it was going for quite a bit less, $299.99 and seems to go on sale pretty often, that extra money is better off in your pocket than tigerdirects,LOL

 

[Hobbyer]

excellent picture but I would hold out on buying it now as recently it was going for quite a bit less, $299.99 and seems to go on sale pretty often, that extra money is better off in your pocket than tigerdirects,LOL

Prolly pick one up for gaming (PS3) since for some reason I prefer a smaller screen for gaming than a 50" which is better for movies. Seems games are sharper and easier to on the eyes, probably from all the years playing on small PC screens has affected me.

But you're right I'll wait for a sale.

 

[tboy]

I disagree with the more real estate comment. The acer I was looking at today was in no way "bigger" than my current one, just a different format. I have a 19" viewsonic and was looking at a 19" acer widescreen. My 4:3 is about 12" high (viewable area) and the widescreen is only 9". Sure, you get more on the sides, but lose dramatically on the vertical.

The one I was looking at at FS had vista on it. I opened Explorer and it had:
McAfee spam tool bar
IE address bar
yahoo search bar
favourites bar

then at the bottom it had the windows task bar.

I opened a website and you could only see 2" of the site, the rest of the screen was taken up by the various tool bars......

I Know, one doesn't need all that but I am currently using my 42" plasma and just looking at the bare minimum, I have IE title bar, address bar, file/edit/view bar and the tabs/favourite tool bar on top, and the taskbar on the bottom. THat's about 1/3rd the viewable area.

To get the same vertical viewing area as a 4:3, you have to go up one maybe 2 sizes and the inherant increase in cost.

I stand by my statement: it's like surfing through a mail slot lol....

(and thanks for the tiger link, I saw that one and am considering it. Factory direct has a refurb one for $99.99)

 

[Hobbyer]

The physical size of the monitor is only a part of it. 19" 4:3 usually tops out at 1280x1024, whereas widescreen can go higher.

19" 4:3
http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4008601&CatId=170

1280x1024 = 1.3MP picture

19" Widescreen
http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3594692&CatId=170

1680x1050 = 1.7MP picture

Real estate is more. Unless of course you get the really crappy 19" widescreen which is only 1366x768 which is less than the 4:3.

How you use it is your own decision, but like I was saying, turning it vertical solves your problem and you can see more of the page than you can with a 4:3. Tons of desktop publishers do this, they get two small widescreen 19's or 20's and stack em side by side vertically.

I suppose at the 19" size, it's very close, and widescreen may not be worth it.

 

[tboy]

Well, to be honest, I'm not out to spend 200.00 plus on a monitor so something larger isn't in the budget. I'm looking for something around $130.00 and I guess that falls into your "crappy" category lol......

Couple that with I don't have the desk space for a widescreen (there's an overhead file rack above my work surface).

See, I guess the point I'm trying to make is, take a word document for eg, sure, you'll have more real estate on either side of the document, or you zoom in so the letters are 1" high to fill the horizontal space.

The rotating it is a good idea, but that means purchasing a monitor mount because the units I've looked at, the OEM mount doesn't allow you to do that.......

On the opposite side of the coin, it pisses me off to no end that they are still producing 4:3 format tv programs. I mean, do they even sell 4:3 tvs anymore?

Anyhow, I guess I will have to keep an eye on monitors to get a larger one within my budget.......

 

[Garrett]

Well, to be honest, I'm not out to spend 200.00 plus on a monitor so something larger isn't in the budget. I'm looking for something around $130.00 and I guess that falls into your "crappy" category lol......

130 is very tight for a nice monitor. For about 200, you can get a 23" that will do a fill 1080p if you watch sales.

If you have the desk space, I see people tossing very nice 19" CRTs on garbage night. A nice CRT can outdo a lot of mid range monitors, and you cannot argue with free.

 

[tboy]

130 is very tight for a nice monitor. For about 200, you can get a 23" that will do a fill 1080p if you watch sales.

If you have the desk space, I see people tossing very nice 19" CRTs on garbage night. A nice CRT can outdo a lot of mid range monitors, and you cannot argue with free.

Yeah, I know that's tight, and money is tight these days lol Haven't gotten much business lately with the recession and all......

 

[Hobbyer]

Yeah, I know that's tight, and money is tight these days lol Haven't gotten much business lately with the recession and all......

That's tough then bro, just go 4:3 19" LCD and be happy. I mean, I have two of them at work side by side so it's still all good. At home it's widescreen (large one that is) all the way.

 

[Cassini]

I disagree somewhat with the 4:3 being obsolete, they are only that way because the OEMs have decided what we need. I SO much prefer working on a 4:3 because that is how just about everything is designed for. The only thing designed for 16:9 are widescreen movies and then not everything is. (just look at many HD movies on HBO and TMN, they "say" they are HD yet they're shown in 4:3......PMRO).

I wasn't aware that you can rotate them, I'll look into that......

The widescreen screens are being pushed because they are cheaper to manufacture for a given screen diagonal. A 19" widescreen has a smaller physical area than a 19" 4:3 screen. To further reduce costs, manufacturers are starting to use stock HDTV panels in monitors. It is not even 1920x1200 anymore. The new monitors are 1920x1080, and for computer programs, the extra vertical distance really helps. 1280x1024 is a much nicer viewing experience than 1920x1080 at the same diagonal size. The difference is dramatic.

This is a big problem for elderly computer users. It is hard to switch them from a 19" CRT display running 800x600 or even 1024x768 to a new monitor. The new monitors have poor screen resolution choices, making them very hard to read text on. You can be into a 30" (2560x1600) monitor running at 1/2 resolution (1280x800) before you get a reasonable horizontal and vertical screen resolution (in terms of physical height of text).

Modern monitor selection sucks if you have elderly users.