Widescreen or normal

geeza

geeza

geeza

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I've just been at home and my dads got a Viewsonic 19" LCD screen. I have an Acer widescreen (AL1916W)

Im sure him seemed 'faster'? I was only playing mohaa and sof2 but it just seemed better somehow (his pc isnt as good either). Does anyone else have any regrets about going from trusty normal aspect ratio to widescreen?

Why does widescreen dominate the LCD market now? I hardly ever watch dvds on my pc, and games seem to run slower in 1400x900 than 1280x1024
 
I'm using a 22" gateway widescreen monitor [1680x1050], had it for a year now and it's the best monitor I've ever had. At the moment I'm staying with my son for the Christmas - new year holidays and using his 19" viewsonic VP930 normal aspect screen [1280x1024] which I gave him when I got my widescreen and it feels really strange. I much prefer the widescreen so keep swapping over to his widescreen laptop. :D
 
A 19" widescreen (as you've got) is really quite small - it's obviously less tall than a 4:3 19" display and I think I'd probably agree that a fullscreen display would look better at that size!

Getting up to 20" plus though, I completely think widescreen is the only way to go. For desktop use, it means you can probably put a couple of windows next to each other and use them both at once which doesn't really work fullscreen - in modern games which properly support widescreen resolutions you can see so much more because you get a wider view and of course it's much better for films.

As far as "running slower" goes, the general responsiveness of the computer has nothing to do with the monitor - it sounds like his computer is just running better than yours. I would look elsewhere to find the problem. 1400x900 is actually a few less pixels than 1280x1024 so there's no reason why it should run more slowly and it won't on any decent machine.

(Of course it's possible that you are noticing differences in the monitors' response times, but that's a feature of the particular monitors rather than of fullscreen and widescreen models in general)
 
I also have a widescreen monitor and I still prefer my old 4:3. If I could get the monitor I wanted as a 17" (4:3) screen size I would do. My eyes aren't widescreen so I find it just annoying, with a tv it's not a problem as your sat so far away but with a monitor it's not as good as 4:3. As for a widescreen laptop they will have to take my old laptop away by force. :D
 
My eyes aren't widescreen
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Humans do have wider version, more than vertical. The majority of people think with widescreen you're "Missing stuff" but in fact with 4:3 you're seeing less, and if you keep films in OAR the image will be tiny.

Widescreen is better.
 
on my 2nd widescreen here (24 inch) could never go back to non widey again, it just seems more natural, better field of view, and more room for multiple windows.
 
geeza said:
Im sure him seemed 'faster'? I was only playing mohaa and sof2 but it just seemed better somehow (his pc isnt as good either).
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Dig up the specs on the two screens in question, maybe his is just a faster screen. Generally speaking speed and aspect ratio aren't connected. If you're just talking about framerates, he's probably using lower settings. 1440*900 is less pixels than 1280*1024.

Personally I prefer widescreen for gaming and have done since I switched. No regrets at all.
 
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