20" widescreen too small? Or go to 22"?

[raildogg]

I was at Best Buy today and saw a Westinghouse 22" widescreen LCD and a Gateway 21" widescreen and thought they were not as big as I had expected. I am not a monitor person - thats one of the reasons why I still have my 19" CRT from a few years ago. I was orginally planning on getting a Dell 2007WFP 20" widescreen and thought it would be a huge upgrade over my 19" CRT. But now, I'm having second thoughts.

To those that have gone from a 19" CRT to a 20" widescreen, how was the transition for you? I am also considering looking at that 22" Westinghouse but I would likely choose the Gateway FPD2185W 21" over it. I want to get the Dell 2007WFP but how big a difference would these bigger monitors have over it? Any assistance is appreciated.

 

[tribbles]

I went from a 19" Samsung CRT to a 20" Apple Cinema Display.

While the ACD was in some dimensions smaller than the Samsung (not as tall or deep), the 1680x1050 resolution on the ACD made it feel like I had a lot more real estate. I would say it was a nice upgrade, definitely noticeable, if not a gigantic leap.

That said, these days 1680x1050 isn't enough resolution to keep me at maximum productivity. I've got a 30" Apple Cinema Display arriving this week.

 

[Ika]

The Westinghouse 22" monitor you're looking at has the same 1680x1050 resolution as most 20" widescreens do, and the same for most 22" widescreens.

I went from a 17" CRT to a 19" LCD (non-widescreen) and the difference was huge. I'm still happy with it today, except I would be a lot happier with widescreen. My next LCD purchase will probably be the NEC 20WGX2 or the 2007WFP/FPW.

 

[w00t]

I didn't have a 19'' CRT but I had a 17''

I was in the buddle of deciding on either getting a 19'' CRT being the gamer I am or getting a 2005FPW. In the end I went with the 2005FPW and I don't regret it buying this monitor is one of the best choices i've made for my computer. It's an LCD so it's better on the eyes it's widescreen which is the future so it will last even longer. all those gamers who say lcd's suck there slow they refresh slow are complete n00bs. They will do anything to get that extra edge i've played cs compedtive for awile now i've went to many lan tournaments with my team and I prefer bringing my 2005FPW than using one of there 19'' CRTs. I will tell you now your going to have to get used to it it's bigger and wider than you think LCD's are measured from the screen while CRT's are measured from the bezel. one thing that I don't like is some games do not support widescreen example cs 1.6 does not support true widescreen. playing games in widescreen is awsome your pov is much better and more human like.

EA has problems with making games support widescreen and these are new games coming out BF2 where is the widescreen support? Madden07? Most Wanted, Underground 2? Widescreen is the future it's like they totally miss it they say it's cheating......

if you do get the widescreen lcd visit this website for fixes and patches to make games somewhat support widescreen.
http://www.widescreengamingforum.com/forum/

edit: get ready to upgrade that video card my X800XL is just chuggin on I have a X1900XT waiting in a box though for my new comp

 

[kaioshade]

Geez i feel so antiquated with my 15 inch lcd.

 

[beemercer]

My 20.1" Sceptre is the perfect size, and since I'm more about resolution i wouldn't get a larger screen if it didn't mean more pixels.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

I don't know if it works the same with monitors, but TVs at BB look a lot smaller in the huge store than at home imo.

I went from a 19" CRT to dual 20" 4:3 LCDs and I'm quite happy with the result.

What res do you use with your 19"?
I was usually a 1280x1024 kind of guy, so having dual 1600x1200 is a LOT of extra space.

What kind of usage are you thinking about? For me going dual, 4:3 made a lot more sense than getting two widescreens to put next to each other. If I was going to get a single display I'm not sure what I would do.

For a lot of movie watching, widescreen is clearly the way to do.
For gaming it seems like widescreen is really catching on.
For everyday internet stuff, I think the extra vertical resolution helps out a lot on a 4:3 display. When you go widescreen you gain a little horizontal space, but you really get screwed for vertical space. It's more like "shortscreen" than "widescreen" when you look at resolution of 20" panels.

 

[Leros]

I went from a 17" CRT to a 20.1" widescreen. Vertically they are the same height.

 

[mshan]

How significant a jump the larger widescreen LCD will be would probably depend on whether you view non-widescreen or widescreen material mostly:

http://www.tvcalculator.com


Note that your CRT is probably 4:3, while computer LCDs are either 5:4 or 16:10.

 

[43st]

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello
I went from a 19" CRT to dual 20" 4:3 LCDs and I'm quite happy with the result.

Who makes a 4:3 LCD? I haven't seen one of these in manufacture for 3 years or so, at least in larger screens.

 

[Operandi]

I went from a 19" Sony G410 CRT to a Sun Microsystems (Trinitron) 21" 85lb CRT to a Dell 2005WFP 20" widescreen LCD.

Of the three the Sun was probably the best looking and it did feel slightly bigger overall then the Dell but my video card at the time couldn't handle the Sun's higher resolutions (beyond 1600x1200) very well. That coupled with its massive size and weight prompted me to make the switch to the Dell.

Coming from a 19" CRT I think you'll find a good 20" widescreen LCD a substantial upgrade.

 

[HannibalX]

I went from a 19" KDS Xtreme Flat CRT to a Rosewill 19" LCD.

I like the CRT better but it takes up so much space.

I am not on dual 21" Widescreen Viewsonic LCDs.

 

[HannibalX]

Correction 20.1" Widescreen ViewSonic LCDs.

 

[aphex]

Originally posted by: Thera

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello
I went from a 19" CRT to dual 20" 4:3 LCDs and I'm quite happy with the result.

Who makes a 4:3 LCD? I haven't seen one of these in manufacture for 3 years or so, at least in larger screens.

I see four of them, 20"+

 

[Oyeve]

I recently went from 2 19" LCD to a 2007FPW. While I love the 2007 I should have gotten a 2405 or 2407. The 1680x1050 is very limiting. I would love a higher resolution in my games. 1680x1050 is not very standard. In many games I have to lower the ingame res because it doesnt offer 1680x1050 but 1600x2000 which is more standard. Oh well, maybe next year.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: Thera

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello
I went from a 19" CRT to dual 20" 4:3 LCDs and I'm quite happy with the result.

Who makes a 4:3 LCD? I haven't seen one of these in manufacture for 3 years or so, at least in larger screens.

Mine are a Dell 2007FPs.

I think there are plenty of them out there still for the 20" size.

You can get a 1600x1200 panel from NEC, Viewsonic, Samsung, etc.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: Oyeve
I recently went from 2 19" LCD to a 2007FPW. While I love the 2007 I should have gotten a 2405 or 2407. The 1680x1050 is very limiting. I would love a higher resolution in my games. 1680x1050 is not very standard. In many games I have to lower the ingame res because it doesnt offer 1680x1050 but 1600x2000 which is more standard. Oh well, maybe next year.

You mean 1600x1200?

 

[Oyeve]

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello

Originally posted by: Oyeve
I recently went from 2 19" LCD to a 2007FPW. While I love the 2007 I should have gotten a 2405 or 2407. The 1680x1050 is very limiting. I would love a higher resolution in my games. 1680x1050 is not very standard. In many games I have to lower the ingame res because it doesnt offer 1680x1050 but 1600x2000 which is more standard. Oh well, maybe next year.

You mean 1600x1200?

Yeah.