19" widescreen, undecided about 1440x900 resolution...

[KayKay]

I was planning on getting a 19" widescreen, namely the viewsonic VA1912wb

I would get a 20" but that is out of the budget range

is there any benefit to getting a monitor of that size and resolution? I personally like widescreen? would I be getting less or more space moving from 1280x1024 to 1440x900?

how does it affect gaming? is there support for this resolution for most games?

 

[Mik3y]

well, what's your budget?

 

[KayKay]

400 canadian dollars

 

[Mik3y]

Hmmm. would it be possible for you to save up and wait until the dell 2005fpw hits $330 US? i dont know if the coupon codes applies to canada or if dell even ships there though.

 

[KayKay]

i totally wish the dell coupons work in canada but alas, they do not.

dell recently had their "12 days of dell specials" and the 2005fpw was 499 canadian, which is good but unfortunately out of my range

 

[KayKay]

argh double post

 

[w00t]

I'd try to buy a used 2005FPW or something it'd be worth it speacially with that 7800GT. If you dont have the money get a CRT :-D mik3y is going to say otherwise.

 

[ribbon13]

Return it plus throw more cash at it when you got it, and get an ever better one later.. Costco FTW.

 

[erwos]

1280x1024=1310720
1440x900=1296000

So, technically, 1440x900 is a hair less pixel space than 1280x1024, but basically the same. You need to check whether the games you play support 16:10 - most don't, but you may be lucky, depending on what you play. If they don't, you're now using 1024x768 scaled to 1200x900, which is a "loss" of about 17% of your screen (black bars on the right and left side).

The 2005FPW is a great LCD - my wife has one. I personally use a 1440x900 widescreen myself (since I don't do PC gaming on my machine - I play 360 on it), and find it to be fine. However, I'm still not convinced that widescreen is the way to go for PC gaming, and I'd actually recommend against it if that's the primary usage. Maybe in a few years...

-Erwos

 

[KayKay]

great advice guys.

i am tempted to do the costco thing. "customer's always right"

I'd say 33% of the time I am at my computer is spent gaming, so it is not my sole purpose.

The games that I play the most, Call of Duty 2 and Counter-Strike Source support widescreen 16:10, so that is not a concern. getting NBA live 06 to play widescreen I dont think is possible though...

 

[ribbon13]

I did the 'costco thing' up to this panel. :heart:

 

[darkswordsman17]

Originally posted by: ribbon13
I did the 'costco thing' up to this panel. :heart:

I hate you.

FWIW Buy.com is selling that same Acer screen for $241 today. Costco also sells some other 19" widescreens (one was $230 just a little while ago). Not sure how much difference there is between them.

 

[Proprioceptive]

Dude, I sell those Viewsonics at Office Depot. I've had FOUR returns in the last 3 months. People are just unsatisfied with the picture and the model I play around with had poor contrast and brightness. I'd wait and get the 2005fpw... or even better, the 2007wfp when it's released.

 

[KayKay]

ive seen that acer in person, was not too impressed with its look, but thanks for the tip on the viewsonic, guess im not getting that one

plus i wouldnt buy the acer because im not buying any monitor without DVI

 

[Proprioceptive]

Originally posted by: KayKay
ive seen that acer in person, was not too impressed with its look, but thanks for the tip on the viewsonic, guess im not getting that one

plus i wouldnt buy the acer because im not buying any monitor without DVI

Don't knock it completely till you check it out yourself. I suggest finding someplace that has it and looking at it yourself. You never know... we could have received a batch of poor monitors. I have the 2405fpw... and am absolutely in love with it. I had a friend who owned one so I got to play around with it before I bought one. Anyways, just want to let you know that you shouldn't count the viewsonic out completely.

 

[KayKay]

ok i'll go have a look at it if i can track it down, and give it a whirl.

btw sorry to hear about the watercooling incident

 

[Proprioceptive]

Originally posted by: KayKay
ok i'll go have a look at it if i can track it down, and give it a whirl.

btw sorry to hear about the watercooling incident

Hahaha... yeah, thanks. Lesson learned the hard way, eh?