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Wide screen lcd

G

Greenman

Lifer
I picked up a wide screen lcd yesterday, and so far I'm not that impressed. I almost can't see text on it, and when I set a font size that I can read it screws up the page formating. Right now, the AT categories over there on the left spill over into the forum topics, and the text I'm typing right here is just about unreadable.
Am I doing something wrong? Or should I return this thing and get a lower res 19" that old people can see? I was running a 19" crt that I could read just fine, new screen is a 20.1" 1680 x 1050.
 
You'll find that with higher resolution displays, text becomes an issue.

There are a number of methods for improving this.

- Set font to large or extra large in the Appearances settings.
- Adjust DPI.
- Manually adjust font sizes in the Appearances > Advanced section.
- Adjust font size with your browser.

I do the last two, & with Firefox, yes, it messes up formatting a little.
Doesn't bother me much though.

I think the technically correct way to "fix" your issue is DPI settings, something i don't like mesing with personally.
 
Originally posted by: Greenman
I picked up a wide screen lcd yesterday, and so far I'm not that impressed. I almost can't see text on it, and when I set a font size that I can read it screws up the page formating. Right now, the AT categories over there on the left spill over into the forum topics, and the text I'm typing right here is just about unreadable.
Am I doing something wrong? Or should I return this thing and get a lower res 19" that old people can see? I was running a 19" crt that I could read just fine, new screen is a 20.1" 1680 x 1050.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I was battling your same problem and decided to go with CRT instead. You might want to try all that n7 suggested plus DL/enable Cleartype fonts. Text is small with big screen LCDs, no doubt about it and it ain't gonna be easy on older eyes.

But even with a CRT (I own a NEC fe2111sb) you can't win these days. I got a 7900gtx graphics card recently and the DVI outputs, which are designed for the LCD world, create screen noise and headaches when I use a DVI to d-sub (VGA) adapter.
 
Originally posted by: Hadsus
But even with a CRT (I own a NEC fe2111sb) you can't win these days. I got a 7900gtx graphics card recently and the DVI outputs, which are designed for the LCD world, create screen noise and headaches when I use a DVI to d-sub (VGA) adapter.
Click to expand...

I'm running a CRT with my X1800XT using a DVI to d-sub adapter and have no issues whatsoever. Maybe your adapter is faulty?
 
I don't have a problem with reading text on my 20.1in WS. Then again my eyes are pretty good. (their just horrible at far away things but thankfully, the screen isn't far away).

Lol, and the text from the Categories only spills over if you have the font on some insainly high setting. Just how bad are your eyes? (this is in Firefox)
 
Originally posted by: Bull Dog
likewise X1900XT w/DVI->d-sub adapter and no problems, and thats at 1920x1200 too.
Click to expand...

Nope, it's definitely the adapter. And I've tried different ones. I guess some eyes are just more sensitive than others.

How I know for sure is that I bought a gadget from Ratshack that allows you to control two computers with one keyboard/mouse combo. Connect them to one monitor and hit scroll lock twice and you switch machines.

I have an exact copy of text on both machines (from this message board as it turns out). My new conroe has the 7900gtx with two dvi outputs and my old Pentium 4 with an x850xt has *both* DVI and VGA. Use the adapters with the dvi outputs on the x850xt and conroe/7900gtz graphics and the screen looks very similar (and noisy). But, when you compare the VGA output (no adapter) from the x850xt to the 7900gtx (with adapter) then you can really see the difference. The x850xt VGA output has smoother, less noisy text and it is much easier on the eyes.

I've got a cable on order that has a dvi-a socket on one end and d-sub socket on the other. I'm hoping for the best.
 
Originally posted by: wizboy11
I don't have a problem with reading text on my 20.1in WS. Then again my eyes are pretty good. (their just horrible at far away things but thankfully, the screen isn't far away).

Lol, and the text from the Categories only spills over if you have the font on some insainly high setting. Just how bad are your eyes? (this is in Firefox)
Click to expand...

My vision is great, out past 3 feet, I can tell the sex of a house fly at two hundred yards. But anything closer up just blurs out. Getting old sucks btw.

And yes I am using FF.
 
You took a drastic drop in dot pitch, that's why the text seems so small. 20" LCD's and 17" LCD's have very small text size. Some people love it. Some people find it a bit too small. I find it a bit too small...

If you keep it for a few weeks, you will get used to it. I've owned 17" and 20" widescreens before.

However, if you don't want to take the time to adjust (or it's just too small), I'd strongly recommend getting a 19" non-widescreen or a 22" widescreen LCD (the Acer 22", for example), both of which have a larger dot pitch. The Acer 22" (what I'm currently using) has the same 1680X1050 resolution that your 20" does, so it makes a big difference in readability.

-----------

Two options for increasing text size on your current screen are:

1.) In an internet browser, hold the Ctrl key and scroll the mouse wheel up or down to change font size.

2.) Change the general windows font size. To do this right click on the desktop and go to Properties > Settings > Advanced and change the DPI setting from Normal (96DPI) to Large (120 DPI) or a custom size (like 150).
 
Originally posted by: ITPaladin
Opera is great for enlarging text.

Ctrl + mouse wheel scroll up.
Click to expand...

150 seems to do the trick, but it tends to screw up a lot of menus.
The whole setup takes some getting used to, just getting the brightness and contrast set took some time.
I'm still up in the air as to what to do, for cad, this thing can't be beat, and wide screen games are pretty cool as well, but for surfing it seems I'm always adjusting something. I'll prolly stick with it for a week and see how it goes.
 
You should have bought a 19" much larger text and everything else..menus..folders etc for aging eyes.. 20" widescreen has an extremly small dot pitch and no it's not remedied completly by changing DPI. It's totally unsuited for those becomming far sighted.. I'd recommend NEC LCD1990FX it's IPS, fast with superior blacks, color and veiw angles.
 
yeah i'd recommand that 22" wide acer. a friend has that and it makes a difference if you do not like the smaller dot pitch of a 20" wide or a 17" standard, its about the same as a 19" standard style lcd.
 
Good call but I can't, in good conscience, recommed a TN display to anyone. Everything looks washed out, un blacks, no viewing angles compared to the superior techs...
 
Originally posted by: Zebo
You should have bought a 19" much larger text and everything else..menus..folders etc for aging eyes.. 20" widescreen has an extremly small dot pitch and no it's not remedied completly by changing DPI. It's totally unsuited for those becomming far sighted.. I'd recommend NEC LCD1990FX it's IPS, fast with superior blacks, color and veiw angles.
Click to expand...

18ms is fast?
 
Originally posted by: Zebo
Good call but I can't, in good conscience, recommed a TN display to anyone. Everything looks washed out, un blacks, no viewing angles compared to the superior techs...
Click to expand...

If you adjust colour settings you can get it to passable levels (unless you're doing professional photo editing).
 
Originally posted by: Zebo
Good call but I can't, in good conscience, recommed a TN display to anyone. Everything looks washed out, un blacks, no viewing angles compared to the superior techs...
Click to expand...

the only problem is that other two display types are pretty much non-existant on market today and of course cost arm and leg.
 
Originally posted by: postmortemIA
Originally posted by: Zebo
Good call but I can't, in good conscience, recommed a TN display to anyone. Everything looks washed out, un blacks, no viewing angles compared to the superior techs...
Click to expand...

the only problem is that other two display types are pretty much non-existant on market today and of course cost arm and leg.
Click to expand...

You get what you pay for... and there are plenty of IPS or PVA I think that's all dell sells for example..apple too not to mention all the other brands...NEC, LG, Sony...
 
The simplest and most effective thing to do is to set the resolution to 1280 X 800 and enable ClearType. Scaling-related loss of quality should be minimal due to the high dot pitch.

Also, you will eventually have to surrender to the reading glasses 😎

All the messing around with font/icon size and browser settings will give less than satisfactory results in my experience. There are always things on screen that persist in staying too small.
 
I was in the exact same boat. I bought a 20" widescreen BenQ. The picture looked fine, but the pixel size was way too small for me. I got rid of it, and bought the monitor in my sig. Resolution is 1400 x 1050, in a 4:3 20" screen. Bigger pixel sizes, and much easier to read. No nead for DPI changes or clear type, etc...Because it 4:3 the overall size of the screen is larger than a widescreen.

There are some really nice options out there now:

If you want widescreen, and not 4:3, then you should get this monitor:

http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.as...at=1680&Ns=P_Price|1||P_SignDesc1&Sp=C

or

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16824009094

Both have larger pxel size in the same resolution.
 
What resolution did you run your 19" CRT at? I used 1024 x 768 for a 19" CRT (sometimes 1152 x 864), and the pixel size of the LCD in my sig works fine, as do 19" LCDs. A 20" widescreen will have the smallest pixel size that you can get in a mainstream LCD.
 
Good call but I can't, in good conscience, recommed a TN display to anyone. Everything looks washed out, un blacks, no viewing angles compared to the superior techs...
Click to expand...

TNs aren't that bad. I use a Samsung PVA panel all day at work, and a TN LCD at home. For normal use, there isn't much of a difference. The viewing angle difference really isn't a factor. At least that's my opinion, spending hours a day on each type of screen. For gaming, TN panels can have trouble with blacks, but I took my Samsung home one weekend and it wasn't any better.

I will admit that a 22" widescreen is probably pushing the viewing angles of a TN, but most people seem very happy with the ACER 22" LCD.
 
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