Standard or Widescreen TFT mnitor?

[Mithrandir]

I'm currently using a 17" CRT and have been considering upgrading to TFT.

I've been reading around and still haven't decided on whether I'd be better off with a standard 19" (4:3) or a widescreen 19"?

The widescreens I have seen are around £175 (Acer, Viewsonic, HannsG) and there are some cheaper standard 19" TFTs from £135. My budget would be set at £175 but I'd prefer not to go over £150!

The main usage would be for gaming (Oblivion, Farcry, UT 2004, AOE, etc), watching films and some Internet.

My GPU is a Connect 3D x800gto.


Also a couple more questions:
Is there much difference in visual quality between DVI and HD-15?
Will a 17" screen be better quality than a 19" TFT in general?


many thanks

[chriscom]

Having just upgraded from a 19" crt to a 19" widescreen TFT I have the following observations.

I actually prefer my old crt for web surfing though, which is something you may notice when you go the tft route. I don't like when I scroll down for a millisecond things go out of focus. It's not a big deal and something I don't really notice now but at first it bugged me a bit. But I assume this is common place on tfts?

I so much prefer the added desktop space that widescreen has given me, and my tft does look far more natural. I wouldn't go back as it's surprising how useful it is to have documents/web pages side by side.

I don't use my computer for watching DVD's but I did try one and was very impressed with the quality.

Gaming, now this may be a bit of a problem as some games do not support widescreen. In such games it either means black bars at the side or a stretched screen. Although There are various fixes to a number of titles.

Games that do support widescreen are an improvement as they give a wider viewpoint and again look more natural. I assume a widescreen option is going to become common place in games currently in production.

All in all though I'm delighted with my widescreen, I did contemplate whether to go for a standard or widescreen long before I made my decision. Not only am I happy with my choice but I believe as more and more games support this I'll reap the benefits of this.

I bought mine from here as did a few others.
Although he has put the widescreen up £10 to £130 plus £20 p+p it still seems a very good deal.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/VIEWSONIC-19-L...QQcmdZViewItem

The none widescreen version is £114 plus £20 p+p
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/VIEWSONIC-19-L...QQcmdZViewItem

He's a good seller, the monitors are brand new and if you ask he'll even do a dead pixel check for you free of charge. (well he did for me when I asked).

Hope my info is of some help to you.

[Mithrandir]

Many thanks Chriscom.

[Mithrandir]

Many thanks Chriscom.

[awm]

I thought long and hard about the exact same issue (between 2001FP and 2005FPW) and came up with the following arguments, you just need to decide which is more important.

1. Widescreens have less total area and usually fewer pixels(at least for 20")
2. Slight price difference
3. Human vision is more widescreen, but current software is 4:3(before I get attacked I know this is changing)

Of course the primary factor is your taste. For disclosure I went for the 4:3 and loved it, but I presume I would have been happy with either aspect ratio. As for response time issues, that is a personal thing. I find some displays extremely annoying (ex 1905FP), but have no problems with the 2001FP or my powerbook screen. If you can try one out before you buy that would be ideal.