Poll: What screen resolution do you have your computer set to?

who's on first?

but to be fair, I'm using a 20".... on the 17" I use 1280x1024.

Ditto. I really want to switch to an LCD, but it's so hard to find a reasonably priced 20 or 21" that supports 1600x1200.

And what's with all the widescreen LCDs lately? It doesn't make any sense for 90% of what people do on computers, especially when it comes to browsing the web. I'd almost rather have a taller screen for that. Sure, it's nice if you're watching videos, but who wants to sit and watch a movie on their computer?

Some folks use their computer as their TV. I did in college.

In Japan they can use their hand as a knife ... but not on a tomato.

Is everyone here to young to get that?

"it's so hard to find a reasonably priced 20 or 21" that supports 1600x1200. "

Really??

I bought this dell 2001FP years ago and it supports it fine....

I think the dells are going for $350 or $400 now.... I bought mine for almost $700.

I agree on the widescreen, tho.... for the most part. I mean, I do watch TV on my screen sometimes, but for web browsing and such, the taller screen tends to be better.

The bottom line, though, is that widescreen is "trendy".

I don't know about "trendy", but for photo editing where most of my photos are landscape, I really prefer widescreen displays. I can have more of the picture on screen and still have room for all of the Photoshop palettes off to the side. Also for FPS gaming it's much handier having a wider FOV than a taller FOV.

And of course for movies and HD TV shows, it's a no brainer.

I'll stick with my "trendy" widescreens. :)

They come in really handy for people editing video, especially HD. A 23" 1920x1200 can display every pixel of HD video.

For why I like it, see my reply to Nate above. :)

My home notebook is 1024x768 (what I voted, 'cause that's what I'm on at the moment).  Desktops at home and work are 1280x1024.  My work laptop isn't offered as a choice, at 1400x1050.

-- Pauley

Wow I'm the only one at 800X600. Everything looks to small to me with more resolution.

Widescreen LCD baby. Aren't you jealous?

Yep.  My next computer will be a MacBook Pro, though, so I'll get in on the widescreen-ness soon.

-- Pauley

Currently it's 1440x900 on my 17" PowerBook.

In a few days it will 1920x1200 on my 24" iMac.

Widescreen in both cases, though.

Isn't 1920x1200 not technically widescreeen? It's 8:5, which is nice for pictures, but not so much video. 16:9 would be 1920x1080, so with the extra 120 vertical pixels on the iMac, you'll have more screen real estate, but you'll still get the letterbox effect when watching a widescreen video.

That said, though, the 24" iMac is pretty much the most awesome machine ever.

No, widescreen is not limited to 16:9. PC resolutions tend to be 16:10 (like the iMac), but that is still considered a widescreen format.

The thing you have to remember is that all movies are not shot in the same ratio as TVs anyway. Television are in a 16:9 aspect ratio (1.78:1), but widescreen movies are almost never that ratio.

A Nightmare before Christmas is 1.66:1. Unmodified, this is matted on the sides on a widescreen TV.

HD TV shows are 1.78:1. This fills the screen unmodified.

The Star Wars and Lord of the Rings movies are 2.35:1. Unmodified, these movies are still matted on the top and bottom on widescreen TVs. Whether or not they are modified varies from title to title, so sometimes you will see bars on 2.35:1 movie and other times you won't.

Ben Hur is 2.76:1. This looks awful on an old TV. :)

So, it really doesn't matter that PCs are 16:10 (1.6:1).