widescreen monitor

salthepal

Just bought a new computer and want to buy a bigger monitor. My present one is a 19" squarish one and I went to have a look at the 23" and 24" widescreen monitors in PC World this morning. What struck me is that they are very wide but not very tall - in fact I should need to buy a 24" to equal the height of my present one.
Are all monitors so wide and narrow?
Thanks.

John_Gray

What was wrong with the thread https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2520887 that you started a few days ago, on almost the same subject?

Richie-from-the-Boro

You beat me to it John

marleyboy

Its possibly a good idea to buy a HD LCD tv with RGB input, the added bonus of not only being a decent width n height, but a television\monitor.

My 37" has become the best monitor ive ever had (which was not its original purpose).

stuartbelling

I Agree, I've just bought a 32" HD Ready LCD TV only £300

salthepal

John_Gray wrote: »

What was wrong with the thread https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2520887 that you started a few days ago, on almost the same subject?

Absolutely nothing, but this is about the shape of the monitors - I was surprised at how wide they are when I saw one in the flesh so-to-speak. Have they become wider or is my memory playing up?

I shall now look into stuart and marleyboy's replies - more research!

Richie-from-the-Boro

salthepal wrote: »

Absolutely nothing, but this is about the shape of the monitors - I was surprised at how wide they are when I saw one in the flesh so-to-speak. Have they become wider or is my memory playing up?

I shall now look into stuart and marleyboy's replies - more research!

ASPECT RATIO'S a mathematical expression of an x-to-y description

4:3 -[1.33:1] is a universal for standard definition video formats
16:9 [1.78:1] is a universal ( Europe Digital TV ) HD format

- they're called amongst other things 16.9 Ratio / letterbox etc
- they ( monitors ) and TV's have been that way for a half decade
- your square shape [ both monitors & TV ] was called 4.3 Ratio

more research: QUOTE not needed.. .. .. if you can buy a new 4:3 it's old scrap

Hope this helps your understanding

John_Gray

Richie

You give most of the story but not all, since another more common ratio for older monitors was 5:4 (e.g. 1280x1024, like on the very good 19" Dell monitor I'm using). The real advantage of these was the number of vertical pixels, highly useful for looking at web pages or Word documents. These monitors are still available from Dell in the business section of their website, but there aren't very many and they 'max out' at about 19".

The newer widescreen monitors usually have a 16:9 (1920x1080) or 16:10 (1920x1200) ratio, with the former ratio being more prevalent, because of Digital TV (as you say). Personally, I don't really want to watch wide-screen films from a distance of about 30 cm, and would much prefer the old ratio, because of the vertical pixels.

I would say a bit more research is needed by the OP, because he should check whether or not he wants a stand that enables the monitor to raise or lower (but other monitor stand/risers are available!), and whether if he requires the monitor to be rotated from the standard landscape mode to portrait, to give a very deep screen format. The two Dell monitors U2211H and U2311H which I recommended in the other thread have both of these features (but don't even think of buying them direct from Dell - too expensive!).

Richie-from-the-Boro

John_Gray wrote: »

Richie

You give most of the story but not all, since another more common ratio for older monitors was 5:4 (e.g. 1280x1024, like on the very good 19" Dell monitor I'm using). The real advantage of these was the number of vertical pixels, highly useful for looking at web pages or Word documents. These monitors are still available from Dell in the business section of their website, but there aren't very many and they 'max out' at about 19".

The newer widescreen monitors usually have a 16:9 (1920x1080) or 16:10 (1920x1200) ratio, with the former ratio being more prevalent, because of Digital TV (as you say). Personally, I don't really want to watch wide-screen films from a distance of about 30 cm, and would much prefer the old ratio, because of the vertical pixels.

I would say a bit more research is needed by the OP, because he should check whether or not he wants a stand that enables the monitor to raise or lower (but other monitor stand/risers are available!), and whether if he requires the monitor to be rotated from the standard landscape mode to portrait, to give a very deep screen format. The two Dell monitors U2211H and U2311H which I recommended in the other thread have both of these features (but don't even think of buying them direct from Dell - too expensive!).

You are probably right John.

I interpreted his post differently, I assumed he was not even aware the format changed in the mid 90's, indicative of someone who for example still has a square CRT TV.

I wasn't aware that Dell do a 22" / 24" [ his original question in the other thread ] in the old format ?

salthepal

Richie-from-the-Boro wrote: »

ASPECT RATIO'S a mathematical expression of an x-to-y description

4:3 -[1.33:1] is a universal for standard definition video formats
16:9 [1.78:1] is a universal ( Europe Digital TV ) HD format

- they're called amongst other things 16.9 Ratio / letterbox etc
- they ( monitors ) and TV's have been that way for a half decade
- your square shape [ both monitors & TV ] was called 4.3 Ratio

more research: QUOTE not needed.. .. .. if you can buy a new 4:3 it's old scrap

Hope this helps your understanding

Yes, just wondered if they are all so wide.......
My Toshiba tv ( Toshiba 36ZP46/48) bought 5 years ago is widescreen but is not so wide.
By the way, I'm a "she"!

Sally

Shame the ones on the business Dell are not bigger!

Richie-from-the-Boro

salthepal wrote: »

Yes, just wondered if they are all so wide.......
My Toshiba tv ( Toshiba 36ZP46/48) bought 5 years ago is widescreen but is not so wide.
By the way, I'm a "she"!

Sally

Shame the ones on the business Dell are not bigger!

Yes they are [ hiya Sally :wave: ], as stated you can get pro square but at a heck of a price.

An alternative is to get a 22" / 24" widescreen that turns [ on the stand ] from landscape to portrait format. A favourite of the legal [ non standard document size ] profession.

Is this your Toshiba 36ZP46/48 36in CRT TV ?