Widescreen or normal LCD Monitor for internet use & word processing?

Question

I am considering getting a new LCD monitor and wonder whether I should get a widescreen or normal monitor. I do not play games but use it for the internet, word processing and Excel. Also what is a decent size without straining my eyes and using up too much desk space.

Answer 1

If that is all you are going to do then I would recommend the 'normal' aspect ratio monitor.

If you compare two 19" monitors:

19" normal has a 5:4 aspect ratio, and 1280 by 1024 resolution.

So it is 14.84" wide and 11.87" high Giving a screen area of:
176 sq inches and a resolution of 1.31 Mpixels

19" wide has a 16:10 aspect ratio and is 1440 by 900 resolution

So it is 16.11" wide and 1-.07" high Giving a screen area of:
162 sq inches and a resolution of 1.29 Mpixels


So the widescreen has less glass and fewer pixels.

But it gets worse. Many web pages have a fixed width. Yahoo for example. So having extra area at the sides does nothing for you.

5:4 aspect ratio fits two letter sized images next to each other much better than 16:10, so it is better for working on a single page (fixed width again) or viewing two pages at once.


To the widescreen's advantage, it is better at viewing pictures and movies that tend to have a wider than 5:4 aspect ratio.


I would recommend a 19"

Answer 2

My buddy hooked me up with a 20 inch wide screen that I had not planned on getting. It is awesome. I can watch movies on line and they fit the screen perfectly. Other things are shown in perfect aspect ratio, and I really like the monitor.

Answer 3

I've got a 22' WS, I'll never got back to a standard monitor :)

Answer 4

well i have widescreen much more space