[Dclug] Re: [Ma-linux] Monitor Recommendations

[David C Niemi]

On Wed, 17 Jan 2007, Michael Stone wrote:
> About $300. The things are getting cheaper fast, maybe because the 
> volume is starting to ramp up for HDTV's. (I assume that the popular 
> 1680x1050 resolution screens can be obtained by scavenging 
> not-quite-right 1920x1080 HDTV screens.)

That's actually not the case.  LCDs have discrete pixels, and lower 
resolutions can be only crudely approximated on higher resolution screens 
unless they are a direct multiple of the resolution.

I think you are right that the ramp-up for HDTV is lowering monitor 
prices, though -- the high-volume large high-rez LCD production 
capabilities that can make 46" and 52" LCD TVs also work nicely to make 
smaller, lower-rez monitor screens that are still pretty nice.

The super-cheap commodity screens have been 1280x1024 17" and 19" models, 
but "wide screen" 16xx x 9xx/10xx resolutions ranging from 17" to 22" are 
now fairly cheap too.  The highest semi-commodity resolution is now 1920 x 
1200 (better than 1920P vertically) at sizes of 23" to 26", starting 
around $600.  It's just amazing how good and how cheap LCD monitors have 
gotten over the past 5 years...


> I'd definitely recommend 
> getting one (and a DVI interface) if you don't have one already--it's 
> well worth it at these prices (much easier on the eyes).

I agree -- DVI simplifies setup issues and at least for some video 
card/monitor combos greatly improves sharpness.

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| David C Niemi  (Reston, VA, USA)  niemi at tuxers dot net |
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