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Last post Author Topic: To wide-screen or not to wide-screen  (Read 81363 times)

Dirhael

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Re: To wide-screen or not to wide-screen
« Reply #50 on: November 07, 2007, 10:37 AM »
A dual-monitor setup can't help you with such things either, so a widescreen is the only

Explain this, please.  I'm simply drawing a blank.  My auxillary monitors are *crammed* with sidebars and toolbars and whatnot.

Ok, consider the attached screenshot. How would I get *just* the "projects" and "toolbox" panels on a secondary monitor? I don't want any other part of the window moved off my primary screen. Yes, some programs will let you use floating toolbars/panels but a whole lot of them don't and in such cases a dual/triple/whatever monitor setup won't help you.
Registered nurse by day, hobby programmer by night.

Ralf Maximus

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Re: To wide-screen or not to wide-screen
« Reply #51 on: November 07, 2007, 10:40 AM »
Ah.  MDI.  Boo, hiss. :-)

Everything I use has floating and/or tear-off dockable toolbars which can be dragged wherever.  So I've not encountered this particular issue.

You're right: if the app doesn't support floating toolbars, a wide-screen solution would be best.

f0dder

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Re: To wide-screen or not to wide-screen
« Reply #52 on: November 08, 2007, 08:24 AM »
I wonder how many of the resident "widescreen-haters" here uses applications that has sidebars/panels, like oh I don't know, just about every IDE available? Because if you do, I don't understand how you can stand using such programs on a 4:3, or even worse, 5:4 monitor. A dual-monitor setup can't help you with such things either, so a widescreen is the only reasonable solution.
Tear-off boxes, perhaps? But okay, not every piece of software supports that.

Even without tearing off toolboxes, and having a bar on each side, I have quite enough space on 1280x1024 with visual studio... but I don't believe in extremely long source lines.
- carpe noctem

Tekzel

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Re: To wide-screen or not to wide-screen
« Reply #53 on: November 08, 2007, 12:47 PM »
Ah.  MDI.  Boo, hiss. :-)

Everything I use has floating and/or tear-off dockable toolbars which can be dragged wherever.  So I've not encountered this particular issue.

You're right: if the app doesn't support floating toolbars, a wide-screen solution would be best.

I disagree.  The ultimate best is dual wide screens :)   Best of both worlds for me!

lanux128

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Re: To wide-screen or not to wide-screen
« Reply #54 on: November 08, 2007, 08:20 PM »
when i encounter all those toolbars & sidebars, i normally hide them or set it to appear on-demand but with Dirhael's idea, i'm thinking that maybe it's worth the width of a wide-screen.. :)

mouser

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Re: To wide-screen or not to wide-screen
« Reply #55 on: November 10, 2007, 07:45 AM »
I wonder how many of the resident "widescreen-haters" here uses applications that has sidebars/panels, like oh I don't know, just about every IDE available? Because if you do, I don't understand how you can stand using such programs on a 4:3, or even worse, 5:4 monitor. A dual-monitor setup can't help you with such things either, so a widescreen is the only reasonable solution.

really good point.. one of the reasons i dislike these new sidebar widgets is because of the screen real estate they use.. but i can see how using a widescreen monitor could basically eliminate that problem.  food for thought and good point.

f0dder

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Re: To wide-screen or not to wide-screen
« Reply #56 on: November 10, 2007, 09:00 AM »
I wonder how many of the resident "widescreen-haters" here uses applications that has sidebars/panels, like oh I don't know, just about every IDE available? Because if you do, I don't understand how you can stand using such programs on a 4:3, or even worse, 5:4 monitor. A dual-monitor setup can't help you with such things either, so a widescreen is the only reasonable solution.

really good point.. one of the reasons i dislike these new sidebar widgets is because of the screen real estate they use.. but i can see how using a widescreen monitor could basically eliminate that problem.  food for thought and good point.
If they're detachable, as they should be, you can simply move them to a secondary monitor - presto, no need for widescreen :)
- carpe noctem

mouser

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Re: To wide-screen or not to wide-screen
« Reply #57 on: November 10, 2007, 09:39 AM »
i think the point is valid though.

normally i think to myself: "the only thing i would want widescreen for is to watch movies, which i hardly ever do, so i don't need a widescreen display"

but now i see i should consider also the possibility that docked sidebars could be put in that extra space (whether they are ide sidebars or desktop sidebars, etc.).

id still rather have 2 monitors than one big widescreen any day of the week.  you have to actually use two monitors to see why maximizing apps on a single monitor is so important etc.  its not just about the extra screen real estate, it's also about having two independent desktop areas.

f0dder

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Re: To wide-screen or not to wide-screen
« Reply #58 on: November 10, 2007, 10:06 AM »
mouser: sure, widescreen would be nice for sidedocking stuff (although for something like vs.net with a dock on both left and right size, I find the code window to be quite wide enough on 1280x1024 non-widescreen) - the problem is all those apps that do not have sidedocks, and become ridiculously wide when maximizing.

I'd rather have two normal monitors over a single (or even two) widescreens, any day. But okay, choice between a single normal or single widescreen... I'd probably take the widescreen and jgpaiva's gridmove.
- carpe noctem

Ralf Maximus

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Re: To wide-screen or not to wide-screen
« Reply #59 on: November 10, 2007, 11:16 AM »
Another consideration (and a point in favor of multiple standard monitors): if you play games, then full-screen games won't look stretched.  In a multiple-monitor setup DirectX simply deactivates the auxillary monitors and uses the primary one in full-screen mode.

Not a big deal, but to a gamer it might be.

Dirhael

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Re: To wide-screen or not to wide-screen
« Reply #60 on: November 10, 2007, 12:54 PM »
Another consideration (and a point in favor of multiple standard monitors): if you play games, then full-screen games won't look stretched.  In a multiple-monitor setup DirectX simply deactivates the auxillary monitors and uses the primary one in full-screen mode.

Not a big deal, but to a gamer it might be.

I use a widescreen monitor, and desite this not a single game out of all that I own are streched. How? Nvidia graphics cards scales non-widescreen resolutions while respecting the aspect ratio so you'll just get black borders on the left/right if you prefer that. The games that does do WS natively on the other hand, looks great and feels much better than what a 4:3 monitor can offer.

The argument that f0dder presents I can understand much better though, but it's all a matter of what you get used to. Besides, I can't really think of any application that I use except for notepad (which I never maximize anyway) that doesn't either offer something to fill the sides width (sidebars etc), or the possibility to adjust how wide you want the readable area to be in some way or another.

Widescreen monitors might not be for everyone, but I would never even consider going back to 4:3 or 5:4, because for me and my use the advantages are far to many to ignore.
Registered nurse by day, hobby programmer by night.

lanux128

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Re: To wide-screen or not to wide-screen
« Reply #61 on: November 11, 2007, 06:50 PM »
I use a widescreen monitor, and desite this not a single game out of all that I own are streched. How? Nvidia graphics cards scales non-widescreen resolutions while respecting the aspect ratio so you'll just get black borders on the left/right if you prefer that. The games that does do WS natively on the other hand, looks great and feels much better than what a 4:3 monitor can offer.

and if nVidia fails, check out the excellent link to wide-screen gaming that nudone posted further up in the thread.. they even have Gothic3 in their database!.. :)

but there is help at this website that is all about widescreen gaming http://www.widescreengamingforum.com/ they have a list of games and also talk about methods to force games to be widescreen. many times someone will have wrote a little util to induce the correct aspect ratio.

Ralf Maximus

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Re: To wide-screen or not to wide-screen
« Reply #62 on: November 11, 2007, 06:56 PM »
MONITORLARGE.jpg

Okay, I think I'm sold.

f0dder

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Re: To wide-screen or not to wide-screen
« Reply #63 on: November 11, 2007, 07:01 PM »
(see attachment in previous post)
Okay, I think I'm sold.
The girl or the monitor? ;)
- carpe noctem

Deozaan

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Re: To wide-screen or not to wide-screen
« Reply #64 on: November 11, 2007, 07:12 PM »
(see attachment in previous post)
Okay, I think I'm sold.

That's not a monitor. That's a TV with DVI input, most likely. Sure would be nice...

f0dder

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Re: To wide-screen or not to wide-screen
« Reply #65 on: November 11, 2007, 07:18 PM »
(see attachment in previous post)
Okay, I think I'm sold.

That's not a monitor. That's a TV with DVI input, most likely. Sure would be nice...

Not that big a difference these days, although "TVs" tend to be larger, have more inputs, and possibly a couple of tuners as well. But with DVI and HDMI inputs, the lines begin to blur...
- carpe noctem

lanux128

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Re: To wide-screen or not to wide-screen
« Reply #66 on: November 11, 2007, 07:21 PM »
Okay, I think I'm sold.
wow, you can spot an evil sprite miles away.. ;D

zridling

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Re: To wide-screen or not to wide-screen
« Reply #67 on: November 19, 2007, 04:11 AM »
Lanux, I'd recommend the widescreen option, if for no other reason, their falling prices. 22" is cool, 24" is great if you can afford it. Just remember to bring a big videocard to the party.

AndyM

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Re: To wide-screen or not to wide-screen
« Reply #68 on: November 19, 2007, 08:51 AM »
Just remember to bring a big videocard to the party.

So will the 4 year old video card that came with my Dell XP Pro machine (NVIDIA GeForce 4 MX 440 with AGP 8 X - Dell), which runs my current 20" monitor at 1600x1200 nicely, run a widescreen 24" monitor at 1920x1200?  Or will I have to buy a new video card?

I tried asking Samsung (I want to replace my 204B with a 245BW), but no answer.

Ralf Maximus

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Re: To wide-screen or not to wide-screen
« Reply #69 on: November 19, 2007, 09:16 AM »
So will the 4 year old video card that came with my Dell XP Pro machine (NVIDIA GeForce 4 MX 440 with AGP 8 X - Dell), which runs my current 20" monitor at 1600x1200 nicely, run a widescreen 24" monitor at 1920x1200?  Or will I have to buy a new video card?

Easy enough to check.

Open your display properties and go to Settings/Advanced.  See how far to the right the little "resolution" slider will go, but don't hit "OK" unless your existing monitor can take it.

:-)

AndyM

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Re: To wide-screen or not to wide-screen
« Reply #70 on: November 19, 2007, 09:24 AM »
Open your display properties and go to Settings/Advanced.  See how far to the right the little "resolution" slider will go, but don't hit "OK" unless your existing monitor can take it.

It maxes out at 1600x1200, but I don't think that's indicative.  When I had my 18" monitor hooked up, the slider maxed out at at that monitor's max res (1280x1024?).  As soon as I hooked up the 20" monitor, the slider's new max became 1600x1200.  I was hoping that hooking up a 24" monitor would make the slider go to 1920x1200, but I'd have to buy the monitor to try that experiment.

Ralf Maximus

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Re: To wide-screen or not to wide-screen
« Reply #71 on: November 19, 2007, 09:29 AM »
It maxes out at 1600x1200, but I don't think that's indicative.  When I had my 18" monitor hooked up, the slider maxed out at at that monitor's max res (1280x1024?).  As soon as I hooked up the 20" monitor, the slider's new max became 1600x1200.  I was hoping that hooking up a 24" monitor would make the slider go to 1920x1200, but I'd have to buy the monitor to try that experiment.

Not necessarily.  On the same tab with the "resolution" slider, click the Advanced button.  Select the Monitor tab.  Under the "Monitor Settings" turn off the little checkbox that says "Hide modes this monitor cannot display".

Then play with the slider again.

AndyM

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Re: To wide-screen or not to wide-screen
« Reply #72 on: November 19, 2007, 10:19 AM »
Under the "Monitor Settings" turn off the little checkbox that says "Hide modes this monitor cannot display".

Then play with the slider again.

Now it goes to 1920x1200 (until I re-checked the box for safety).

Cool, thanks!!!


Gab07x

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Re: To wide-screen or not to wide-screen
« Reply #73 on: November 19, 2007, 02:49 PM »
One of the biggest rip offs of the season is the price of the DVI Cables. They use less materials in their makeup and I was looking the other day and a 6 foot one was about $35 and a ten foot one was over $55 so since the ends are the same you are paying $5 a foot for the wire. Yeh sure !

Ralf Maximus

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Re: To wide-screen or not to wide-screen
« Reply #74 on: November 19, 2007, 02:56 PM »
Yo yo yo, Gab07x in da haus!  Welcome aboard!

One of the biggest rip offs of the season is the price of the DVI Cables. They use less materials in their makeup and I was looking the other day and a 6 foot one was about $35 and a ten foot one was over $55 so since the ends are the same you are paying $5 a foot for the wire. Yeh sure !

Actually, the real cost is due to the genetically engineered super-spiders they use to spin the cables.  Alas, the spinnerettes on these beasts only last for a few dozen cables before the unfortunate spider must be put down -- a dangerous job, given their size and temperment.

I like to avoid the whole spider-drama by dealing with Cables 2 Go.  The best prices, and reliable as heck... I've been dealing with them for more than 20 years.  Their DVI cables still aren't cheap ($22) but I guarantee you the quality is superior.  AND they accept returns.

I guess their spiders are better fed or something.