What's a Good Sized Monitor?

[easysurfer]

What's the common monitor size today? I have a desktop and switched from Win XP to 7. I have a 19 inch monitor which worked fine under XP, but under seven, the picture is a bit small for my eyes.

I can change the resolution around, but then some of the view gets cut out.

Is 24" the most common monitor size today?

p.s. I do have a graphics card use a DVI cable.

 

[haha]

What's the common monitor size today? I have a desktop and switched from Win XP to 7. I have a 19 inch monitor which worked fine under XP, but under seven, the picture is a bit small for my eyes.

I can change the resolution around, but then some of the view gets cut out.

Is 24" the most common monitor size today?

p.s. I do have a graphics card use a DVI cable.

I'd say get the biggest wide screen monitor you can find. I have a 24, and I'll get bigger next time.

Ha

 

[W2R]

I do not use my desktop computer any more. It is an old Vista machine with a 21" monitor that was "the cat's meow" in its day, but now seems awfully small to me.

If I was replacing the monitor for a desktop computer I would consider buying a flatscreen TV (maybe 42"?) to use as a monitor. They are so much less expensive than they once were.

 

[naggz]

At about an arms length away, I like 24".

 

[Katsmeow]

I have 27" monitors. The big thing to me though is to have dual monitors.

 

[photoguy]

At megacorp it was either 30" or dual 24". I'm guessing for home use 27" now are pretty common. I'd allocate a big chunk of one's computing budget to the monitor and go as big as possible.

 

[easysurfer]

At about an arms length away, I like 24".

Thanks. I should have mentioned I'd be using the monitor at arms length.

 

[easysurfer]

I do not use my desktop computer any more. It is an old Vista machine with a 21" monitor that was "the cat's meow" in its day, but now seems awfully small to me.

If I was replacing the monitor for a desktop computer I would consider buying a flatscreen TV (maybe 42"?) to use as a monitor. They are so much less expensive than they once were.

Wow. 42 inches. Which begs the question, do you use the computer from the sofa? Don't know if it's true or not, but I read somewhere that you don't want one too big as that'll lead to too any eye movements and cause strain elsewhere. I guess kind of like sitting in the front row of a theatre.

 

[W2R]

Wow. 42 inches. Which begs the question, do you use the computer from the sofa? Don't know if it's true or not, but I read somewhere that you don't want one too big as that'll lead to too any eye movements and cause strain elsewhere. I guess kind of like sitting in the front row of a theatre.

So, pick the size that appeals to you, then. A lot depends on your setup and how far away from the monitor you intend to sit, as you point out. I know several people who are using larger TV's than that as monitors and who are happy with them. Sounds like you have a pretty good idea of what size you prefer, though, so go for it!

 

[FIREd]

I use a 27" monitor at arms length.

 

[easysurfer]

So, pick the size that appeals to you, then. A lot depends on your setup and how far away from the monitor you intend to sit, as you point out. I know several people who are using larger TV's than that as monitors and who are happy with them. Sounds like you have a pretty good idea of what size you prefer, though, so go for it!

I'm leaning towards a 24 inch. The extra five inches more than what I have hopefully will do the trick. Now I have 2 very crisp 19 inch ones but unfortunately, my eyes have gotten older and have to squint to see the smaller size characters

 

[W2R]

I'm leaning towards a 24 inch. The extra five inches more than what I have hopefully will do the trick. Now I have 2 very crisp 19 inch ones but unfortunately, my eyes have gotten older and have to squint to see the smaller size characters

Another thing to consider is that you may want to use higher resolution with a bigger monitor, if you are not already using it.

 

[M Paquette]

I'm currently investigating a setup with a 32-37" HDTV as the display for someone with macular degeneration. He's currently using a 24" monitor at 800x600 pixels. Placement, lighting, and display control, including element contrast is also important.

 

[Nemo2]

The big thing to me though is to have dual monitors.

Agreed.....we have dual monitors on one of our 'puters...invaluable sometimes.

 

[Midpack]

I just replaced a 19" 4:3 with a 23" 16:9. I would have gotten a 24-27", but it wouldn't have fit the opening in my computer desk.

 

[braumeister]

I use a 27" monitor at arms length.

+1
Also, I have a pair of prescription glasses set for exactly that distance. I keep the glasses next to the keyboard.

 

[bUU]

I have a couple of 27" monitors. We were talking about this a few weeks ago and I think some of my colleagues were surprised that I actually use the dual monitors to be able to work on multiple things at the same time. I guess they mostly use the extra monitor for private web surfing.

 

[Ronstar]

27" monitor for me as well.

 

[Hermit]

Wow! I never thought of a dual 27" monitor setup. This forum sure is hard on my budget!

 

[Walt34]

I use a 24" monitor but the next one will be 30" or larger. One issue is that I want a full color range and the normal office-type monitor doesn't cut it for photo editing. Those run double or triple the price of an office monitor. The good news is that like all electronic stuff the prices are dropping.

For even normal stuff the IPS (in plane switching) screen is noticeably sharper and clearer than the office type monitor.

 

[martyb]

At work, I have dual 22's but at home, I've sold my desktop Dell on Craigslist, & only use my 17" Toshiba laptop. Wife only uses her Kindle Fire.

 

[plex]

Eye strain aside, bigger isn't always better with screens because monitors/TV's only have so much pixel density. That means, the picture quality goes down the larger the screen is and the closer you sit to it, your brain starts noticing the pixels.

You can use an easy calculator to see how this works:

E.g.: Is This Retina? - DPI/PPI Display Calculator

A 42 inch TV, which generally is not going to be at a really high resolution unless you are spending big bucks, from 4-6 feet away, is going to look pretty bad. A standard 1080p one will only have a pixel density of 52, around 300 is ideal when close up (with something like a smartphone/ereader/Ipad).

 

[bUU]

Yup. I think 29" is probably the largest screen that useful for a computer given the most common resolutions of video cards and monitors. 42" would be useful only for meetings and such, and then, only for things like PowerPoint slides and images.

 

[timo2]

I have a dual setup with a 19" aligned vertically a 20" aligned horizontally. That's for my home PC. For my telework setup, I have a 26" and use the laptop screen as a second monitor. I have a 26" monitor in the home office that I use as a TV but am considering using it as a computer monitor, except that then I would need to get a new TV.

 

[audreyh1]

None of those big monitors has the hi-res screen. Not even the Apple big monitors. So I prefer my laptop 15" high res screen (Retina display) for all my photo editing.

BTW - if you need things bigger on the screen you should be able to switch the display to show less pixels per inch and magic - everything looks bigger. We did this adjustment recently for some friends in their 80s. Another option is configuring the default letter size in your system configuration and making it larger.

So glad I don't have a desktop computer and monitor - yuck! Different strokes, I know!