Does a WS LCD sound like overkill for me??

[bcsman]

My NEC 21" CRT is slowly passing on and looking at upgrading to a similar sized LCD. Here is what I will be using it for:

1) 65% internet surfing
2) 15% simple games such as solitaire, mahjongg, etc
3) 10% computer work such as defrag, scans, etc
4) 10% watching TV with my PCI TV card

I won't be watching DVD's or playing intense video games as I do that on my HDTV. Is there really any reason for me to get a 20" WS for what I do or just stick with a standard 20"?? Most of what I do would probably look better on a 4X3 aspect ratio wouldn't it?? And the scaling issues have me concerned also.

Looking at maybe the Acer 20" seems reasonably priced.

Any helpful advice would be appreciated as I am trying to make an intelligent decision in the next couple weeks. Thanks in advance!!

 

[KeithTalent]

I actually think having a widescreen LCD is better for what you are describing.

First off you will save desk space, second it is easier to have side-by-side browsers/windows open on a widescreen, and finally since you will not be doing much gaming you will not run into any of the issues most people have with LCDs (ghosting, etc...)

I have a 4:3 LCD at work and a 16:10 widescreen LCD at home, the one at home is waaayyy better for surfing and office applications IMO.

Get a widescreen LCD, you will not be disapointed.

KT

 

[Thetech]

I'd go with the widescreen unless the cost is way more. Other than that the scaleing problem isn't that big of a deal, check and see if there are any LCD configuration options in your video card settings. I have a laptop with a widescreen display and a Radeon x600 video card, I went into the options and disabled scaling this way if for example I'm playing an old game that doesn't have a widescreen resolution availble I'll just see pilar boxing(black bars on the side of the screen) aka the image won't fill the entire width of the monitor. I find this very acceptable and most people should unless they are screen zealots(or American, ) and have a problem if every centimeter of their screen isn't used all of the time.

 

[Kadarin]

If absolutely nothing else, you'll enjoy the space savings and cleaner (physical) desktop appearance.

 

[bcsman]

Wow kind of surprised by the replies! Figured my usage would be more aimed at a non-WS LCD, but apparantly I'm mistaken! And actually from my LCD pricing, the WS's are pretty much less expensive than the non's. So I guess I win all around!

As far as the scaling question, do all LCD's have some sort of scaling themselves?? Or is it something I need to look at with each model?? By the way I have an ATI 9600XT video card. Haven't looked lately to see what options I have with this card.

 

[kmmatney]

Most LCDs do not have any scaling options, so your video card has to do this. I would suggest a 22" widescreen. I use a WinTV card with mine and it works fine - the winTV software scales the TV image with black bars on the side to keep it 4:3.

Besides the 22" widescreen in my sig, I also own a 20" 4:3 LCD made by Viewsonic. This is a pretty nice monitor, and I have also used the 20" Acer 4:3 LCD. The one I own is this one:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16824116008

It is a very nice LCD for the price, and would have an effective viewing area larger than your current CRT. However, having used this LCD and the one in my sig, I prefer the 22" widescreen for overall computer usage, and worth the extra $40. However I do watch a lot of widescreen movies on mine. For your usage, the 20" non-WS Viewsonic and Acer would work fine, as long as your video card is OK with the funky 1400 x 1050 resolution.

I personally wouldn't get the 20" widescreen - I've owned one and felt it was too short, and the pixels were too small. I quickly got rid of it, in favor of a 20" 4:3 monitor, and then replaced that with the 22" widescreen.

 

[Thetech]

Originally posted by: bcsman
Wow kind of surprised by the replies! Figured my usage would be more aimed at a non-WS LCD, but apparantly I'm mistaken! And actually from my LCD pricing, the WS's are pretty much less expensive than the non's. So I guess I win all around!

As far as the scaling question, do all LCD's have some sort of scaling themselves?? Or is it something I need to look at with each model?? By the way I have an ATI 9600XT video card. Haven't looked lately to see what options I have with this card.

Do you have the catalyst control center? if so open it and look in your display properties, if not you should still have a scaling option, for example I have a Notebook Panel Properties page and in that panel I can select to scale or center images.