Share your Monitor and Screen Resolution History

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JAB Creations
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Share your Monitor and Screen Resolution History

Post by JAB Creations »

I'm curious about what other people think about screen resolutions and how they've worked with them over the years. I'll start up the thread with my own experiences of course...

I had an old Commodore 64 computer and I have no clue what resolution that had. For my first PC I had an Acer 14 inch screen that would literally only do 640x480 @ 60Hz...absolutely nothing else. I literally went through all the different monitors Windows 95 had listed trying to see if it was a driver issue (of course this was when I was pretty young).

Eventually I had a 15 inch screen and from that point on used it at 1024x768 for years to come. Eventually in 1999 I purchased a 17 inch beast that was capable of 75Hz at 1600x1200! I was really happy however my sister kept hitting the degauss button with the keyboard. "Stop doing that Kristina! Stop doing that Kristina! Stop doing that Kristina!" I came home one day and it didn't turn on...barely two weeks after having purchased it.

In January 2001 I purchased a 19 inch CRT with 1600x1200 resolution after my 15inch RGB CRT had become a 15inch RG CRT. I used that through college and eventually in I think 2005 got the nerve to buy my first LCD, a 1280x1024 ViewSonic with 5MS response time...no dead pixels. That was the main issue for going from a CRT to an LCD.

Then about three months ago I literally had a bug in my 19 inch LCD. I attempted to carefully take it apart to get the bug out but decided I'd break the casing by doing so. I put it back together however the screen become glitched. If it's not warm then it would go on/off.......on/off..on/off..................on/off...on/off..on/off.....mostly off for the first half an hour. That sort of had an effect on my ability to say...do anything with the computer.

Thankfully a client of mine at the time needed a large job so we struck a deal. I fixed two of his computers, gave him a GB of RAM (for the 256MB system, the other had DDR2 so I couldn't take the 256MB and put it in the 512MB system), did a clean install of Windows XP for both, and give him three free sessions in exchange for a screen. I have been enjoying my 24 inch KDS 1920x1200 resolution with 5MS response time now finally up to native resolution (up from years of viewing everything at 1024x768) as the size of this screen makes it actually comfortable to do so. Thankfully there have been no dead pixels. It's also my first wide screen and I play a lot of older games (Heroes of Might and Magic III, Diablo II, etc) that do not have wide screen support. Thankfully somehow the screen manages to not make the picture look distorted.

I use Chris Pederick's Web Developer toolbar to resize Firefox when I need to test various resolutions without having to go through XP's display properties to manually change it. Some other thoughts are that there are very few CRT monitors listed on Newegg now and that 24 inch screens (like all others) have been dropping in price nearing the $300 mark. Right now 22 inch LCDs are the best money/size ratio though I wanted to go for the extra resolution. I feel it was well worth it considering I only had to pay $20 for the shipping. :mrgreen:

Any way I'm curious about the screen and resolution "history" of others too so please share at least what you're using now and hopefully what you've used as well as both good and bad experiences.
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onion2k
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Re: Share your Monitor and Screen Resolution History

Post by onion2k »

I've got a 1440 by 900 laptop I use most, and a 1280 by 1024 monitor I use occasionally. I target for 1024 by 768, but check that all salient information is still visible in 800 by 600 ... if the user can see all the important links without scrolling I'm happy, even if they have to scroll a bit for the less important stuff.
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Re: Share your Monitor and Screen Resolution History

Post by matthijs »

1440 x 900 on laptop attached to 23 cinema display with 1920 x 1200. Have had the 23 inch for about a yr now and feel a bit sorry for not buying the 30 inch.

Can't have enough screen estate in my opinion.

Of course I also use the webdev toolbar to test different resolutions.
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Bill H
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Re: Share your Monitor and Screen Resolution History

Post by Bill H »

I still design for 800x600 simply because that seems to be the size of a significant majority of sites that I view while browsing. I figure if a larger maonite sees an 800 wide design it will not cause annoyance, while if an 800 wide viewer has to do scrolling it will, so why not err on the side of caution. Of course, I no longer have a 800x600 browser to check it on, but...

I use a 19" lcd and 1280x1024. I also do almost no front end website work any more.
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JAB Creations
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Re: Share your Monitor and Screen Resolution History

Post by JAB Creations »

I too keep the 10% or so of 800x600 visitors in mind...though all my layouts use dynamic CSS1 layouts...meaning they stretch regardless of any resolution. So I make sure most if not all the content is viewable at 800x600 though I make sure it looks beautiful at 1024x768 and greater.
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Re: Share your Monitor and Screen Resolution History

Post by jayshields »

I used 800x600 until about 5 years ago, then onto 1024x768. About a year ago that changed to 1680x1050 with my new 20" widescreen monitor. I agree that the more screen space the better, so I also have my old 17" CRT plugged in and use it in a dual-monitor set up with my existing monitor. It was my first time with dual monitors, and I was a little bit bummed at how restrictive Windows was when configuring them. For example, you can't have the task bar on the monitor on the right of the two monitors, only on the left. Which is very annoying for me because my desk is set up so that my TFT and CRT only fit on it well with the TFT on the right, which I want to use as my primary monitor. So I've got it awkwardly on the left a the moment. I actually made do with it being set up so the primary (left) monitor was physically on the right for a while, which is fine unless you drag windows across the screens and it won't go over the gap, you have to drag everything the opposite way! :lol:
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Re: Share your Monitor and Screen Resolution History

Post by JAB Creations »

Jay, that reminds me of how inconsistent nVidia drivers have been. I have messed with dual monitor setups on occasion. There are four options in the nVidia control panel...though because the drivers are VERY inconsistent often the one I prefer to use (it does not stretch the screen, you get the taskbar, and it doesn't clone) is of course the one to disappear. Haven't ever tried it with any of my (many) previous ATI cards. I'll probably go ATI end of the year when I upgrade again considering the mess nVidia has been causing.
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idevlin
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Re: Share your Monitor and Screen Resolution History

Post by idevlin »

Jay, I recommend you download UltraMon then, you can do all that and more!

I currently have 2 19" TFTs running at 1280 x 1024 and running an ATi Radeon 3850. Used to have a 19" CRT but changed to my current setup a few years back, so very useful having more than one screen, at times I wish I had three!
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Re: Share your Monitor and Screen Resolution History

Post by alex.barylski »

My very first computer which I barely remember cause I was only about 2 when my dad bought it and maybe 5 is the youngest I remember using it...

Commodore Vic-20 :D
Wikipedia wrote:176 pixels in width and 184 in height
Today...I'm sitting in front of 1440x900 resolution LCD monitor w/ 1 dead pixel which I noticed the other day but that is only visible when the screen is all black...which it never is so I'm OK with that. :P
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jayshields
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Re: Share your Monitor and Screen Resolution History

Post by jayshields »

idevlin wrote:Jay, I recommend you download UltraMon then, you can do all that and more!
Thanks, just been reading about it - actually looks really good. The website gives no indication that it's not free, so I downloaded it, and sure enough I was indicated of some sort of trial version during installation, so I cancelled.

I can't afford anything at the moment! Doesn't really matter to me now though as I have the second monitor hooked up to another computer, so my dual monitor set up is actually powered by 2 seperate computers at the minute - which is all well and good until you forget to change mouse/keyboard all the time :oops:
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Re: Share your Monitor and Screen Resolution History

Post by swiftouch »

I use an ACER 24" i got for $100 off for a total of $280. 1920x1200 resolution.

Oh man...I seriously don't deserve such a wonderful screen. It's big, bright(too bright), and glorious. I can't recall what I used before this. I know they all must have sucked compared to this 24".
srasotasunshine
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Re: Share your Monitor and Screen Resolution History

Post by srasotasunshine »

:roll:

I can't believe after all these years you are STILL blaming me for your computer monitor breaking...AND ON A FORUM???

Perhaps it was defective. Ever heard of a warranty? You could have returned it or sent it back for a new one dumbass.
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JAB Creations
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Re: Share your Monitor and Screen Resolution History

Post by JAB Creations »

srasotasunshine wrote::roll:

I can't believe after all these years you are STILL blaming me for your computer monitor breaking...AND ON A FORUM???

Perhaps it was defective. Ever heard of a warranty? You could have returned it or sent it back for a new one dumbass.
It was an awesome screen at the time. Please, no sibling fights on computer coding forums please. :P
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Re: Share your Monitor and Screen Resolution History

Post by onion2k »

Do you want me to ban him Jab? :twisted:
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Re: Share your Monitor and Screen Resolution History

Post by JAB Creations »

Nah, maybe we can turn her to the dark side! :twisted:
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