Widescreen Monitors - what's the point?

[Penfold]

So I bought myself a 22" widescreen monitor thinking it would be better than my viewsonic 19" one.

Frankly I don't see the point of them. Apart from being able to open two windows side by side and having them larger I don't get it.

I bought it so I could see, for example, a whole A4 page in Quark or Word etc but it's no 'taller' than my 19".

Why don't they make larger 4:3 rather than 16:9 aspect ratio?

I suppose it's fine if you want to watch movies - but what else?

A PUZZLED PEN

[Bob]

Apart from being able to open two windows side by side and having them larger I don't get it.

"Apart from..."? Being able to have two windows side by side is (in my point of view) the main and most important reason. I suppose it's not such a big deal for the "average browser", but for people that work with computers in a way that requires more than one window open at the time, it's really helpful and handy.

Now I don't know about what you do with your computer, but I as a programmer (often need to have IDE open, running program of what I'm coding on, some documentation, browser with code examples, etc) have a very good use of it. For one it reduces (nb: I say reduces, not removes) the need to have two monitors (even though two widescreens would be sweet (or three - the more the merrier )). A second advantage I have noticed while working, is that when you work with code, the ability to see quite long bulks of code at the same time (and than long, as in many lines) is an advantage: than the ability (that you find on most widescreens) to flip it 90 degrees is very nice indeed


And there is of course also the advantage when you watch movies, but I only see that as a bonus.

[Cain]

I bought it so I could see, for example, a whole A4 page in Quark or Word etc but it's no 'taller' than my 19".

For this, you want a monitor that can be tilted on the side and change the desktop orientation in the graphics settings. I use this on a near daily basis. Very nifty!

[Penfold]

yeah that's the ticket.

I guess I'm working in the vertical plain as opposed to the horizontal one.

A widescreen which I could tip onto its side would be the sort of thing.

Not heard of them before - do you have a mfr?

Thanks
PEN

[delanvital]

For this, you want a monitor that can be tilted on the side and change the desktop orientation in the graphics settings. I use this on a near daily basis. Very nifty!

I love the pivot-function on my 19" when working in Word or surfing

[Blunt]

I love the pivot-function on my 19" when working in Word or surfing

that's just bragging:showoff:






:narnar:

[delanvital]

that's just bragging:showoff:






:narnar:

Nah... bragging is when you've got your name on a satellite :narnar:

[Carr0t]

Gotta say I agree with Pen. I do a lot of work on PC, and use a dual-monitor setup rather than a widescreen. More overall screen real-estate, and it has the bonus over widescreen that when in Linux I can change the contents of one screen to another desktop while leaving the contents of the second screen on the original one, which of course you can't do when it's all one physical monitor.

I just really don't like the look of gaming on widescreen, not to mention that a lot of the older games I still love to play don't support it.

[TeaLeaf]

I'm currently using a dual monitor set up but I'm awaiting the new 30" Dell widescreen which is due out in February to be my new main monitor.  The drive rupdates shoudl then allow me to run that with my current 19.1" 4:3 alongside as an additional source.  The advantages I am looking for is to get multiple documents/web reference open at the same time plus the bonus of widescreen gaming and movies.  It's kind of like TV I guess, you don't *have* to have a wide-screen TV, but you will get more and more benefit form a wide-screen because of the increasing availability of content for it.

TL.

[Penfold]

OK then final question -  (I Promise!)

I like the dual monitor idea. I tried to use two monitors on my FX5200 graphics card. I plugged one monitor into my analogue port and one into my digital port - however they both didn't work.

I guess, thinking about it, that I need two graphics cards - is this correct ? and is that all I need to do to get them both set up?

Thanks

PEN

[delanvital]

OK then final question -  (I Promise!)

I like the dual monitor idea. I tried to use two monitors on my FX5200 graphics card. I plugged one monitor into my analogue port and one into my digital port - however they both didn't work.

I guess, thinking about it, that I need two graphics cards - is this correct ? and is that all I need to do to get them both set up?

Thanks

PEN

No, you should (most likely) be able to use both, if you have f.i. an analog and digital out. Plug in both monitors and enable the 2nd monitor in your graphics card's settings. Or just expand your windows desktop in your display properties.

As standard, only one will be enabled. You have to enable the other yourself.

[Carr0t]

yeah, the Windows Display settings window, where you can change the res and such, should show 2 monitors if your graphics card supports dual output. one will be greywed out. Click on it, and there should be a checkbox to enable it. If it's not there then it sounds like something has gone weird, as i've certainly never heard of a monitor with 2 outputs that can't do dual screen.

With regards to TeaLeafs idea of a 30" Widescreen - I must admit I did consider getting bigger dual screen monitors. However I reasoned thusly: I have what was, until recently, widely considered to be the best monitors out there - Viewsonic VP191s. 19", max res 12801024. 1280x1024, especially if you turn on Anti-Aliasing, looks just as good (if not better with AA) than 1600x1200 or higher (In my opinion), and is something that you'll continue to be able to run at some time into the future. My experience of even the best TFTs is that if you run at less than native res there is a noticeable loss in picture quality. I didn't want to have to upgrade my PC every time I couldn't run a game at 1600x1200 (if i'd bought a 20" screen) or larger, so I stuck with my 19" 4:3s.

That's more an argument against bigger screens than 19" though, rather than 4:3 versus 16:9.

[suicidal_monkey]

If you consider the under-native resolution blur as hardware anti aliasing...

I have a widescreen 20" : vx2025 and it's excellent for working, browsing, games, etc - it can be very useful if you are the sort that like two documents/images/whatever open at once without worrying about two monitors (and it makes working in photoshop/gimp much easier with all the room for the dialogue boxes!). Even though my aged 9800pro cannot quite cope with 1680x1050 in most games I play it still looks damn fine. I can't really say why specifically, but imo widescreen just looks nicer, both in terms of the picture and in terms of the actual screen itself.

[Bob]

I can't really say why specifically, but imo widescreen just looks nicer

The reason why "most" people would think a widescreen looks nicer than a regular 4:3, is that it has a shape that is much closer to the Golden Rectangle than a 4:3 screen. Even though it doesn't have a perfect 1.618 ratio, it's pretty close

[Eternaluk]

The reason why "most" people would think a widescreen looks nicer than a regular 4:3, is that it has a shape that is much closer to the Golden Rectangle than a 4:3 screen. :)QUOTE]

I guess i'm just one of those "most", but I like the 4:3; but then I would wouldn't I, i'm strange.  xD