Help me decide between LCDs

R

Roger Kohli

Newcomer
Dell UltraSharp 2007WFP (1680x1050) GBP 256 or
Dell UltraSharp 2007FP (1600x1200) GBP 366

I don't watch DVDs on my PC, just surf and play a few games.
 
I like the idea of a 1600x1200 screen, with a good deal more of vertical space and a res supported by pretty much every 3D accelerated game. I'd go with it, no need to care about widescreen gaming, and 4/3 at least is much better than 5/4 1280x1024 LCD imo.
 
Your web surfing experience will improve a little with a wide-screen monitor. And widescreen gaming is something you won't miss until you've tried it.

But honestly, 100GBP is not worth the higher vertical resolution.
 
trinibwoy said:
Your web surfing experience will improve a little with a wide-screen monitor. And widescreen gaming is something you won't miss until you've tried it.

But honestly, 100GBP is not worth the higher vertical resolution.
Click to expand...

Ummm... you know what? I view things the other way. If you surf full-screen, or two sites side-by-side then you're possible correct, however most web sites tend to be taller than they are wide. As such a 1680x1050 screen is little better than a 1280x1024 screen. 1600x1200 is so much less scrolling. :)

Widescreen is good, but it's not worth a retrograde step in vertical res in my opinion. As for w/s gaming, I guess that depends which games you play. Yeah I'd miss it if I had to go back to 4:3, but given that games are basically designed at 4:3 and 16:10 is an afterthought so it doesn't really give you much advantage in many games.
 
Most games will be designed for widescreen in the future. Games for Windows requieres widescreen support, console ports are designed for widescreen, etc. Widescreen gaming in RTS, RPG, and FPS genres are greatly improved. The view is much more natural to the sides.

Working with documents side to side, which I personally do very often, is just simply much better and easier with a widescreen monitor.

The only negative I could see is scrolling, but I've not noticed this at all going from 1600x1200 to 1680x1050, no negatives nothing but benefits.
 
Oy vey. Ah well just one :)

Skrying said:
Most games will be designed for widescreen in the future. Games for Windows requieres widescreen support, console ports are designed for widescreen, etc. Widescreen gaming in RTS, RPG, and FPS genres are greatly improved. The view is much more natural to the sides.
Click to expand...

There's a distinction to be drawn between support and design. Eg. where does the GUI go, and can you move it about? If the GUI is tied to the bottom and takes up 200 pixels there's a huge difference between 1050 and 1200.

The only negative I could see is scrolling, but I've not noticed this at all going from 1600x1200 to 1680x1050, no negatives nothing but benefits.
Click to expand...

Yah well, I have. I have monitors with resolutions of 1600x1200, 1680x1050 and 1920x1200, and I use them all routinely. The 1680x1050 feels the most cramped.

YMMV, I guess :)

</pissing match>
 
widescreen might be better for documents side-by-side.. expect maybe in such a case. will you see more of a web page in a 840x1050 window or a 800x1200 one?
 
then again I can pedantly insist.. do you prefer a 1050x1680 screen or a 1200x1600 one? ;)

to get back to the original question, if price is a concern sure it might be better to get the widescreen one.
 
Thanks for your replies, seems 50/50, so the GBP100 difference might swing it.

Can 1680x1050 cope with HD video (1080p)? I can't work out if its a silly question or not. Why would they not add 30 lines otherwise?
 
presumably you get etiher 1280x720 or 1920x1080 scaled to 1680x945 (with black borders)

/edit : well, actually there's no reason to care about HD, pretty much all video playblack on PC always has been scaled to match the desktop resolution. whether it's HD or not it's still the same. there's HDCP to care about (or not) for DRM though.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Skrying said:
Working with documents side to side, which I personally do very often, is just simply much better and easier with a widescreen monitor [...] but I've not noticed this at all going from 1600x1200 to 1680x1050
Click to expand...
IMO, this is much more a mental thing than anything directly related to the 5% extra horizontal resolution.

Personally, I find my ideal work monitor would be 6:4, say 1280x1920, but that's probably just because I'm used to 2x tiltable LCDs.
 
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