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General discussion

variable LCD monitor resolution?

May 22, 2006 2:46PM PDT

I am in the market for an LCD monitor, but have read and experienced that unlike CRT's, LCD monitors only work optimally at one resolution. With my CRT, I find I need 1024 x 768 res. with large fonts in order to read many web sites and the text in some applications. So to get 1024 x 768, am I stuck with a 15" LCD or are there any 17" or larger that will give a good image with this low a resolution?

Discussion is locked

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How close are you to the screen?
May 22, 2006 11:09PM PDT

Many LCDs can display at 800x600 with a native resolution of 1024x768 (or other numbers) and still look ok. There is no hard and fast rule on this so test the monitor you want at the resolution you want and see what happens.

It's usually acceptable.

What's also in your favor is a 15 inch LCD is really 15 inches whereas your 17 inch CRT display area is not 17 inches (measure it.)

Bob

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Only native resolution is clear on LCD's
May 22, 2006 11:43PM PDT

I have checked out a dozen or so at a computer store, and found that all look lousy at anything other than their stated native resolution. This matches what I've read online, namely that since LCD's have a fixed number of pixels, in order to display a different number in the same space they have to interpolate which blurs the image. I'm viewing them from about 18" away.

I'm currently using a 19" (18" viewable) CRT and was just wondering if there are any LCD's that are at least 17", almost as big as my current CRT, but would match my current resolution acceptably. So far Sony, Viewsonic, HP, and several other 17" and 19" LCD's I've tested definitely look very poor at 1024 x 768.

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Then your eyesight is better than mine. Try this.
May 23, 2006 1:07AM PDT

Windows has many (too many?) controls for font and more sizes. Run the native resolution but push it all up.

In closing my wife has an Acer 19in that is not at it's native resolution and looks great to me. Yes if you get within 2 inches of the screen there is some dither noticeable but then again I'm not sitting that close.

Bob

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What Windows controls?
May 23, 2006 2:21PM PDT

Actually my eyes are not that good, which is the problem with trying to use higher resolution screens. The only settings I am aware of to address this are, in Display Properties/Settings/Advanced: Normal (96 dpi), Large Fonts (120 dpi), and Custom. I already use Large with my 1024 x 768 CRT, and even this causes text to run beyond the borders of some dialog boxes on web sites and certain applications. Larger custom sizes are simply unusable for the same reason - too much text is hidden. Are you saying there is some way around this?

Googling the term "LCD resolution" yields many articles confirming this well known problem, such as: http://news.digitaltrends.com/featured_article6_page2.html

I'll try to check out the Acer, but on all other brands I've seen the results of using non-native resolutions are very obvious degradation of the images, easily seen from any distance.

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Just sharing...
May 23, 2006 9:36PM PDT

Our Acer 19in is at 1024x768 which is not the native resolution and it looks great. No running of text of which you write.

Maybe it's a video card driver issue with the fonts runnign outside the boxes or something else. The text overflowing the text boxes would not be caused by an LCD display since it only renders whats sent to it.

Let's cut the issues in two.

1. Non native resolution might dither or look a little of focus.

2. Up the font size too much and some applications might not resize dialogue boxes to match.

Item 2 was not mentioned or addressed by me in posts prior to the one I'm replying to.

-> Item 2 is caused by poor programming and not the LCD. It will happen on CRTs as well so it's not a LCD only issue. I know of no cure for sloppy driver or application (Windows) programming. Over in the Linux camp and maybe Apple's MacOSX there seems to be more care in this area.

Cheers,

Bob