LCD vs LCD Widescreen?

[antiant]

i've never had an LCD before and i'm thinking about taking the leap, yes i know that CRT's are better in picture quality when compared to certain things and that the technology isn't quite there yet for an LCD, but with all that aside, i'd like to get your opinion on the pros and cons of a regular LCD vs LCD widescreen, your experiences etc...my main concern is picture distortion/ratio etc does the picture change significantly with widescreens? would i have to do any major adjustments? i've been looking at the viewsonic 22 inch widescreen http://www.viewsonic.com/products/de...35wm/#features, but i'd like to get some head-fi opinions, or should i just stick with a 19" LCD instead? (btw i currently have a 19" CRT viewsonic, if that matters)

 

[Torm]

I have been running two Dell 24" for over a year now and couldnt be happier (before this i was running high end Eizo and Sony CRTs). I do a lot of gaming on them (i work as a game developer also) and i never had any problems. Almost all new games support widescreen and look superb!
For windows and related aps there are no problem whatsoever as widescreen resolutions are supported throughout.

One thing to be aware of - you always want to run in native resolution of your screen (ie the max resolution, for 24" that is 1920x1200) or else it wont look nearly as good. Also you always want to run the signal through a DVI cable.
Thus if you buy a very high res screen make sure your comp can handle running games at that res!

 

[FalconP]

I'm now using a 16:10 monitor with a max resolution of 1400x900. Even old games (say, those from an SNES or PSX emulator) look great on widescreen -- the horizontal scale may stretch a bit, but surprisingly you don't see it as a distortion.

 

[hYdrociTy]

Generally widescreens are more expensive and have less real estate. 17 inch widescreen might have like 1280x900 or something while full screen will have 1280x1024 etc. It varies but generally if you are not watching movies all the time or have the need for two documents side by side, then go for the full screen