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#1
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Going from CRT to LCD - what do I need to know about wide format ?
I am going to be getting rid of my old 20" CRT and will be buying an LCD
monitor to replace it. I am having a cabinetmaker build me a set of bookshelves and it will incorporate a computer station where I will not have room for my old CRT. Since my current computer was purchased in 2000, lots has happened in the world of hardware and I have a few questions. Are there any real advantages to buying an LCD monitor with a wide aspect ratio? Is that really only useful for watching DVDs or for gaming or are there other benefits? Are there any drawbacks? Is it all just a matter of personal taste or are the pros and cons related to the type of task you are performing? Thanks p.s. I am an old guy (52 yrs) so I rarely play games on the computer. My use is mostly surfing the Internet or working with some MS Office product. While I may play a game occasionally, I cannot imagine watching a 2-hr movie on my computer. |
#2
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Going from CRT to LCD - what do I need to know about wide format ?
The standard view LCD is better if you will primarily be viewing one page at
a time. The wide view LCD is better if you will be viewing two or more pages of material simultaneously routinely. -- DaveW ---------------- "The poster formerly known as Colleyville Alan" wrote in message ... I am going to be getting rid of my old 20" CRT and will be buying an LCD monitor to replace it. I am having a cabinetmaker build me a set of bookshelves and it will incorporate a computer station where I will not have room for my old CRT. Since my current computer was purchased in 2000, lots has happened in the world of hardware and I have a few questions. Are there any real advantages to buying an LCD monitor with a wide aspect ratio? Is that really only useful for watching DVDs or for gaming or are there other benefits? Are there any drawbacks? Is it all just a matter of personal taste or are the pros and cons related to the type of task you are performing? Thanks p.s. I am an old guy (52 yrs) so I rarely play games on the computer. My use is mostly surfing the Internet or working with some MS Office product. While I may play a game occasionally, I cannot imagine watching a 2-hr movie on my computer. |
#3
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Going from CRT to LCD - what do I need to know about wide format ?
On Sat, 30 Sep 2006 19:45:36 GMT, "The poster formerly known
as Colleyville Alan" wrote: I am going to be getting rid of my old 20" CRT and will be buying an LCD monitor to replace it. I am having a cabinetmaker build me a set of bookshelves and it will incorporate a computer station where I will not have room for my old CRT. Since my current computer was purchased in 2000, lots has happened in the world of hardware and I have a few questions. Are there any real advantages to buying an LCD monitor with a wide aspect ratio? Yes, if and only if the things you more often look at are displayed in a wide aspect ratio. The answer seems too simple, right? Nope, it really is that simple. Most often cited things people use them for is DVDs or spreadsheets, or having two windows open side-by-side. Many people prefer regular ratios instead of widescreen still. Is that really only useful for watching DVDs or for gaming or are there other benefits? They're not so useful for gaming yet, because many games don't support the widescreen resolutions. We would need to install a camera on you to watch you work if we were to know if you need a widescreen. You just need to pay attention to the things you have on-screen and decide whether you'd like it wider or not. I suggest adjusting your CRT to near the same vertical resolution as the proposed LCD would be to make such a comparision, otherwise it's more difficult to gauge. there any drawbacks? Yes, of course there are. The only useful purpose of widescreen is if what you want to look at, has a high width:height ratio. Is it all just a matter of personal taste or are the pros and cons related to the type of task you are performing? Yes, if your task is wide, get a widescreen. If it's not, don't. Figure out which are most important, then in the end you'll probably just conclude what was already written: That if you don't watch a lot of DVDs, do a lot of spreadsheets, or always have windows open side-by-side, widescreen will waste more screen real-estate and isn't what you want. You didn't mention what size you are considering that, and that is an important variable that is directly applicable to your question because widescreen means a reduced number of vertical pixels. It is almost never a good idea to try to force people to isolate two things like widescreen or not and decide between them, as they must be seen in the context of the monitor, like the native resolution. Go to a store and look at a few... they're probably running windows so it should be easy to get some idea of how it'll look. p.s. I am an old guy (52 yrs) so I rarely play games on the computer. My use is mostly surfing the Internet or working with some MS Office product. While I may play a game occasionally, I cannot imagine watching a 2-hr movie on my computer. Then get a 20.x" 1600 x 1200 4:3 ratio LCD instead of widescreen. That is, unless with your present CRT you were always wishing it were much wider but no taller. |
#4
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Going from CRT to LCD - what do I need to know about wide format ?
"The poster formerly known as Colleyville Alan"
wrote in : I am going to be getting rid of my old 20" CRT and will be buying an LCD monitor to replace it. I am having a cabinetmaker build me a set of bookshelves and it will incorporate a computer station where I will not have room for my old CRT. Since my current computer was purchased in 2000, lots has happened in the world of hardware and I have a few questions. Are there any real advantages to buying an LCD monitor with a wide aspect ratio? Is that really only useful for watching DVDs or for gaming or are there other benefits? Are there any drawbacks? Is it all just a matter of personal taste or are the pros and cons related to the type of task you are performing? Thanks p.s. I am an old guy (52 yrs) so I rarely play games on the computer. My use is mostly surfing the Internet or working with some MS Office product. While I may play a game occasionally, I cannot imagine watching a 2-hr movie on my computer. I'm not far behind you at 45. I do some gaming and watch an occasional movie on my PC, but even if I didn't I think I'd still prefer widescreen. One trade-off is horizontal vs. vertical size. Given the same diagonal size monitor you'll do more vertical scrolling on the widescreen. You'll do less horizontal, though. Horizontal scrolling isn't usually necessary, but when it is it's annoying. If you use large fonts to help your old eyes then horizontal scrolling may be more of a problem. My widescreen has a greater vertical size than my old CRT, so I don't miss the trade of in vertical vs. horizontal and I'm quite happy with the cange. I use apps that use floating palettes and I think that works better on my widescreen. In fact, I use dual monitors, but since I got the widescreen LCD I keep my second monitor turned off most of the time. If you are happy with a 4:3 screen and not sure about widescreen then you are probably better off sticking with what you know. I can't think of any compelling reasons to change in your case. For me it's an easy choice; I'll never buy another 4:3 monitor. BTW, there is also the option of a widescreen with a pivoting base, so you can use it in long format. -- ybbxvatyvxrnobeantnvayvivatyvxrnurergvpyvfgravatgb neguheyrrerpbeqfznxv atnyylbhesevraqfsrryfbthvyglnobhggurveplavpvfznaqg urerfgbsgurvetrareng vbaabgriragurtbireazragnertbaanfgbclbhabjohgnerlbh ernqlgborurnegoebxra |
#5
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Going from CRT to LCD - what do I need to know about wide format ?
"Mitch Crane" -three wrote in message
... "The poster formerly known as Colleyville Alan" wrote in : I am going to be getting rid of my old 20" CRT and will be buying an LCD monitor to replace it. I am having a cabinetmaker build me a set of bookshelves and it will incorporate a computer station where I will not have room for my old CRT. Since my current computer was purchased in 2000, lots has happened in the world of hardware and I have a few questions. Are there any real advantages to buying an LCD monitor with a wide aspect ratio? Is that really only useful for watching DVDs or for gaming or are there other benefits? Are there any drawbacks? Is it all just a matter of personal taste or are the pros and cons related to the type of task you are performing? Thanks p.s. I am an old guy (52 yrs) so I rarely play games on the computer. My use is mostly surfing the Internet or working with some MS Office product. While I may play a game occasionally, I cannot imagine watching a 2-hr movie on my computer. I'm not far behind you at 45. I do some gaming and watch an occasional movie on my PC, but even if I didn't I think I'd still prefer widescreen. One trade-off is horizontal vs. vertical size. Given the same diagonal size monitor you'll do more vertical scrolling on the widescreen. You'll do less horizontal, though. Horizontal scrolling isn't usually necessary, but when it is it's annoying. If you use large fonts to help your old eyes then horizontal scrolling may be more of a problem. My widescreen has a greater vertical size than my old CRT, so I don't miss the trade of in vertical vs. horizontal and I'm quite happy with the cange. I use apps that use floating palettes and I think that works better on my widescreen. In fact, I use dual monitors, but since I got the widescreen LCD I keep my second monitor turned off most of the time. If you are happy with a 4:3 screen and not sure about widescreen then you are probably better off sticking with what you know. I can't think of any compelling reasons to change in your case. For me it's an easy choice; I'll never buy another 4:3 monitor. BTW, there is also the option of a widescreen with a pivoting base, so you can use it in long format. Yeah, the one I was considering was the Dell Ultrasharp2007WFP which has a pivoting base. I didn't think that I would find the pivoting feature that useful, but now that you mention it, that might be a useful feature afterall. I often work with spreadsheets and with mutltiple windows, but my current CRT is a 20" model and I never found it a problem with a screen that size. I have the resolution on my current monitor set to 1024x768 and that works well for me; I've had glasses since I was 8 years old and my eyes haven't exactly gotten better over the years. Text much smaller than that would be hard to read. I believe that the native resolution on the Dell is 1680x1050. Since this is a different monitor than I have used before, I am not sure how comparable that is to my current resolution. I mean it would seem that the tezt would be smaller, but I may be mistaken about that. Any ideas about that? |
#6
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Going from CRT to LCD - what do I need to know about wide format ?
The poster formerly known as Colleyville Alan wrote:
I have the resolution on my current monitor set to 1024x768 and that works well for me; I've had glasses since I was 8 years old and my eyes haven't exactly gotten better over the years. Text much smaller than that would be hard to read. I believe that the native resolution on the Dell is 1680x1050. Since this is a different monitor than I have used before, I am not sure how comparable that is to my current resolution. I mean it would seem that the tezt would be smaller, but I may be mistaken about that. Any ideas about that? Take a look at a 19" LCD, where the native resolution is 1280x1024. In practical terms, a 19" LCD many have slightly greater real estate than a 20" CRT. A higher resolution may not be suitable for your specific needs. |
#7
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Going from CRT to LCD - what do I need to know about wide format ?
Just putting my 2 cents worth in, i have a 17" wide screen
it is the same width as a 19" screen but only 2 thirds the height so this might or might not suit you. So if space is a problem this might be an option. |
#8
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Going from CRT to LCD - what do I need to know about wide format ?
On Sun, 01 Oct 2006 01:53:03 GMT, "The poster formerly known
as Colleyville Alan" wrote: snipo I mean it would seem that the tezt would be smaller, but I may be mistaken about that. Any ideas about that? Check your applications- most allow changing text size whether through that app or through Windows' global settings. |
#9
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Going from CRT to LCD - what do I need to know about wide format ?
"The poster formerly known as Colleyville Alan":
p.s. I am an old guy (52 yrs) so I rarely play games on the computer. You'd be surprised at how many guys (and gals) your age (and older) play first-person shooters online. Jon |
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