24" or 26" LCD size?

Even though my trusty 1998 Gateway VX900 19" monitor is still working
perfectly I'm considering about upgrading to a LCD monitor. I been
told that a 26" monitor is only good for gaming and a person needs to
sit away from it about 4 feet, in other words a waste for ordinary
computer use such as surfing the web. My vision isn't the best due to
being middle-aged and I take off my glasses to use the computer. My
computer is powerful enough to be able to handle either monitor
easily. What your thoughts 24" or 26" monitor?

I'm planning to give the Gateway monitor to my son that is still using
the old Gateway G-400 computer it came with.
Thanks for your thoughts,
R.

Wettlesheim wrote:
> Even though my trusty 1998 Gateway VX900 19" monitor is still working
> perfectly I'm considering about upgrading to a LCD monitor. I been
> told that a 26" monitor is only good for gaming and a person needs to
> sit away from it about 4 feet, in other words a waste for ordinary
> computer use such as surfing the web. My vision isn't the best due to
> being middle-aged and I take off my glasses to use the computer. My
> computer is powerful enough to be able to handle either monitor
> easily. What your thoughts 24" or 26" monitor?
>
> I'm planning to give the Gateway monitor to my son that is still using
> the old Gateway G-400 computer it came with.
> Thanks for your thoughts,
> R.

Personally, I would be concerned that even a 24" monitor would be a good
fit for you, because its comfortable viewing range would be around 3 feet.

Right now, I use an older Sun 19" LCD at a viewing distance of about 2
feet and a resolution of 1280x1024, for which the monitor was DESIGNED.
It is placed maybe 3" back of the keyboard. I have no eyestrain and
only occasional fatigue from too much mousing around.

LCD monitors these days generally have one and only one optimal
resolution, hence my emphasis on the resolution of my monitor.

If you can keep from going crazy with the crowds and all the annoying
salespeople this weekend, I suggest making the rounds of the local big
box electronics and office product stores, seeing what they have
available, and trying the LCD monitors as much as possible. We can have
academic discussions all day about the right size of LCD monitor for
you, but taking advantage of demo units in stores will give you a better
idea of what is right for you... Ben Myers

On Thu, 27 Nov 2008 14:01:24 -0800, Wettlesheim wrote:

> Even though my trusty 1998 Gateway VX900 19" monitor is still working
> perfectly I'm considering about upgrading to a LCD monitor. I been told
> that a 26" monitor is only good for gaming and a person needs to sit
> away from it about 4 feet, in other words a waste for ordinary computer
> use such as surfing the web. My vision isn't the best due to being
> middle-aged and I take off my glasses to use the computer. My computer
> is powerful enough to be able to handle either monitor easily. What your
> thoughts 24" or 26" monitor?
>
> I'm planning to give the Gateway monitor to my son that is still using
> the old Gateway G-400 computer it came with. Thanks for your thoughts,
> R.
* * *
Wettlesheim,

When i replaced my CRT in 2002 with an Envision LCD that Leo Laporte
showed on his ZD TV program. I hooked up the LCD, and ran the monitors
side by side using different computers, and could not believe my CRT was
worn out. Loading a dark desktop, on the CRT it was dark and I had been
using it that way to let my 6 icons show. But on the LCD, there was an
entire landscape of water and plants with animals peaking between the
stems. On the CRT that entire part of the desktop was almost pitch black.
I also switched computers as I could not believe my CRT was so bad, I
was blind using it.

I looked at my graphics, and was so disappointed, the dark areas in
photos I had touched up, were horrid. I could now see all the
adjustment or painted areas, where I covered up random lint spots, and
cracks on a 2,000 scanned old family photos. I still have not re-done or
finished that project, but it reminds me that I should never let a
monitor get that old again...

The (4:3 Ratio) Envision LCD monitor is still running, powering my test
Linux system, I now use a 20.1 inch LCD, that I feel far more comfortable
using. The native resolution is 1680x1054 (8:5 Ratio).

I have looked at the larger monitors, and with the higher resolution
1920z1200 that were easy on my eyes. The larger 26 monitor I would love
to use to touch up photos using GIMP, or toy with more
screencasters.heathenx.org video tutorials learning the free Inkscape
software.

I use the mouse, and toy with photos and graphic files, I am still trying
to learn to be an artist, or photographer. But I agree with Ben, it is
best you try the monitor if you can, in a work situation (setting on a
desk, with you keyboard in the tray)...

You might compare the monitors if you can, to see if there is a
difference like I discovered.

JR the postman

On Nov 27, 5:01*pm, Wettlesheim <s...@usol.com> wrote:
> Even though my trusty 1998 Gateway VX900 19" monitor is still working
> perfectly I'm considering about upgrading to a LCD monitor. *I been
> told that a 26" monitor is only good for gaming and a person needs to
> sit away from it about 4 feet, in other words a waste for ordinary
> computer use such as surfing the web. *My vision isn't the best due to
> being middle-aged and I take off my glasses to use the computer. My
> computer is powerful enough to be able to handle either monitor
> easily. What your thoughts 24" or 26" monitor?
>
> I'm planning to give the Gateway monitor to my son that is still using
> the old Gateway G-400 computer it came with.
> Thanks for your thoughts,
> R.

Not wanting to fight the crowds on Black Friday I decided to spent
some time researching monitors and looking for deals. After numerous
hours of searching I decided to buy a Hanns.g HG281DPD 28" (actual
viewing size 27.5") LCD monitor from Newegg for $339 and free
shipping. So far I'm very happy with it and I no longer have to take
off my glasses when using the computer. There are no dead pixels
but, the settings were extremely bright and I've been adjusting them
so I don't have to wear sunglasses and put on suntan lotion. During
my research I discovered that the Hanns.G HG281DPB, Hannspree
HF289HJB, and I-Inc iF281DPB are all manufactured by the same
company. They look quite similar and supposedly the Hannspree is the
best quality monitor of the 3. The I-Inc monitor has only a one year
warranty while the Hanns.G has a 3 year parts and labor **but** only
1year on the LCD. The Hannspree has a 3 years parts and labor
warranty. I also noticed that Hannspree offer a 22.5MB X-tune Set-up
download that isn't available on the Hanns.G support page. I'm quite
tempted to download it and the the driver download to see if the
downloads would improve the performance of my Hanns.G monitor but, I'm
concerned that I could ruin it. Once again, thanks for your thoughts.

On Dec 10, 7:06*pm, Wettlesheim <s...@usol.com> wrote:
> On Nov 27, 5:01*pm, Wettlesheim <s...@usol.com> wrote:
<snipper>
> Not wanting to fight the crowds on Black Friday I decided to spent
> some time researching monitors and looking for deals. *After numerous
> hours of searching I decided to buy a Hanns.g HG281DPD 28" (actual
> viewing size 27.5") LCD monitor from Newegg for $339 and free
> shipping. *So far I'm very happy with it and I no longer have to take
> off my glasses when using the computer. * There are no dead pixels
> but, the settings were extremely bright and I've been adjusting them
> so I don't have to wear sunglasses and put on suntan lotion. *During
> my research I discovered that the Hanns.G HG281DPB, Hannspree
> HF289HJB, and *I-Inc iF281DPB are all manufactured by the same
> company. They look quite similar and supposedly the Hannspree is the
> best quality monitor of the 3. The I-Inc monitor has only a one year
> warranty while the Hanns.G has a 3 year parts and labor ***but** only
> 1year on the LCD. *The Hannspree has a 3 years parts and labor
> warranty. *I also noticed that Hannspree offer a 22.5MB X-tune Set-up
> download *that isn't available on the Hanns.G support page. *I'm quite
> tempted to download it and the the driver download to see if the
> downloads would improve the performance of my Hanns.G monitor but, I'm
> concerned that I could ruin it. *Once again, thanks for your thoughts.

I downloaded the Hannspree 22.5 X-tune Set-up download and it works
with my Hanns.G Monitor. It's a personal judgment call, if it is
worthwhile for a person to use. In my situation I spent a few hours
fine tuning my monitor settings before using it and X-tune only
confirmed I did well choosing the settings. Since Hannspree X-tune
worked on my Hanns.G monitor, I'd hazard to guess it may also work on
an I-Inc monitor too. The Hannspree support page has a Vista drivers
download which is not on the I-Inc support page.