Holiday Buyers' Guide 2006, Part 2: Components

[RyanMicah]

Hmmm.... Speaking of RIOTS I heard someone was shot in Conn. not CA.... Ah the Irony. 😀

BTW, we all know by now I think CA is out of control...but Amish got shot in Lancaster PA. Anything can happen in this crazy ass world.

 

[Track]

Alright, now ur going too far on the Other end..
We are not "horny dingos" (seriously, wtf) and she is not doing this as a Favor to us. We like seeing those pictures, and we like Sarah.. Either u put her down, or u put us down. Who are u trying to suck up to?

"Well, my days of not taking you seriously are certainly coming to a middle"

Hmm, if u didnt like the comments in the other thread.. why did u start them? 8)

 

[RyanMicah]

I'm not quite sure what you're saying...

 

[AlDim]

There are more and more widescreen displays that may be great for multimedia use, but we still prefer to go for a decent 4:3 model. For those working with office applications or websites, the increased vertical space is more favorable.

This is utter bs. 20-22" widescreen monitors are in the same price range and give a huge advantage for office applications (for example two word documents can be placed next to each other, an Excel table can fit quite a few extra columns, etc). Moreover, they use a 1680x1050 resolution which, quite obviously, provides more vertical space than the recommended 1280x1024 19" display.
Not to mention that 1280x1024 is not 4:3, but 5:4. :roll:

 

[x-tom]

Somebody knows if Sarah has a boyfriend?

I´m single, but I live in Argentina.


I think that you should recommend a gamepad too

 

[123home123]

Thanks for all the nice comments everyone!! I'm so glad you're enjoying the pics & hopefully the article as well.

Both are good. 😀

 

[Doughbuy]

The first thread was stupid, obnoxious, and even annoyed me just reading it. And worst of it was the person who started the whole slaughterfest... *cough*

I find my excel spreadsheets to be much longer height-wise then length wise... considering your printing pages by height, not by width. The 2 documents side by side may be useful, but seriously... the company doesn't give a damn about ya'll. A 20-22" monitor is not in the same price range as a cheap 19" monitor, which most offices will get.

1680x1050 is also a weird resolution for gaming... I'm getting the Samsung 225BW this Friday, and I'm hoping that gaming will be fine...

 

[AlDim]

I have a 215TW, the 225 is also great.
1680x1050 is an awesome resolution for gaming as long as your video card is good enough and the games you play support it (I think that all which have a widescreen option do and there are many fixes available for ones that don't, check here for info: http://www.widescreengamingforum.com/forum/). As about excel - height-wise or length-wise, 20-22" widescreen provides more space than a 19" 5:4. Also, there are many other applications which can use the extra horizontal space (I find it especially useful for web design, Photoshop, etc.)

A 20-22" monitor is not in the same price range as a cheap 19" monitor, which most offices will get.

But it IS in the same price range (~300) as the monitor which tomshardware recommended.

 

[VBDude]

Now these comments I can applaud. It's fine to be attracted to women, but in the original posts certain people weren't treating her with much respect. Now we're all aware that pretty much all of us are horny dingos...
But the comments in this post are SO much more tasteful...I think I'm gonna cry...

8O I think your own words represent my thoughts:

I'm not quite sure what you're saying...

Was that sarcasm or were you serious? My comments were genuine, with the obvious exception of that nVidia joke, but I'm confused at your comments as the whole post is full of rants. Even that bit of seeming praise sandwiches a jab at almost the entire THG readership.

I don't care how much you enjoyed my comment, if your goal in replying to my post was to further credit your own, I want no part in it. Your words have had no influence in any of my comments except these in my own rant:

I hate being PC as much as anyone--it doesn't read well and scratches fingernails on our mind's chalk board--but your comments, in this post and the other buyers' guide thread, do nothing to help the forumz or the readers in any way, least of all in how we treat women, and it would benefit them to be corrected politically.

I know there were some rather tasteless and insulting remarks posted in the original thread, but Sarah and the rest of the readers are adult enough to ignore those posts. We come for the hardware, the news, the help, the occasional fun, and the community of like minded individuals, of both genders! Whatever doesn't provide these, we skip.

But, when someone rants for page after page about a cause his words actually hinder, it annoys and insults everyone who sees and hears them, especially those whose cause you claim to speak for. I'd be surprised if no one "on your side" has opted to ignore all of your posts yet. I've got a thick skin, so I'll continue to hold out.

If you want people to respect women, or men for that matter, you're going about it the wrong way. I treat women with respect because I respect my mom and my sisters. Maybe you would do well to remember yours.

 

[VBDude]

We started out debating the virtues of LCD over CRT and now were talking about spreadsheets? :? This is a Holiday Buyers' Guide. Who plans on buying a new screen for their office where most spreadsheets are made and used anyway?

To be truthful, my spreadsheets are frequently too wide for a page, so I switch to landscape printing anyway, which needs horizontal screen real-estate. Also, I don't really care about vertical space when I can simply turn an LCD on it's side and increase my viewable range if needed. Besides, if it's so long that you have to scroll it, then your probably better off making a graph, using a database, or finding some other method to view your data.

Anyway, it's not spreadsheets that dictate most purchasing decisions.

I personally think widescreen is the new dual-core. (I know I compare every new tech to multiple core processors, but work with me here.) It's relatively new to the industry and not everything supports it yet. But the industry is moving to support it more and more until 16x10 becomes a standard that everything will need to be developed for. Honestly, TVs are and have been widescreen, widescreen LCDs are becoming more plentiful, and even small form-factor devices are moving to wide screens.

I know there are a lot of games that don't support widescreens yet, but the ones I play do. It's not the games alone that make me want to switch to widescreen. I'm an avid movie watcher and never buy a movie that isn't widescreen. Television shows are generally an exception, though many of those are moving to widescreen, and still others come out on DVD in widescreen format, like X-Files and Babylon 5. (Yet another example of industry shifting.)

I also spend a lot of time in a programming IDE that doesn't support mouse wheel scrolling side to side. Anyone who programs, or uses any kind of development environment, knows that code gets too wide with indentations and tools all over the IDE. Not every language supports splitting a line as easily as C++.

CRTs are dying, and I miss them already, even though mine is only months old. But LCDs don't provide me any needed advantage until you talk about widescreen displays. I know not everyone will even consider something that's natively 1920x1200, but even 1680x1050 offers all of the screen real-estate of a 5:4 with the added bonus of killing black bars on anything 16:9 or 16:10. Not to mention that moving your eyes side to side strains them less than up and down.

It seems to me that a forward thinking recommendation would say to buy a widescreen LCD. When many of them are going for the same price as square screens anyway, there's really no benefit to staying 5:4.

 

[GavinLeigh]

That was a great chassis that Sarah was demonstrating... and the cases were good too. HE HE HE :lol:

Like so many I've enjoyed the articles so far, and can't wait for the next one.

 

[SunnyOverHere]

I'm definitely the minority on this one... next year do without the model elf. It's boring and cliche. There's so much smut out there already that many users would appreciate more cutting edge reporting rather than cheap thrills. I have many bookmarks for cheap thrills... but the URL that I keep high on my favorites list is Tomshardware. Let's not cheapen TH and keep TH high on most peoples favorites list. I want to make sure TH is around when I have grandkids.