16:9 vs 4:3 Monitors
| # | Post |
|---|---|
| 1 | Call me old school, but I prefer the 4:3 monitors as it is so much better for reading documents and text. With all the ribbons etc. which so many programmes have these days there is just not much room for actual information on the screen. With a 4:3 monitor you can get an entire page on the screen and still are able to read it. I know you can rotate the 16:9 monitors these days and they still look OK, but they end up not being quite wide enough. Does the 16:9 monitor popularity come from the rise of the laptops, given that they are primarily 16:9 ratio? tygertung - 2021-01-01 08:51:00 |
| 2 | Most media is 16:9 which is why it became so popular on PCs (and TVs too) and once 16:9 'won' other aspect ratios became more expensive as there wasn't the volume there any more. You can still get other aspect ratios - MS laptops are generally 3:2, Apple is 16:10 (as are some high end Dells) and desktop monitors are commonly available in everything from 16:10 to 32:9. As for what works best it depends on what you use the monitor for and what size it is - personally I like 16:10 at smaller sizes (like your standard 24") but 16:9 is fine for anything 27" and up as you still get sufficient vertical space vtecintegra - 2021-01-01 09:38:00 |
| 3 | I would say that 24" is obscenely big for a computer monitor. I usually use a 19" and it is more than big enough. If it is extra large, you just have to move it further away. tygertung - 2021-01-01 20:48:00 |
| 4 | tygertung wrote:
Purely subjective. I think my first monitor was 15", then 17, then 22, then 24 and now a 27". Each time my eyes have adjusted, and I sit no further away now to what I did back then. cube_guy - 2021-01-01 21:09:00 |
| 5 | tygertung wrote:
Laughing with my 27" 5k iMac. sw20 - 2021-01-01 21:18:00 |
| 6 | Surely if one is 30cm away from a 24" or a 27" monitor one would have to do a lot of head movement to see everything on the screen?! tygertung - 2021-01-02 08:04:00 |
| 7 | 30 cm ?!?! Heck, I don't even hold my phone that close. 60 cm for a laptop and ~80 cm for a desktop. soundsgood - 2021-01-02 08:43:00 |
| 8 | tygertung wrote: event_horizon_1 - 2021-01-02 09:44:00 |
| 9 | tygertung wrote:
Try doing any CAD or graphics work on such a thing, hope you like continuously zooming ever few seconds, fun fun fun. The 90's were 30 years ago, people do more with computers than run word and excel. If vertical page layout really is your primary concern, buy a 16:9 with a swivel base and rotate it 90 degrees then tell us how much you prefer your 4:3. I use a 21:9, I find having to use anything narrower extremely counterproductive. Edited by ronaldo8 at 10:52 am, Sat 2 Jan ronaldo8 - 2021-01-02 10:49:00 |
| 10 | I'm glad you are satisfied. I did try using a 16:9 in up and down position, but it wasn't quite long enough. Anyway I don't think the 90s is quite accurate. "Once seen as exotic,[1] since 2009, it has become the most common aspect ratio for televisions and computer monitors... " There are plenty of pre 2009 LCd monitors still going strong. I mean it is slightly better for watching wide screen video, but I don't mind a small black band at the top and bottom that much. tygertung - 2021-01-02 13:22:00 |
| 11 | Also I find that the 16:9 monitors take up too much room at the workstation and make the desk really cluttered. tygertung - 2021-01-02 13:25:00 |
| 12 | Ok, so don't buy one then? cube_guy - 2021-01-02 13:35:00 |
| 13 | My AOC 21.5" widescreen is perfect for the job. Better than the square 19" that was there before. I think you can go too big though, 24's probably about the biggest i'd like to go otherwise you're searching around the screen too much instead of just looking at it. muppet_slayer - 2021-01-02 16:03:00 |
| 14 | Yes, but you can just have it further away and then it looks like a smaller screen to the eye. tygertung - 2021-01-02 16:21:00 |
| 15 | by aspect do you mean a monitor that is the = of portrait & landscape? I use a computer based embroidery machine program & had to use it in another room [been on win10 laptop] & dug out the xp [that hadn't made it to the scrap pile yet] got a screen from eco shed & found that because it was wider than tall, it was ok to run the machine, but I wasn't able to work on patterns due to a squashed look.. have been back to eco shed & got one that is more square & it works fine urbanrefugee54 - 2021-01-02 17:21:00 |
| 16 | Yes, those ones which are extra wide are good for watching movies, but I find them to be unsatisfactory for much else. tygertung - 2021-01-02 18:54:00 |
| 17 | tygertung wrote:
I'd have thought it obvious my comment was referring to 4:3, an aspect ratio that dates to Edison but that that had its heyday in computing in the late 80's early 90's with VGA analog video. Edited by ronaldo8 at 9:37 pm, Sat 2 Jan ronaldo8 - 2021-01-02 21:29:00 |
| 18 | ronaldo8 wrote:
The days of the CRT. When a 32" TV was a two-man lift. But just as important as size these days is the resolution. A 4K screen can show a lot more details of a document, provided one's own eye-sight is up to it. soundsgood - 2021-01-02 22:01:00 |
| 19 | Maybe I am getting confused between 4:3 and 5:4, it seems 1280x1024 is 5:4, so that is quite a nice aspect ratio. tygertung - 2021-01-02 22:18:00 |
| 20 | The member deleted this message. azza20 - 2021-01-04 20:44:00 |
| 21 | I hear you, but I mean it just takes up too much horizontal real estate! I often might sit 45 cm away from the screen, so it is effectively bigger. tygertung - 2021-01-05 11:57:00 |
| 22 | event_horizon_1 wrote: supernova2 - 2021-01-05 13:37:00 |
| 23 | Yeah, you should have seen some of the guys at work with a massive backwards head tilt going on! tygertung - 2021-01-05 16:49:00 |
| 24 | I have noticed that when viewing the TradeMe website on a 16:9 monitor that there are big white borders down each side. Perhaps it is optimised for a 5:4 display? tygertung - 2021-01-09 12:06:00 |
| 25 | tygertung wrote: Those big white borders are where the advertisements appear. gyrogearloose - 2021-01-09 12:28:00 |
| 26 | supernova2 wrote:
much better idea to have a set of cheap fixed focal length reading glasses at hand for computer use, horses for courses. ronaldo8 - 2021-01-10 16:00:00 |
| 27 | gyrogearloose wrote:
Yes, you're right, I just checked on a normal 5:4 monitor and that was the case. Still has the white boarders. tygertung - 2021-01-13 11:12:00 |
