I'm looking at getting a lcd monitor soon. I want to know what you guys think about a 19" widescreen lcd compared to a normal 19" widescreen.

Which is better, and why.

The two i'm looking at are:

Acer AL1916W 19inch WideScreen LCD 500:1 Silver
Internet Price: $305.00


BENQ FP91G+ 19 inch LCD 550:1 SilverBlack monitor 8ms DVI
Internet Price: $299.00

Thanks.

I run a 20" ViewSonic Widescreen and a widescreen laptop, so I'll give you a rundown on what I like and dont like.

Like:
- The extra width is suprisingly useful. Allows you to have 2 windows side by side easily, more text fits on a line, etc
- Movies are awesome
- Widescreen games are awesome
- I personally think they look better (aesthetics wise)

Dont Like:
- Some web pages go funky with the extra width (e.g repeated top borders). No big deal, usually, just makes the site look random
- Some games don't support widescreen, so stuff is stretched or you play with lack bars on each side
- If you want to run dual monitors, desk space can become an issue

That's about it really. Personally, I'd strongly recommend a widescreen lcd, unless you only really use the system for games, in which case go for a standard one.

those monitors youre a loooking at have weird resolutions too so take note of that otherwise the next step up would be the viewsonic or benq which go for 400-500 and do 1650x1050 or whatever ti was

I have a dell 2007FPW or whatever the standard 20" widescreen thing they sell is. (or was, I think they have changed generation just recently)

Couldnt be happier with it. I had a normal LCD before it and a whole bunch of CRTs including flat and fish bowl stuff going back and this monitor is miles ahead of everything ive ever used... including every monitor Ive ever seen in a store or used in a computer lab at uni etc.

I cannot think of a game that hasnt supported widescreen in some way (Prey didnt have very good native support becuase ID are morons but with a simple config file alteration it did) and games look amazing in widescreen. Of course its nice when widescreen movies are better supported and have less black bar action.

Some of the most notable improvements with widescreen have just been internet browsing or using office/email type stuff. The extra width is REALLY usefull with text based stuff like forums or doing an assignment in word etc. You can just see so much more.

I really cannot see any drawbacks to widescreen as long as its a well implemented solution like the dell LCDs are. A cheap widescreen, im sure, could have some really annoying problems.

Prey didnt have very good native support becuase ID are morons but with a simple config file alteration it did

ID didn't make Prey, and the original D3 engine came out before widescreens became mainstream .. so I don't understand why you don't just blame the company that actually made the game (Human Head Studios)

last edited by parabol at 16:31:21 26/Jul/06

ID didn't make Prey, and the original D3 engine came out before widescreens became mainstream .. so I don't understand why you don't just blame the company that actually made the game (Human Head Studios)

Well thats bulls*** becuase the hack for widescreen support of prey comes from the method used to run doom3 widescreen plus ID has updated the doom3 engine since it came out and could of easily added it since the engine supports it, just not in the video menu.

Well thats bulls*** becuase the hack for widescreen support of prey comes from the method used to run doom3 widescreen plus ID has updated the doom3 engine since it came out and could of easily added it since the engine supports it, just not in the video menu.

Who says ID hasn't added widescreen support to their own engine?

ID usually gives licensees access to their newest technology, but it is up to the licensee to choose if they want to backport new technology into their own game which they forked from an earlier version of ID's engine .. or just continue using the old code.

Valve built Half-life from the original Quake, but they kept copying code from Quake2 as it was being developed and kept merging the two. It seems this was not done for Prey.

The only instance I would be wrong about this would be if ID ships ET:Quake Wars without widescreen support, which I highly doubt.

last edited by parabol at 17:22:28 26/Jul/06

I use a wide screen on my iMac - frankly it irritates the s*** out of me. Just the whole fact that the ratio of x vs y movement required to get to locations (ie, that things can be so far further left or right) I find irritating as hell. For that reason alone I want my 4:3 back! :(

On the other hand, it's great for watching movies/tv.

I use the computer mainly for surfing the web/gaming.

Are those monitors a bad choice? I can't really afford anything better than those.

Thanks for the replies so far.

from what everyone else says, they have nothing but praise for these widescreen monitors. every monitor will be widescreen in the future, they kick the arse out of a 20" 4:3 monitor. its the way of the future, only plebs buy new 4:3 monitors.

I just recently purchased the BenQ FP202W an love it
I actually took it into work so that I could show the bean counters and managers it in action so that they could hopefully see it's real world benefits.

Example, at 1680 x 1050, you can display a wBook @ 100% and see columns A:Z and as many as 52 rows
Work:
Developing Oracle reports, you can have your source code open AND view properties without having to ALT+TAB an loose your place.

Games:
One thing to remember tho, the higher res's in games are nice only as long as you have decent vid card to support em

Movies:
Very nice, looses a bit of definition when running a movie fullscreen

I just sold my BenQ 937s+ which I bought last year for this one
Best mate just bought the 19" CMV Chimei 938D and we were playing games last weekend (and comparing our monitors objectively) on it an it looked bloody nice as well.

I went BenQ because of previous experience with em. That said, if I had of noticed the 22" Chimei for $550 I would have snapped that one up instead (oh well)

That said, I'd consider parting with this for $450 (paid $499 last Saturday) to get the 22" Chimei

last edited by HERMITech at 21:33:14 26/Jul/06

I ordered a dell 24" WS which was meant to arrive today but didnt. faggets.

Im also keen to get another 19"/20" WS lcd, but unsure what to get for games.