lcd or crt ??

Thanks for the great inputs !

But one question remains.Can lcd monitors show resolutions higher than
the native resolutions and does it look bad ?

regards
zazang

No, they can't show a higher resolution then their native maximum resolution. (They can show parts of the higher resolutions, but the screen won't show all there is.. much like with old monitors in a higher res than supported).

But most modern LCDs can show at least up to 1280x1024 though which is often more than enough. The Samsung 226BW can show up to 1680x1050 widescreen resolution and some bigger LCDs can show even higher but those are more expensive.

Personally I really don't think you miss out on anything not being able to see higher resolutions than 1680x1050. Most games do support up to 1600x1200, but like I said.. LCDs monitors that can show those resolutions are both big and really expensive. The Samsung 226BW is probably the best buy when it comes to performance, quality and price/value though,

Cheers

Go for an LCD monitor but not a 17"
The problem (as far as I know) with 17" is that its too big for 1024x768 but to small for 1280x1024.
So either go for a 15" or a 19"
and by the way: I don't need to pan my head at all (using a 19" LCD)

are crts still available?

go for a lcd. they are much nicer to the eyes. lower resolutions than the native one are absolutely no problem for games. it's more a problem with fonts in windows but even there it's no big deal and why would you want a lower resolution there anyway?

and instead of two monitors i would go for one really big one. i love my new 24" monitor.

I would really wanna buy an lcd screen...probably a wall hanging 19 inch,but
I am stuck with one problem with the A7 game development perspective.I have to make games that support higher resolution.So how do I make panels for higher resolutions and test them ?.
Should we make lower res panels and scale them higher or the other way round.
I guess lower sized images when scaled would look bad but higher size images cannot be seen in an lcd...damn !

in your image editing program it shouldn't be a problem to create bigger images. you can scroll. and then do some panel scaling code. i don't know what your requirements are but i wouldn't make the resolution of the panel images too big. i think 1024x768 or 1280x1024 is a good panel resolution.

...and you could get a 21" 1600x1200 or 24" 1920x1200 lcd. most crts can't do more either.

ok now it seems I will go for 21 inch lcd..thanks so much !!

As pointed out, you cannot exceed (go beyond) the native screen resolution of an LCD monitor. Therefore, it is important that you invest in an LCD monitor with the highest screen resolution you will use. You can run them at lower screen resolutions if you want to but, depending on the LCD monitor, some degradation can be noticed. However, I have not had any problems with my screen when it comes to this. I run it at its native screen res for everyday work, etc, and only let this change for some games that require a lower screen resolution.

I would get a large LCD screen with a high screen resolution. I am running a 24" LCD that has a screen resolution of 1920 x 1200 (wide screen format). Besides the screen resolution and overall monitor size, the next important thing to consider is the monitor's refresh rate. The faster (the lower the number) the better. I have not had to look at LCD screens in almost two years, so I don't know what the refresh rates are at now, but lower cost monitors tend to have worse refresh rates. This is one area you don't really want to skimp on. Refresh rates tell you about how quickly the monitor can refresh each pixel on the screen. If the number is high (a poorer refresh rate) then you can see "ghosting" when something is moving on the screen. This is very important when you are playing a game, modeling in a 3D app (and moving or rotating an object) or even watching a movie. Ghosting is when you have a sort of blur from frame to frame which, frankly, gives me a headache. If the refresh rate is high enough then you get little to no ghosting at all.

I would shoot for at least 8-12ms for the refresh rate. If they have faster, great, but compare prices and refresh rates for each monitor. If the refresh rates get up to 16ms or higher, then I would forget the monitor and find another. However, refresh rates are a strange thing. Like benchmarked software, companies tend to use a variety of means to determine refresh rates and then list the best result (ignoring the poor results). Therefore it is possible for one monitor to have a poorer refresh rate (i.e. 12ms) and actually outperform one rated with a lower refresh rate.

Before buying your monitor you should research and compare the specs for each monitor looking for the things I listed above (max screen resolution, monitor refresh rate and overall monitor size) and a few other things such as the viewing angle, etc. Then, after narrowing it down a bit, I would read a lot of reviews to see if anyone is mentioning any problems or complaining about a monitor's refresh rate, etc. Places like Tom's Hardware, etc, tend to review hardware, putting them to the test and telling you about the pluses and minuses.

I hope this has helped a bit.

Dan - great inputs there.Thanks

For all the germans in here:
This page is very good when it comes to choosing a new lcd

http://www.prad.de/

They have a lot of tests and reviews etc there