Widescreen LCD…

[Matt_Smi]

I am in the market for a new LCD, and I was planning on just getting a 19”, but I just saw this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16824014105 and think it’s a good deal, but I am clearly of using a widescreen display for everyday use. Will my PC automatically adjust the settings for the widescreen display, or maybe I will need to tweak a setting in my graphics card options. Will web pages look stretched out? I have a 30” widescreen TV and I love it for DVD’s and such. But I am not sure if it would be appropriate for a computer monitor. Also I plan to use my current 15” LCD as a secondary monitor; I think dual displays would be weird if one was widescreen and the other normal.

[RJ]

Will my PC automatically adjust the settings for the widescreen display, or maybe I will need to tweak a setting in my graphics card options

You need to choose the appropriate resolution yourself .. like with non-widescreen monitors as well.

Will web pages look stretched out?

No. The pixels are square, you just have more space on the sides. Imagine using your browser in windowed mode and resize that window to a size that looks like widescreen.

For games, I don't know. . . well I think there should be a setting on how lower resolutions are to be handled (many monitors do). There you can set whether it'd be stretched to full screen (not a good idea, everything would look stretched), or displayed in the middle .. but then, anything below 1400x1050 would also appear smaller. Not really sure what's the best solution here.

RJ

[Freakitchen]

All widescreen displays will run at a widescreen resolution, such as 1440x900. The vast majority of modern graphics cards will be able to support this resolution, and it will just give you more space on the desktop. Most games support widescreen resolutions, too, either natively or via a tweak in a config file (the widescreen gaming forums can help you here).

My 19" Viewsonic (VA1912w) is a great screen, and It's nice for watching movies on (despite not being true 16:9 aspect ratio, it's much better than 4:3). Webpages don't look stretched, there just tends to be more blank space. In forums, the text fills the screen horizontally, requiring less scrolling.

Personally, I see no reason not to go widescreen, apart from the tweaking that's required to get some games to work correctly.

FK

[Matt_Smi]

Ok thanks, also is BenQ a good brand? Because this http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16824014090 seems like a good deal.

[Freakitchen]

BenQ make decent screens, but obviously the second screen you linked to isn't widescreen.

FK