19" or 20.1" LCD purchase

[rmrf]

Right now I am looking at the following monitors:

Samsung 931C
Samsung 204B-SV

I originally wanted to get a 20.1" with a native resolution of 1600x1200. I wasn't sure if this would look good or not, so I showed my wife 1600x1200 on my Samsung SyncMaster 955DF. She thought the icons looked too small at that resolution, and that 1280x1024 looked better.

Also taking into account that I would be using this monitor for gaming and video/photo editing, it's a fairly multipurpose monitor. The extra desktop space would be nice for the video and photo stuff, but I'm not sure how 1600x1200 will affect gaming performance.

My rig right now:

AMD 64 3000+
DFI LanParty NF4 Ultra-D
2GB PC3200
BFG 7950GT-OC

Any thoughts on the monitors listed, as well as suggestions on what to get would be appreciated.

 

[BlingBlingArsch]

22" ftw.

LG 226WT
Samsung 226BW

 

[BernardP]

Yes, 22-wide will give you about the same pixel density as a 5:4 19-inch monitor. Check this here:

http://www.tvcalculator.com/

You can also check that the pixel density on a 1600x1200 20-inch 4:3 monitor is much higher

If you are willing to wait a little, you will be able to get the Samsung 226CW, which has 22-inch wide goodness combined with the extended color gamut of the 931C:

http://www.prad.de/en/news/shownews836.html

 

[hclarkjr]

check this 22 inch LCD out at newegg, i have it and love it!! i went from a 19 CRT to it and do not regret it

 

[ElFenix]

you'll get used to the size. it only looks small because she's used to the other size. i wouldn't get a 19" monitor because there simply is not enough space. my laptop's 14" screen has more pixels.

 

[kalrith]

I wouldn't recommend a 19" screen, largely because of the 5:4 aspect ratio. It's so much skinnier that going from a 19" screen at work to my 20.1" screen at home makes my home monitor look like a wide screen. I purchased the Samsung 204b last September, and I absolutely love it! I think the 1600x1200 resolution is just right; it's probably a little smaller than running 1280x960 resolution on your 955DF.

 

[rmrf]

So what about the dell lcd's? do they have a decent offering for gamers?

I have a couple of 2001fp's at work, and a couple of 2007fp's, and they seem to be decent, but I've never played games on them...

 

[kalrith]

You might see if you could borrow one of the LCDs for a weekend to test it out and see if you like it. My work let me do this, and I was very thankful for it. I borrowed our 20.1" widescreen and found it to not have enough vertical space for me. That's what led me to purchase the 20.1" non-widescreen, which is perfect for me.

 

[rmrf]

I was actually looking at the 22" widescreen

I'm still not sure about what my games will look like in widescreen. Anyone play BF2 on a widescreen display?

Also, any chance my system would run BF2 @ 1920x1200 on a 24" widescreen?

 

[rmrf]

anyone?

 

[kmmatney]

Originally posted by: hclarkjr
check this 22 inch LCD out at newegg, i have it and love it!! i went from a 19 CRT to it and do not regret it

:thumbsup:

I would also agree - a 22" widescreen is the way to go, and I own a few ViewSonic LCDs and have been very happy with them. This one has a really nice design and also has an adjustable height stand. I haven't played BF2 on my 22" widescreen, but other games have been fine. If you have an NVidia card, then they usually allow 1:1 pixel scaling with black bars to keep the aspect ratio. I haven't minded my games being stretched, though.

 

[ohmide]

I like the DPI of 1280x1024 on a 19". I tried upgrading to a 20" Widescreen but everything was way too small. But everyone's different.