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It appears the market is starting to be swamped with 17" widescreen TFT monitors. Standard 17" TFT screens are becoming a lot harder to get hold of for a reasonable price and the prices are still increasing meaning you get a much better deal on widescreens now. Rumour is that standard 17" will be killed off and only widescreen will be available in 17"
Would you have widescreen monitors in your IT rooms / classrooms or are they a definite no no?
Just curious to see your responses
Thanks
I don't like the extra space they take up on our benches. Also we have problems with some software not understanding a 16:9 ratio.
we've started buying 19" monitors instead.
I don't see any reason to not have them unless programs don't display nicely on widescreen tft's?
Ben
Well, from an education point of view, it doesn't make any sense - nearly all educational interactive software is in the old 4:3 format and when viewing on the widescreen a good portion of the screen is wasted as blank.
To get the same size from the software, we would have to buy 19" widescreens.
I just don't see businesses wanting widescreen monitors either.
i'd imagine a lot of the flash programs that use 800x600 would cause problems on a widescreen.
WE went with 19" this year as they were only marginally more expensive than the 17" and as stated elsewhere it definately improved the speed of the machine ;)
Sorry but most teachers don't deserve such luxuries as a wide screen monitor.
This is a problem with laptops used with IWBs and projectors.
Promethean have told me they are working on a widescreen version of their products. Presumably there will have to be widescreen IWBs?
The problem I have with widescreen is that while they are great for watching movies, when using software like Word or Excel they are a pain.
My 17" TFT give me 1280x1024 pixels. I believe most 17" widescreen TFTs give 1280x800.
Thats 224 less pixels of my document that I can see...
The only solution is a much larger screen...now where did I put that budget...
Its all down to cost. IIRC, the panel manufacturers get the same amount of 19" screens out of a sheet as they do 17", just less waste. I'd imagine its the same with widescreen - they waste less of the sheet so maximise profits
Oh and I believe most 19" screen give the same number of pixels as 17", or are some better...
1440x900 I thinkQuote:
Originally Posted by cadjs
I just wondered how many school applications won't like widescreens
I've toyed getting a 19" widescreen in my office since I often work with two files/documents/applications side by side, but I can't see any educational benefit from providing them. Like others, we have gone for 19" for the most recent purchases, concerns over the additional deskspace required would also feature in some of our rooms.
Ratio-wise, "normal" = 1280x1024 and widescreen = 1440x900, so you do lose some height in exchange for the width; whether that is a good thing or not depends on how you use your computer. Some Word documents can be a bit tricky to read if maximised across a 19" widescreen, I find, plus web sites with fixed sizes and some other apps.
If I were you, I would get one in to test first.
I'm using a 19 and a 20" widescreen on my admin machine and I have to say I probably wouldnt want to go back. The 20" widescreen has a much better res (1680 x 1024 i think) wheras the 19" is only 1440 x 900. The extra res on the 20" widescreen makes it veryt worthwile - and you can get 19" ones with the same res now too.
As for widescreens in the classroom, I fail to really see any benefit to be honest. BUT it is an inevitable thing in the same way TFT's have replaced CRT's, widescreen TFT's will become the norm very soon, and if you run non widescreen resoloution on widescreen TFT the image quality is reduced so it is not a good thing.
Andrew
Our new labs worth of Dell Vostro 200s have 17" widescreens. They seem fine so far, we'll se how they manage with older software when I get it re-installed.
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David Hicks
Ive got a 20" widescreen dell at home, and i wish i had 2 of them here at work to replace my 2 17" tft monitors. I probs wont be going back to 4:3 tfts any more, plus it makes working on spreadsheets a lot easier. I can get from A - Z of colums on a single 20" WS screen.
Ok - most of you that have said you like them use them for yourself in the office. What about practicality in the classroom if you have to kit out an IT suite with 30 PCs and 30 screens?