Monitor - Widescreen or Not?

Timans

Well, I'm ordering my pc in the next few days and was wondering whether to get a 19" Widescreen or a 19" Normal monitor. I have a 19" normal at the moment and it's fine but Widescreen seems to be the future of monitors.

I have been told that playing games on widescreen is extremely annoying and one person actually went out and bought a normal monitor.

They're pretty much the same price and my graphics card will be a x1950pro, it should handle 1440x900 perfectly.

Also, can you play 1280x1024 on a widescreen and if so, does it look completely strange?

Thanks,

DirkVoodoo

Once you go widescreen its very hard to go back, everything looks better. Watching regular screens feels like you're wearing blinkers. But go 20 or 22", 19" is dead!

nibble

19" widescreen=nono, they just look wrong, the res is too low. Now if you're in the market for a 20"+ definately go wide, widescreen is far more natural to the eye, personally I could never go back to a non wide monitor. They are excellent for gaming the wider viewing angle is handy for FPS.

Creamy Goodness

I don't like them at all tbh, especially for games.

I find when playing fps, my movement is more up and down than side to side.

widescreen monitors sacrfice height so that they can add the width.

only thing i think widescreen are good for are movies in my opinion.

also my opinion may be a bit warped as i still believe CRT monitor provide a better experience for games.

awhir

Cremo wrote:

I don't like them at all tbh, especially for games.

I find when playing fps, my movement is more up and down than side to side.

widescreen monitors sacrfice height so that they can add the width.

only thing i think widescreen are good for are movies in my opinion.

also my opinion may be a bit warped as i still believe CRT monitor provide a better experience for games.

bah cremos allways this way he allways gos aginst what everone else says :rolleyes:

aint that right cremo

timas remember that ur gfx will strugell under 1600x1200 .

papu

soo? just run 1280.......anyways widescreen ftw......youll see more in css anyways

awhir

papu wrote:

soo? just run 1280.......anyways widescreen ftw......youll see more in css anyways

? i dont see the point in buying a widescreen when yur running it in a streched rez.whats the point. btw i have a widescreen and i fell when ya play css in 1280 it looks pritty gay and ****ed up...............

dazftw

Cremo wrote:

only thing i think widescreen are good for are movies in my opinion.

I agree.

Even though I find them great for games too..

I have a 22" and play bf2 at 1680 X 1050 and anything else is just horrible...

mathias

I recently shelled out for the Apple 23" cinema display , for my pc , now thats a monitor , 1920 x 1200 , excellent for just about anything Ive thrown at it so far.

I agree with previous , once you go widescreen ( at a decent res ) you wont go back.

Anti

Just dont go under 1680*1050 and you will be fine. Just make sure if you are gaming that you have a sifficient pc to handle it.

8T8

I'd be inclined to go with the 1440x900 if you have an X1950 Pro as you will almost never have frame rate problems. With 1680x1050 you will be pushing it for some games if you enable things like AA.

I agree with the others once you go widescreen you wont go back it's just nicer. I've always had the opinion and almost universally heard it from others that games are better in widescreen, first I've heard of anyone disliking it to the point of changing displays.

Samsung do a decent model the 931BW.

bretttp1

I second that on the 931BW its a very nice widescreen for 1440 x 900

RuggieBear

any recommendations on a decent 20", 22" or 24" widescreen for movies and games with HDCCP?:)

awhir

not shure about HDCCP but samsung/benq/Dell produce great lcds .

RuggieBear

i like the samsungs but i believe their 226BW 22" model is not as good as its reviews due to Samsung replacing it with a slightly inferior screen.

I was thinking of going for the HP Pavilion w2207HP

DirkVoodoo

I just got a 226BW there for a new build, there is some poor light leakage at the top and bottom of the screen, but it is still a fantastic screen. I have used it to play sup com so far, and I watched "Hulk" including the dog-fight scence during daytime. Its not terrible, far from it, I think some people get too hung up on staring at the backlight bleed on monitors rather than the images themselves, however it is noticeable.

I also got it as my dad will be using it for browsing, so having 1680x1050 on a 22" is nice and doesn't strain the eyes.

Anti

The dell i have in my sig is great, IT will do 1440*900 and 1680*1050. ITs cheap too. And when you upgrade your pc you can move up to the higher resolution

awhir

i dont understand what people go on about backlight bleed i have abit on my 2 top conors and i have only ever noticed it once when loading up windows

Anti

Yeah, you only notice it on a black screen really.

Offalycool

Got myself a Belinea 22” widescreen from Overclockers.co.uk. Very nice, can fault it really. It scales down to lower resolutions well and really has enhanced everything I do on my PC. If you stick with VGA inputs instead of DVI it is cheaper as there is a EU tax on DVI. There is no loss of image quality on it, and has a native (and very pretty) resolution of 1650 x1080. Thoroughly recommend it.

EDIT: Does black very well too

DirkVoodoo

Whenever I have switched from DVI to Analogue, the text in windows and on web pages gets a little blurry...could be I'm just getting older, but most high end cards only have DVI (and most monitors come with them) so the pain of buying an adapter (which are also shipped, but if they aint!).

But anyway...

mathias

For an LCD , DVI is better than VGA ,

If you stick with VGA inputs instead of DVI it is cheaper as there is a EU tax on DVI.

That is news , got a link ?

There were lots of headlines around in December about a tax that " May" happen , but I dont ever remember it actually being reported as implemented , in any case , the proposed 14% increase has been more than offset by the reduction in LCD costs since ,
The average 32 inch LCD TV was approx 1500 euro this time last year , its approx 700 euro now.

Offalycool

http://www.behardware.com/news/7965/14-tax-for-lcd-dvi-monitors.html

Have to say the picture on my screen is perfect.

Anti

I do not see any difference between dvi and vga cables tbh. But my eyes are probably shot !

IgsTer

yeah am looking to get the 226bw myself..ive heard all bout the inferior model thing..but really there isnt much of a difference between the two as far as i know..doesnt turn me off..as i heard you can configure it to exact same as s panel..is ur monitor an A panel dirk?

pgleeson

Hi, I've got the 226bw for about a month now, I got the A panel. Once its configured correctly - its pretty good. Once you configure it as they recommend on the following page it should be only slightly inferior to the S panel.

The most notable difference will be the dominance of blue colors.

astrofool

If you turn on ClearType you should be able to see quite a big difference between VGA and DVI. Otherwise it's sharper than a comparable VGA image and much less noisy (using VGA on a CRT means going from digital to analogue then back again).

nibble

I've got a 206BW and love it, It's an A panel but the whole A vs. S is just FUD honestly, they're all good. Hardwareversand has it for <250 I think if anyone is interested.

conzy

Widescreen is great for games, most games support it natively these days, and if not www.widescreengamingforum.com has great tutorials on how to get older games to work...

You see about 30% more in games, and you dont "lose" Vertical height :rolleyes: You gain horizontal width, unless you buy a really small one....

20" 1680*1050 is a great res, and I can run CSS maxed with 4XAA and 16XAF at 85fps solid with an X1800XT so a X1950pro should manage that no problem...

Anyway Widescreen gives you a bit of a competitive egde in games and its great for watching movies / editing / productivity....

DirkVoodoo

Havent checked Igster, I reckon its an A panel though. Will check later.

TerrorFirmer

Cremo wrote:

I don't like them at all tbh, especially for games.

I find when playing fps, my movement is more up and down than side to side.

widescreen monitors sacrfice height so that they can add the width.

only thing i think widescreen are good for are movies in my opinion.

also my opinion may be a bit warped as i still believe CRT monitor provide a better experience for games.

I actually agree, I have a 20" syncmaster and I don't like it for games really, I'd actually prefer to have a 20" regular screen, at this stage I just use the 19" regular in my room for most of my games. The really annoying thing is games that don't support widescreen properly (more then you'd think, although it is decreasing), having to play at a lower res scaled up to fit...