Best Viewing Distance for a 21" Monitor and best Picture

[arnoldz]

Am considering a 21" or a 19". Is the typical computer desk setup too close for a 21" monitor. Is the picture on a 19" better than on a 21"/by a significant amount if any?

 

[Shmorq]

I use a 21" monitor at home, and while it's huge, I don't think it's too close. I certainly will never go back to a smaller monitor...

Also, I don't believe that the size of the monitor has anything to do with the quality of the image. If you buy a 'good' 21" monitor, the quality is gonna be the same as a 'good' 19" monitor. For quality, I would be more concerned with the screen being flat or near flat, the dot pitch, and the refresh rates the monitor can support at high resolutions. If you read the forums more on monitors, you'll get an idea of what manufacturers people prefer here...

 

[Wik]

I just got my 21 inch a week ago and I have it in the same place that my 17inch used to be and it is perfect. I now find that I can sit back in my chair to while reading things on web pages where I tended to lean toward the screen to read some things on my 17. Now when I look over at the 17 I wonder how I could use such a small screen.

 

[Taz4158]

I sit about 1 to 2 feet from my 21". It's kind of like watching Windows at the Cineplex at first but you quickly wonder how you ever did without it.

 

[JohnnyD]

There is one problem with big monitors, you get used to them. I have ViewSonic P810 21" for one and a half years and to me it seems quite small now But going from 17" to it was amazing

 

[Shmorq]

Also, with a larger monitor, you generally up the resolution so the size of the windows and texts will still be the same. Therefore, just because you get a larger monitor, doesn't mean that you can sit back unless you plan on running at low resolutions.

 

[Wik]

Actually I use to run my 17 inch at 1024x768 and my 21 inch I run at 1280 x 1024 and that seems perfect for me and the text is larger, easier to read.

 

[JohnnyD]

I run my desktop at 1600x1200 with large fonts. This layout is really great for programming you can easly see the code and debugging info at the same time.