Advise me on buying a 19" monitor.

[Losstarot]

Hello all. I've been looking for a new LCD to replace my current monitor for a while now, and I haven't really been getting too far. I can't seem to find much good information.

I've mainly been looking at Viewsonic monitors, namely the VX922 and the VP930b. At one point I was close to buying the VX922, because people like it and it's not very expensive, but I never did because I could never totally convince myself that it was a good deal for me. One of my friend's more knowledgeable friends has two of the VP930b model, which he apparently likes, and so I've been considering that.

I would like my new monitor to be able to perform well for the occasional game, but I also do some office-type work.

I could also use some advice on the pros and cons of a widescreen monitor. I don't think I care much either way, but if someone knows of any interesting issues (technical or otherwise), I would like to know.

 

[jaguarskx]

In general, both monitors have recieved favorable reviews.

Between the two, I would choose the VX922 because the widescreen format will allow you to see more on the screen. In Excel, you will be able to see more columns without having to reduce the the Zoom. It will also allow you to view two pages in Word or Acrobat side by side better than a 19" monitor. Thus, it can increase your productivity.

On the gaming end, many games do take advantage of widescreen, do a Google search on "widescreen gaming". But there are some games (especially older ones) that do not support widescreen and the graphics will be stretched. One such game is X3: Reunion.

If you absolutely do not want your graphics to be stretched out then you will need to find a monitor that supports 1:1 pixel mapping and/or aspect ratio (zoom) in the monitor's OSD (on screen display).

See my response in the following link for more info on 1:1 pixel mapping and aspect ratio.

http://forumz.tomshardware.com/ce/dream-22-inch-LCD-multidisplay-realistic-ftopict53024.html

 

[Losstarot]

Are there any monitors sized above 19" that have resolutions as low as 1280x1024? My computer's not all that fast, and I think 1280x1024 is about as high as I'm willing to push it on games.

 

[jaguarskx]

Nope.

As soon as you move up to 20" the resolution jumps to 1400 x 1050. Widescreen would be 1680 x 1050.

Playing at lower than native resolution is not the end of the world when it comes to image quality. Images are slightly less sharp, but not really that much distracting when playing games.

As I said before, there are monitors that support 1:1 pixel mapping so that image quality will not be degraded.

 

[Losstarot]

jaguarskx, do those resolutions you mentioned (1400x1050 non-widescreen, 1650x1050 widescreen) also come on monitors as high as 22"?

Does anyone know of any good 22" or smaller monitors that offer 1:1 pixel mapping?