I've been seeing a trend in LCD monitors for the past 6 months. Monitor makers have been pushing the wide screen look. These screens are supposed to show DVDs (ie. films) better since the aspect ratio (width to height) is closer to the 2.39:1 of the movies (less black at the top and bottom). If you do alot of movie watching then the wider screens are better. If however you are more document or Internet centric then the wider screens don't buy you much.
The big problem, of course, is the advertising. Screens are measured by the diagonal so wide screen displays sound bigger. Ah but are they bigger? I did some research here at the PCSS Learning Center.
In laptops the hot size for displays is 15.4". These screens measure 13.1" x 8.2". That gives an area of 107.42 square inches. My old laptop has a 15" display that measures 12" x 9" for 108 square inches. So my old screen has more pixels (just slightly) despite having the supposed "smaller screen".
I use a 19" monitor here at PCSS central. It measures 15" x 12" for 180 square inches. The new wide screen monitors are 16" x 10.8" for 172.8. So once again they say they are bigger but aren't
The kicker in all of this mad Nick math is that the wide screen monitors get a slight premium in price. Laptops with 15.4" screens are generally more expensive then the same PC with 15" screens. I love when an industry can figure out how to get more money for less product. Its capitalism at its finest.
How I got to this stop in monitor sizing is that I brought home what I thought was a 1/2 gallon of ice cream. Nope it's only 1.75 quarts (where is my other 0.25 quart of ice cream?) for the same price of 1/2 gallon. Nice work if you can get it!
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