Why widescreen in monitors

I’m looking for a new LCD monitor something around 19 or 20 inches. My
question is why widescreen? If my needs are viewing the internet and
word processing or spreadsheet I can’t see an advantage. Since the
screen size is measured diagonally from corner to corner a 20 inch
widescreen monitor is about the same as a 17 inch monitor vertically.
Please tell me why widescreen is so popular. BTW, I don’t watch TV on
my PC.

Thanks, Geri

**** them all! I feel your pain m8.. I recently also switched to LCD
from my 22" CRT and I had no choice but to buy widescreen. There simply
aren't any more 4:3 screens where I live. They're forcing the widescreen
"standars" and, as you already noticed, one of the reasons my be the
illusion of a bigger screen format when, in fact, they're smaller. One
of the most redicilous thins i've seen as a "seeling point" was the
ability to view 2 pages horizontaly at the same time in, say, word.
which is borderline idiotic as trying this with a 22" monitor (which I
have) results microscopic text. not to mention it's pointless in the
first place. So why take widescreen?.. Only advantage i've seen so far
was in watching movies as this is just about the only other thing that
forces widescreen..
Also.. if you're into games keep in mind that many pc games still lack
good widescreen support so you'll probably end up with 1-2 resolutions
to choose from. Even worse, some games "support widescreen" but mess up
the textures and gui. So also bad for games (for now at least).


Geri wrote:
> I’m looking for a new LCD monitor something around 19 or 20 inches. My
> question is why widescreen? If my needs are viewing the internet and
> word processing or spreadsheet I can’t see an advantage. Since the
> screen size is measured diagonally from corner to corner a 20 inch
> widescreen monitor is about the same as a 17 inch monitor vertically.
> Please tell me why widescreen is so popular. BTW, I don’t watch TV on
> my PC.
>
> Thanks, Geri

You're preaching to the choir. I shopped for an LCD monitor a few
months ago and managed to get a 20" 4:3 ViewSonic. 20" in widescreen
is a joke, you have to go up to 24" at least. I'd rather have two 4:3
monitors.
--
It is not impossible to govern Italians. It is merely useless.
~ Benito Mussolini

On Dec 4, 9:10 pm, Bob Fry <bob...@mailinator.com> wrote:
> You're preaching to the choir. I shopped for an LCD monitor a few
> months ago and managed to get a 20" 4:3 ViewSonic. 20" in widescreen
> is a joke, you have to go up to 24" at least. I'd rather have two 4:3
> monitors.
> --
> It is not impossible to govern Italians. It is merely useless.
> ~ Benito Mussolini

In a nutshell, widescreen is the future. Of course, thats not to say
that 4:3 is antiquated by any means. For average computer use a 4:3
may be an equal or better choice for at least the next 4-5 years.
However, most corporations are expecting the majority of users to have
16:9 access by that point. This is nearly the case in Europe already.
Meaning they will begin making programs designed for best use on a
widescreen display. Look forward to webpages to become more and more
16:9 friendly in the future as well. If you are looking to play video
games the advantage of greater peripheral vision is quite nice, but
not necessary. For watching movies, I think widescreen is essential
for experiencing the true vision of the director. Pan and Scan
absolutely destroys a movie. Then again if you enjoy watching 98% of
television shows made prior to 2003, 4:3 takes the upper hand. Despite
all of these differences I would have to suggest going for the 16:9
screen and using the extra peripheral real estate for multitasking.
For instance, you can use a word document of to one side and a small
YouTube video on the other. Essentially for most people widescreen is
either a matter of future proofing or an aesthetic trend. If you end
up getting a 4:3 screen for documents you should have no problems,
that is until you try to watch a widescreen film!

On Tue, 04 Dec 2007 19:10:26 -0800, Bob Fry <bobfry@mailinator.com> wrote:

>You're preaching to the choir. I shopped for an LCD monitor a few
>months ago and managed to get a 20" 4:3 ViewSonic. 20" in widescreen
>is a joke, you have to go up to 24" at least. I'd rather have two 4:3
>monitors.

Why not get two 24" widescreens?

Man, I remember 4:3 monitors. They remind me of the old black and white
TV we had in the 70s.
--
Michael Cecil
http://macecil.googlepages.com/index.htm
http://macecil.googlepages.com/safehex.htm
http://macecil.googlepages.com/hackingvista.htm

I was hell bent on buying a widescreen LCD for so long, but now that the
time to buy is approaching I'm wondering what advantage I would gain. I
rarely watch movies on my computer. So I'm on the fence.

--
Mac Cool

"Geri" <geri@any.net> wrote in message
news9Gdna_BpaggacjanZ2dnUVZ_viunZ2d@brainstormin ternet.net...
> I’m looking for a new LCD monitor something around 19 or 20 inches. My
> question is why widescreen? If my needs are viewing the internet and word
> processing or spreadsheet I can’t see an advantage. Since the screen size
> is measured diagonally from corner to corner a 20 inch widescreen monitor
> is about the same as a 17 inch monitor vertically. Please tell me why
> widescreen is so popular. BTW, I don’t watch TV on my PC.
>
> Thanks, Geri

widescreens are good for applications that have control panels down the
sides, ie CAD and CAM work.

Geri wrote:
> I’m looking for a new LCD monitor something around 19 or 20 inches. My
> question is why widescreen? If my needs are viewing the internet
> and word processing or spreadsheet I can’t see an advantage. Since
> the screen size is measured diagonally from corner to corner a 20 inch
> widescreen monitor is about the same as a 17 inch monitor vertically.
> Please tell me why widescreen is so popular.

I'd say Wide Screen video is better on a Widescreen monitor. Also there is
not much side scrolling needed on certain apps when using my 24" widescreen
compared to my 22" CRT.
Apart from that I believe a widescreen monitor is better value from the
manufacturers because they can cut the Flat Panels from the glass substrate
using widescreen dimensions with less wastage.

> BTW, I don’t watch TV on
> my PC.

"Fergus" <The@Catbtinternet.com> wrote in
news:AZmdnReK69a218vanZ2dnUVZ8qminZ2d@bt.com:

>
> "Geri" <geri@any.net> wrote in message
> news9Gdna_BpaggacjanZ2dnUVZ_viunZ2d@brainstormin ternet.net...
>> I’m looking for a new LCD monitor something around 19 or 20 inches.
>> My question is why widescreen? If my needs are viewing the internet
>> and word processing or spreadsheet I can’t see an advantage. Since
>> the screen size is measured diagonally from corner to corner a 20
>> inch widescreen monitor is about the same as a 17 inch monitor
>> vertically. Please tell me why widescreen is so popular. BTW, I
>> don’t watch TV on my PC.
>>
>> Thanks, Geri
>
> widescreens are good for applications that have control panels down
> the sides, ie CAD and CAM work.

I second this. Try Word and then move allthe toolbars and stuff to the
edge. You get a taller page and you get all the buttons.

Geri <geri@any.net> wrote in
news9Gdna_BpaggacjanZ2dnUVZ_viunZ2d@brainstormin ternet.net:

> I’m looking for a new LCD monitor something around 19 or 20 inches. My
> question is why widescreen? If my needs are viewing the internet and
> word processing or spreadsheet I can’t see an advantage. Since the
> screen size is measured diagonally from corner to corner a 20 inch
> widescreen monitor is about the same as a 17 inch monitor vertically.
> Please tell me why widescreen is so popular. BTW, I don’t watch TV on
> my PC.

Some graphics cards allow you to rotate the display. So you can buy a
widescreen, tip it on its side, and software rotate the display. You end
up with a nice -but unstable- portrait monitor.

I dunno what hapens with mice pointers - you might have to hold the mouse
sideways.

Personally, I like widescreen because I use RS feeds, so i have them open
on one side and a browser open on the other.