Widescreen or what

[Bampah]

I'm about to buy a 19" TFT monitor.
I don't use my PC to game or watch TV.
Is there any benefit to me in buying a widescreen monitor or should I
go for standard size?

 

[RobertVA]

I'm about to buy a 19" TFT monitor.
I don't use my PC to game or watch TV.
Is there any benefit to me in buying a widescreen monitor or should I
go for standard size?

As far as using the computer to watch videos, are you aware that over
the air analog TV broadcasts are scheduled to completely cease in the US
in February of 2009? I would expect a significant increase in the
percentage of video over the air AND over the Internet that is the wider
screen aspect ratio of digital TV.

A wide screen will be good for having a tool bar on the side of your
application window too.

 

[Grinder]

I'm about to buy a 19" TFT monitor.
I don't use my PC to game or watch TV.
Is there any benefit to me in buying a widescreen monitor or should I
go for standard size?

It's mostly a matter of personal preference. There seems to be a higher
incidence of video card driver problems with widescreens--namely that
the driver does not offer the native resolution of the monitor, or if it
does, it will spontaneously change back to something else on restart. I
wouldn't say that problem his common though.

As for me, I have a 19" 5:4 ratio monitor. It has a pivoting feature so
that I can have it in portrait or landscape mode depending on my task.
I always wanted a monitor that did that since I saw that Mac Radius
monitor years ago. Now that I have it, though, I can't say it gets a
lot of work out.

If you do decide to go with a widescreen, I would recommend you not
bother with those that have built-in speakers--or at least not make it a
motivating feature. Those speakers are generally a disappointment.

 

[kony]

As far as using the computer to watch videos, are you aware that over
the air analog TV broadcasts are scheduled to completely cease in the US
in February of 2009? I would expect a significant increase in the
percentage of video over the air AND over the Internet that is the wider
screen aspect ratio of digital TV.

Not to nitpick or anything but about 10 lines up there's
something or other about "don't... watch TV".

A wide screen will be good for having a tool bar on the side of your
application window too.

Yes, but worse for the tool bars at the top of most
applications. IMO, use of tool bars is much better without
widescreen, but having two windows tiled vertically much
better with widescreen.

 

[kony]

I'm about to buy a 19" TFT monitor.
I don't use my PC to game or watch TV.
Is there any benefit to me in buying a widescreen monitor or should I
go for standard size?

It's pretty simple, while using your system for your most
common tasks, think to yourself "could I use more width or
height". While thinking this you would of course have to
have your monitor set to at least the horizontal or vertical
native resolution of the intended LCDs you're considering.

Personally I prefer 1600x1200, though now more common in
20.n" and getting less common as widescreen displaces them.

 

[darklight]

I'm about to buy a 19" TFT monitor.
I don't use my PC to game or watch TV.
Is there any benefit to me in buying a widescreen monitor or should I
go for standard size?

here's one if you do a lot of word processing what do you think would
happen if you turned your wide screen vertical?

 

[GT]

here's one if you do a lot of word processing what do you think would
happen if you turned your wide screen vertical?

1 of 2 things: Either you would have to turn your head on its side to read
anything, or if your graphics card driver has a rotate option, you would get
a pretty damn useful document-sized screen.

 

[Grinder]

1 of 2 things: Either you would have to turn your head on its side to read
anything, or if your graphics card driver has a rotate option, you would get
a pretty damn useful document-sized screen.

This brings up a point. If you turn your LCD monitor 90 degrees, can
you still use subpixel rendering to smooth fonts?

I suspect ClearType, or whoever is doing the rendering, will still
attempt it, but will you get as good of an effect? When I rotate to
portrait mode on my monitor, it doesn't seem to look as good. This,
though, might just be some sort of anti-plecebo effect produced by my
expectation.

 

[GT]

I'm about to buy a 19" TFT monitor.

This brings up a point. If you turn your LCD monitor 90 degrees, can you
still use subpixel rendering to smooth fonts?

... and what happens to viewing angles?

 

[Grinder]

.. and what happens to viewing angles?

That what seems to be obvious to me: They just swap. Horizontal and
Vertical viewing angles are often the same anyhow, so for newer monitors
I don't think it'll matter much.

 

[GT]

That what seems to be obvious to me: They just swap. Horizontal and
Vertical viewing angles are often the same anyhow, so for newer monitors I
don't think it'll matter much.

Well obviously they swap - that was my point - some screens don't have a
very good vertical viewing angle range, so this switches to make an awkward
horizontal viewing range, which could be a problem. However, you are right -
newer LCD screens are a lot better than older ones, but the OP doesn't
actually say if he is looking at new or old. I think we have given him
enough to think about anyway!

 

[jona]

I'm about to buy a 19" TFT monitor.
I don't use my PC to game or watch TV.
Is there any benefit to me in buying a widescreen monitor or should I
go for standard size?

If you do extensive spreadsheet work you'll want that extra width.

 

[kony]

If you do extensive spreadsheet work you'll want that extra width.

I'd tend to think that for spreadsheets, it is more
important to get a higher resolution than 19" can provide...
Going widescreen on 19" vs 5:4 ratio, you only gain a mere
160 pixels. If that 160 pixels is important you'd gain at
least that much again moving to a 20"+ LCD, which might be a
lot more expensive in the past but recent models have been
dropping down around the popular $200 price point, for
example

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824116075