How immersive is a 19 inch widescreen LCD for gaming?

[mshan]

I've currently got a non-widescreen 19 inch LCD (1280 x 1024 native resolution) and am wondering how immersive a 19 inch widescreen display (1440 x 900 native resolution) is relatively speaking for gaming?

I know you pick up the widescreen aspect ratio, but is the image size also too small?

And how much a jump up in gaming enjoyment would moving up to one of the newly released 22 inch widescreen displays (1680 x 1050 native resolution) be for gaming?

 

[vhx]

What exactly do you mean by an immersive monitor relatively speaking for gaming? If your talking about image quality and such it would depend on the monitor you bought. Immersion solely depends on the person. For me to be immersed in something it would have to be like a 50" HDTV without major FPS drops.

Also have no clue what you mean by image size too small. Images are typically dependant on what their resolutions are. Could you be more specific on what you mean?

As for gaming it would depend on whether or not you want to run games in the native resolution. 1680x1050 would need a very high end video card to run that resolution for most of the newest/future games. However doing so would be very fun for gaming IMO. I have a Geforce4 Ti4200 and I can run my 19" widescreen @ 1440x900 in Call of Duty 2 w/o too much trouble.

If a game (typically older games) doesn't support widescreen resolutions, it normally isn't that big of a problem as it will most of the time still fill up the screen w/ any resolution.

 

[mshan]

By immersive, I think I mean being drawn into the game (?)

My other question I guess is simply is a 19 inch widescreen monitor acceptable for gaming? And would a 22 inch monitor be a very substantial jump in gaming experience?

(my questions are kinda vague because I am only a light gamer and more of an HTPC'er).

 

[PurdueRy]

I don't like 19 inch widescreen. Too much of a sacrifice of vertical height to make it worth the widescreen in anything except movies and games

 

[unfalliblekrutch]

I think how immersive it will be will depend much more on the resolution/image quality, sound quality/surround, and the quality of the game itself, more than whether or not your monitor is widescreen.

 

[mshan]

So for gaming, 19 widescreen doesn't seem to small to everyone?

(specific monitor I'm looking at is here.)

 

[PurdueRy]

Originally posted by: mshan
So for gaming, 19 widescreen doesn't seem to small to everyone?

(specific monitor I'm looking at is here.)

I said I think its too small vertically

 

[mshan]

This monitor would be connected to a second rig dedicated to occaisional gaming and some HDTV viewing (it would eventually be dedicated as a sort of control monitor for a dedicated HTPC outputting main output to a DLP projector).

I've got a separate 19 inch non-widescreen display and computer for webbrowsing and general computing.

 

[Sniper82]

For what its worth I had this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16824014090

Went to this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16824116373

As for gaming I'll never go back to standard 4:3 I love Oblivion,NFS:Most Wanted,CS:Source,ect much better in widescreen. I was gonna go with a 20.1" but I didn't have the card to run games in it's native res nor do I ever since I am a budget guy when it comes to PC's(7600GT). I run all my games at 1440x900 maxed out(other than Oblivion) which is almost maxed out. Only thing I hate about it is there isn't near as many 1440x900 wallpapers on the net than 1280x1024. I almost prefer 4:3 while surfing,email,ect(normal use) but couldn't afford to keep both. But overall I am very happy with the Viewsonic I linked. But since your keeping your other monitor you should be fine.

BTW if you usually keep high end video cards I'd probably spring for a 20.1" if it's in your budget.

But of course I went to Office Depot and they had the Viewsonic I linked and the 20.1" Viewsonic and I honestly didn't see $100+ difference in them. So in a way I am glad I didn't go with a 20.1".

 

[Sandan]

My 2 cents.....I have a 19in widescreen Viewsonic VA1912wb and love it for gaming. Doom3, WoW, Quake4 all look much better than what I had (19in CRT). I don't find the shorter vertical an issue. The wide screen is also great to have 2 documents up while working. The LCD is also much better on my eyes. Anyway, I would not want to go back to a non wide screen CRT.

 

[mshan]

My gaming video card is a stock ATI 9700 Pro.

I saw that Viewsonic and some other 20.1 inch widescreen displays, but I didn't like the screendoor effect (?) from having such high pixel density.

EDIT: For 19 inch widescreen owners, are you happy with that screen or do you want to upgrade to one of these new 22 inch widescreen displays?

 

[Sniper82]

Originally posted by: mshan
My gaming video card is a stock ATI 9700 Pro.

I saw that Viewsonic and some other 20.1 inch widescreen displays, but I didn't like the screendoor effect (?) from having such high pixel density.

EDIT: For 19 inch widescreen owners, are you happy with that screen or do you want to upgrade to one of these new 22 inch widescreen displays?

Since I just got my 19" wide I won't be upgrading for at least 2 years no matter how much I want it. Bigger IMO is better but if you don't have the card to run games in its native res games won't look nearly as good. So if you wanting a 22" widescreen mostly for gaming and only have a 9700 Pro I wouldn't bother.

 

[mshan]

Yeah, current price of these 19 inch widescreen displays is really good now (seems like $180 AR is fairly common), while 22 inch widescreens seem to be about $400.

 

[bX510]

Originally posted by: Sandan
My 2 cents.....I have a 19in widescreen Viewsonic VA1912wb and love it for gaming. Doom3, WoW, Quake4 all look much better than what I had (19in CRT). I don't find the shorter vertical an issue. The wide screen is also great to have 2 documents up while working. The LCD is also much better on my eyes. Anyway, I would not want to go back to a non wide screen CRT.

Couldn't have said it better myself, except for the crt part.