17” or 19” LCD monitor? (1 Viewer)

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

I’m in the market for an LCD monitor, and trying to decide between a 17” or 19”. I notice that they both have the same resolution, 1280 x 1024. Is it safe to assume that the 19” won’t be quite as sharp as a 17”? Any other considerations? I’m primarily interested in LG, since I’ve always been impressed with them in the store displays.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

 

[Mike Fassler]

personally Id go for the 19" out of the two sizes,I currently have Dell 20.1 and 24" lcds, I also have one of the 30 inchers as well and they are as sharp as any smaller screens ive seen. I primarily play games on mine.

 

[Jason Harbaugh]

Definitely go with the 19". Your eyes will thank you.

 

[Ray Chuang]

Given that 19" LCD's are going for not much more than 17" LCD's, I'd go for a 19" model, if only because you can see 1280x1024 native mode far more clearly.

 

[Jason Kirkpatri]

Dual 19" is the way to go, but if you can't go dual desktop, then pick up a single 19". I'd pass on the 17".

 

[Kimmo Jaskari]

The difference between 17 and 19 on the desktop isn't dramatic. Same resolution, slightly larger screen on the 19 incher. LCD is so sharp that 17 inches looks fine.

Still, since the cost difference is negligible these days, I'd also recommend 19 inches. Personally, I'd love to see 19-inchers with much higher resolution than 1280x1024, but that's just me...

 

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

Wow, universal consent! How rare is that? Looks like I’ll be getting a 19”. That’s what I really wanted anyway, just wanted to make sure it wouldn’t have a “soft” picture compared to a 17”

Thanks everyone!

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

 

[Kimmo Jaskari]

It's hard to get a soft picture with any LCD, since the panels have a specific amount of pixels physically, as opposed to having them drawn with an electron gun. You might get a grainy picture if you had a very low resolution LCD but I don't think you can even find those these days.

 

[Andrew Pratt]

Are these widescreen or standard view?

 

[Ray Chuang]

By the way, another possibility is to go with a 19" 16:10 aspect ratio monitor such as the Viewsonic VA1912wb. I've seen that monitor and the picture quality is quite good; however, for best optimal use you need 1) a graphics card that has 128 MB of video RAM at minimum and 2) the ability of the graphics card to display the oddball 1440x900 resolution. Fortunately, if you have a newer nVidia chipset graphics card you can use the ForceWare driver to set up the 1440x900 mode.

 

[Seth=L]

Der, bigger is always better. I need that awesome huge 6 screen big screen at Best Buy.........just kidding. But seriously the 19".

 

[BruceD]

Wayne,

How about a 19" LCD with VGA and DVI inputs and speakers for $99.99???

I bought two of these Hannis-G 19" monitors from different vendors with $100 and $120 rebates a month ago (already received the rebate check from PC connection).

http://www.pcconnection.com/ProductDetail?Sku=6732798

They have a good warranty and seem to get good reviews and I like them. 2 side-by-side 19" monitors is just awesome!!!!

 

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

Wow, that is a great price! I had the impression that Hanns was a lower-end brand, but if you like them that’s saying something.

Still, what is the advantage of dual monitors? Not getting it... I assume it isn’t to see in stereo.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

 

[BruceD]

For me, I use the system for my trading (stock) and web browsing, etc. It makes one large screen (side-to-side in my case). Having both DVI and VGA inputs (the LCD monitors) allows me to use VGA and DVI dual head video cards or the nvidia 6150 dual head onboard video of some AMD mATX 939 motherboards.

Also, I just couldn't resist 2 for the price of 1, @ $100 each. I paid $239 for my 17" about 1.5 years ago.

This company has been in the LCD screen business for awhile, just now breaking into PC monitors.

 

[Marko Berg]

I see you've already made up your mind, but I'll chime in anyway...


This is my current setup at home and I couldn't be happier. The larger display size (vs. 17") is certainly much more pleasing to look at, and once you get used to a dual-monitor setup, you won't be looking back. It's amazing how quickly you get used to it, and how much better a dual-monitor setup is ergonomically. I've also found that at work, where I have three monitors, working with a computer is much more productive. Whenever I have to use a computer with just a single display, I feel claustrophobic.

 

[JeremyErwin]

So you're running a DVI and VGA simultaneously? Is one monitor noticeably sharper than the other? Or is DVI mostly hype?

 

[BruceD]

Jeremy,

On an LCD screen there is essentially no difference between the VGA versus DVI, since an LCD has a native pixel resolution (1280x1024 in this case). The only difference I can see is a very slight color shift (one is cooler/blue than the other which is warmer/red), but it is not that obvious. VGA is cooler/blue, DVI is warmer/red. This could also be my video card's fault (nvidia 6200 AGP), I don't know.

Mine came in two different type boxes as well, one colorfull, the other plain brown. They were manufactured a month apart.

 

[Paul_Sjordal]

Uhm, color fidelity is the whole point of DVI on an LCD monitor.

With the old D-sub connectors, your video card converts a digital signal to analog, sends it out the D-sub connector, then your LCD monitor converts the analog signal back into a digital signal and displays it for you. Inevitably, there will be a slight color shift when you do this.

With DVI your video card and monitor are not being asked to do unnecessary work converting the signal to analog and back again, and you get more correct colors because the signal is digital from start to finish.

To the original poster:

Honestly, the difference between 17" and 19" monitors is pretty small in my opion. Go with whatever bargains you find (I happened to find a 19 incher that was cheaper at the time than 17 inchers with similar features and performance characteristics; it even came with a DVI cable (most make you buy that separately) and I've been very happy with it).

 

[BruceD]

Paul,

You sorta missed the point of what Jeremy was asking.

I know DVI can be more accurate, but I was giving my real world example of differences between VGA and DVI out from the same video card to two (2) 19" LCD monitors simultaneously, of the same size/brand/model. i.e. Twinview on the nvidia cards.

I have to disagree on the 17" vs. 19" comparison. I find it makes a huge difference at 1280x1024. Maybe it's because I'm older.

 

[Paul_Sjordal]

Ah, gotcha.

I suppose color fidelity isn't that big of a deal if you're not watching movies nor doing serious image/video editing. I just figured that with all the videophiles around here, color fidelity would matter.