I'm after getting a new monitor, i use it for just general browsing of the internet and games.
 
Theres a lot of debate with regards widesceen monitors and i'm unsure to which way to turn ??
 
Would like it to last me a few years so want to get best for my money.
 
Which would you people see as best ?

Widescreen gaming is not widely nor well supported yet but given the choice, I'd take it over the 4:3 any day.

If your a gamer then widescreen is a big no no but if you want a good monitor for movies then yeh sure...

Im looking at the two viewsonics:
 
WS  http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Pro [...] tID=326963
 
or
 
4:3  http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Pro [...] tID=326948
 
Both have good reviews but the WS is £70 ($120) cheaper.
 
I'm confused as ever  :?

I own two LCD monitors, both with similar contrast ratios, and both have an 8ms response time, but I can honestly say playing games on my widescreen monitor (1680x1050) is much nicer than playing on my standard 4:3 (1280x1024).

Ok i see myself buying a 19" WS, however the Viewsonic one i suggested above doesn't have DVI !!  Which is a big shame!
 
What good 19" WS monitors can you people recommend.  Preferably with DVI.
 
I have seen this
http://www.savastore.com/productin [...] 45&tid=279
 
Any views?

Please do tell why is playing games on a widescreen monitor much better than on a normal 4:3 monitor I am interested please also tell what it is like playing games that dont support widescreen...?
 
EDIT: you have to remember widescreens are cheap for a reason and I would if I where you fully understand this reason before buying. As I my self am looking at monitors and have come to the conclusion in mid proccess that widescreens would not do at all for gaming and design work!

People who buy WS say they will never go back to normal format ! And the one thing thats swaying me towards WS is that i'm presuming newer games are now adapting to WS, and in 2 yrs maybe everyone will be using WS.
 
I rather be one step ahead rather than one step behind !

That's a very good point, only time will tell but at the moment I am still seeing a lot of games coming out that only support 4:3...
 
Was doing a bit of maths though and it seems that the only true 4:3 monitors now are the 19" TFT's things like 20" TFT 1600X1200 monitors are actually 3:2 ratio which is almost widescreen anyway which indicates the picture will be stretched as well since 1600X1200 looks perfect on a 4:3 CRT...
 
I seem to be getting more confused the more I find out about monitors...
 
What seems to be the best option just now actually is a 19" TFT with 1280X1024 which is true 4:3 size but then there is the point about what is happening in the future but that is not in concrete nor is the actual resolution that games will use in widescreen mode...
 
I don't know any more I might just buy another CRT this is starting to piss me off TFTs suck!

!
 

That's wrong. Your common 17/19" TFT (1280x1024) has a 5:4 aspect ratio.
 

 
Nope. Those would be 4:3 actually.
 

Beside the point that a "19" TFT with 1280X1024" is 5:4.. aren't CRTs still regarded as the best option if your main interest is gaming? Most of them are "true 4:3" and scale perfectly well to all kinds of resolutions (+no ghosting etc.).
 
for some info on widescreen gaming check out http://www.widescreengamingforum.com/forum/

Yup just figured out my maths suck almost as much as Paris Hilton on spring break...
 
Ok I now see that I have been stupid in all the work I have been doing on monitor buying research. With that in mind seems to me that the best option is actually CRT.
 
Thanks for proving me wrong lol

Console gaming on a HDTV really spoiled me to gaming in widescreen. Right now widescreen gaming on the PC is a bit hit and miss with support in some games but to be honest when it works its great.

Just had a read of that widescreen forum that actually has a very good "Master List" that tells you everything about compatibility with games and widescreen monitors. It seems that about 30% of the time it just stretches the view to an un-native resolution which is what I though. But what can happen in games like Counter Strike: Source is actually add viewable area to the game. But what it also does to some games like Battle Field 2 is take away the viewable area away from the top and bottom of the screen.
 
So it really does seem like widescreen monitors are a bit of a double edged sward while making some games even better it also makes a lot of games look worse. I really don't want to be swapping from screen to screen on what game I am playing and having to mess about with a CRT monitor to get the aspect ratio right is hardly handy... Now I am back in the same place I was yesterday not knowing what to go for
 
GAHH I don't know this is giving me a sore head!

I personally don't have a WS monitor, but I'm in the same boat as you trying to decide which should be my next monitor.  It seems like it definitely looks better and sometimes even gives advantage as long as games natively support it (i.e. CS:source, WOW, etc).   But, it seems like not enough games support it at this point, and I don't think anyone wants to see stretched images while they are playing.  My 2 cents is go with 4:3 until most games support it.

My Dell 20" monitor has a function to play in 4:3 aspect ratio rather than fill mode which would stretch the image which isnt in WS resolution.
 
Just an "FYI".

It seems there are many of us out there thinking the same thing ?
 
I'm just thinking now though that the new realeses support WS or will be doing in the next 6 months. I just don't want to pay £240 for a VX922 which is a cracking monitor and in 6 months time everybody is going towards WS. When i can get a good WS now for the same price.
 
I also have an Xbox 360 which would also look good on WS. Wish i could test drive a WS for a week and see.
 
I'm 70/30 in favour of WS at the moment, i may hang on a month and so and see how the new games figure.

That's a good point though you will not be able to play your 360 on our widescreen or should I say not very well since the 360 will use 720p which is not the resolution of a widescreen PC monitor. Which means that it will have to be either stretched on your monitor making it look all smudged and unclear or will just be a very small picture in the middle of your monitor. I did have the 360 Running on a CRT monitor and it worked rather well when you resized the screen.
 
As for games I have to admit after looking at some of the pictures it had on that "Master Games List" I am impressed at Half Life 2 and do agree that it would be far better than 4:3. But at the same time having a reduced picture on Battle Field 2 would almost ruin the game for me more so since I enjoy going in the chopper and you need all the viewable area you can get.
 
Also Battle Field 2 is hardly and old game so how many more games are going to come out that are not compatible with wide screen monitors?

I have had a widescreen monitor on my desktop for nearly a year and a half.  First I had an Apply 20" Cinema and now have a Dell 24".  As long as I have a breath in my body, I will fight to keep widescreen in my life
 
It is true that there are few games that use widescreen.  Mostly RTS's and some FPS's dont use Widescreen but many RPG's (Oblivion is one) and some FPS's (Far Cry and Half Life 2 is two of them) use it.  If you want a good list of what games are available in Widescreen, check out Widescreen Gaming Forum.
 
And as far as widescreen monitors scretching non-widescreen games, that is actually not the monitor's fault, its the gfx card, atleast from what i have seen.  I am not sure about ATI cards but Nvidia, since the 5?.?? version of drivers, has had an option to scretch or keep aspect ratio in the setup of the monitor.

If a game does not support widescreen, there are multiple settings with Nvidia's drivers (I'm sure ATI's are similar) that you can use to help maintain an enjoyable viewing experience.  
 

Games work fine on widescreen... and Vista recommends widescreen monitors... so it seems widescreen is the way of the future, why resist fate?