I am about to buy a new LCD monitor size either 16 or 18 inch widescreen.

Or should I get square screen?

Any brands to avoid?

Any pitfalls? Or should I just get the cheapest?

Last minute advice much appreciated. Thanks.

L 115

Few things you shoud think about:

- if you play games, the response time is important

- depending on the lightning of your room, and if you need people to look at the monitor with an angle, the contrast ratio and brightness might be important

- if you watch movies on it, or if you often have to compare 2 documents, go for a widescreen, otherwise it is not that important

Few things you shoud think about:

- if you play games, the response time is important

- depending on the lightning of your room, and if you need people to look at the monitor with an angle, the contrast ratio and brightness might be important

- if you watch movies on it, or if you often have to compare 2 documents, go for a widescreen, otherwise it is not that important

Thanks for the feedback 'yeti' I don't play games on the PC and I will not be using it for movies except on rare occassions.

Really it is just general PC work and internet.

The LCD monitor I have now, I recall came with an installation CD. Is that the case with all new monitors? And will there be a problem if I try to install the new monitor?

Thanks for all advice.

Just be sure your computer video can support the wide screen format. My old one could not so had to change computers after I bought the monitor.

Would highly advise 19" as min size - the cost is very reasonable now. I have built in audio but don't use it as the quality is crap (cheap stand alone speakers much better).

Just be sure your computer video can support the wide screen format. My old one could not so had to change computers after I bought the monitor.

Would highly advise 19" as min size - the cost is very reasonable now. I have built in audio but don't use it as the quality is crap (cheap stand alone speakers much better).

Wow, thanks for that advice. I am worried now. Can my PC handle a wide screen monitor and how can I find out if it can?

Is there a test I can do?

Thanks for that. Yes maybe I will go for 19 inches.

I agree with lopburi, the bigger you can afford the better. I have a LG 22" widescreen, and I'm very happy about it. For what I'm doing (working a lot on word documents) I prefer widescreen. And it's a lot nicer when I watch videos on it.

All monitors come with an installation CD, usually including a software helping you to get the best settings (brightness, contrast, etc.) for the room you'll use it into.

The native (best) resolution for a 19" widescreen LCD monitor is usually 1440x900. You right click somewhere on your desktop, select properties, go to the settings tab and check if 1440x900 is one of the resolutions available. If it is not, you can try to click on the Advanced button, go to the monitor tab, and unselect "Hide modes that this monitor cannot display", click OK, and check if 1440x900 is now one of the available resolutions.

If it is still not there you don't need to change the PC, but only the graphic card, which will probably cost you around 2000 THB as you don't play games.

As I considered this monitor to be something that I'll keep few years, and as I spend a lot of time on it, I bought an expensive model from a trusted brand (LG).

I'd just avoid the brands you never heard of, and stick with the famous ones.

I agree with lopburi, the bigger you can afford the better. I have a LG 22" widescreen, and I'm very happy about it. For what I'm doing (working a lot on word documents) I prefer widescreen. And it's a lot nicer when I watch videos on it.

All monitors come with an installation CD, usually including a software helping you to get the best settings (brightness, contrast, etc.) for the room you'll use it into.

The native (best) resolution for a 19" widescreen LCD monitor is usually 1440x900. You right click somewhere on your desktop, select properties, go to the settings tab and check if 1440x900 is one of the resolutions available. If it is not, you can try to click on the Advanced button, go to the monitor tab, and unselect "Hide modes that this monitor cannot display", click OK, and check if 1440x900 is now one of the available resolutions.

If it is still not there you don't need to change the PC, but only the graphic card, which will probably cost you around 2000 THB as you don't play games.

As I considered this monitor to be something that I'll keep few years, and as I spend a lot of time on it, I bought an expensive model from a trusted brand (LG).

I'd just avoid the brands you never heard of, and stick with the famous ones.

Thanks for that 'yeti' I have just checked and that screen setting is not available so a widescreen monitor will require a new graphics card. I think the best bet might be to take my PC along for the upgrade at the same time.

I will stick with a well known brand like you said.

...I have just checked and that screen setting is not available so a widescreen monitor will require a new graphics card. I think the best bet might be to take my PC along for the upgrade at the same time...

It also depends on the driver used, some stock and older drivers don't include the widescreen resolutions but they can be added with 3rd party apps like 'powerstrip'. Most decent ATI and nVidia cards can add custom resolutions, but many integrated video cards cannot. What videocard is your pc using?

Noticed in Carrefour yesterday the 22" is now 9,890 baht !!!

Cheap or Branded name ?

My 17" LCD was VERY cheap 10 years ago....... X10 made in China, [£199 y e s that was the price 10 years ago] it is still going strong.

My 19" LCD is Dell, now 4 years old and still as new.

Be very careful of what you buy in Carrefour as they seem to sell some out of market stuff. The ViewSonic monitor I bought from them had a three prong plug that looked like a US 240v type. As I had a spare power cord was not a serious problem. USB speakers I bought from them had no software or USB adaptor (in sealed packages). Computer system I bought from them had a monitor with a power cord to connect to desktop but the computer did not have power outlet socket. In every case there was at least an hour involved in finding the units and them pretending to check them out (which obviously did not involve plugging them in).

Go for what your budget tells you ....

Thanks for the feedback 'yeti' I don't play games on the PC and I will not be using it for movies except on rare occassions.

Really it is just general PC work and internet.

The LCD monitor I have now, I recall came with an installation CD. Is that the case with all new monitors? And will there be a problem if I try to install the new monitor?

Thanks for all advice.

I just went through this mental exercise. Do some reading on "Native Resolution" and what it means. For text, 5:4 ratio monitors may be better ..

I mainly wanted larger text so decided on a 19" monitor with 1280 x 1024 native resolution

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Display_resolution

Actually the text size is well controlled by the application. For browsers such as Firefox/IE7 you just hold control down and use scroll or arrow keys to make larger/smaller.

If you want larger views on screen for everything all you have to do is lower the resolution.

Thank you all for the advice.

I bought a 19" LG Flatron black edition TFT LCD L1960 7,999 Baht Tuk Com Pattaya.

It is superb. (Barry).

Edited March 7, 200818 yr by libya 115

Actually the text size is well controlled by the application. For browsers such as Firefox/IE7 you just hold control down and use scroll or arrow keys to make larger/smaller.

I understand that, but that often "breaks" web site layouts. All other things being equal, the text on a native 1280 X 1024 19" will be larger than a 1280 X 1024 17"

If you want larger views on screen for everything all you have to do is lower the resolution.

True, but on many websites you have to do more scrolling .. sometimes horizontal scrolling .. and not nearly as much is visible in the viewing area.