Widescreen TFTs - good or bad?

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...

I believe most 17" widescreen TFTs give 1280x800.

 

1440x900 I think

 

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?

I dont see much benefit even for my personal use, Im quite happy to stick to 4:3. I want widescreen in a TV but for a monitor 4:3 is fine

 

Would much prefer not to use them in classrooms. Thankfully all the 150 odd PC's we bought (Dell's) over the summer have 4:3 screens

Classroom, get Hard glass tfts 17" belineas. Internal Power supplies. Cant go wrong!

I've just got Hardglass 19" Widescreen TFTs from PCWorld business for the very good price of £109. Thats the good news.

 

Now for the two gotchas:

 

1) Like an idot i did'nt think about the aspect ratio difference for IWB's because we split the signal to the whiteboards and the monitors.

 

2) Dell Optiplex PC's don't have 1440x900 as a native resolution. GRRRRRR!

and as it's the intel Chipset i guess that would apply to many other brands

I think that Smart have just brought out a widescreen Smartboard, presumably for the very reason that most laptops are now widescreen.

Like an idot i did'nt think about the aspect ratio difference for IWB's because we split the signal to the whiteboards and the monitors.

 

Caught us out that one. Well we knew it was going to happen but it was unavoidable. So the teachers now have the option of crap display on the TFT, or crap on the projector.

2) Dell Optiplex PC's don't have 1440x900 as a native resolution. GRRRRRR!

and as it's the intel Chipset i guess that would apply to many other brands

 

The PC should pick up the resoloutions the monitor supports once it boots up with the monitor attatched. At least all of mine do that. Worst comes to the worst you can force it to see the resoloutions of the monitor by using the monitor driver on CD.

 

Andrew

2) Dell Optiplex PC's don't have 1440x900 as a native resolution. GRRRRRR!

and as it's the intel Chipset i guess that would apply to many other brands

 

Usually only requires a vbios update and/or driver update.

 

I think what Dan is driving at is you will end up paying a premium for a legacy 4:3 monitor, would you pay the premium or bite the bullet and adopt (with all the headaches it may bring)?

 

At home I have a 20" widescreen 1680 x 1050 so its like having a 17" with extra width and I most certainly wouldn't go back, it also has 1:1 pixel mapping so I can run at 1280x1024 at 4:3.

At home I have a 20" widescreen 1680 x 1050 so its like having a 17" with extra width and I most certainly wouldn't go back, it also had 1:1 pixel mapping so I can run at 1280x1024 at 4:3.

 

Whooopty dooooo!

Quote::

 

At home I have a 20" widescreen 1680 x 1050 so its like having a 17" with extra width and I most certainly wouldn't go back, it also had 1:1 pixel mapping so I can run at 1280x1024 at 4:3.

 

Whooopty dooooo!

 

Ohh me thinks somebody only has 15.4" !

Does SIMS display ok on a 19" widescreen?