For OVGE this year I needed a computer monitor to connect to my laptop and face the public. I have no less than a dozen computer monitors out in my garage that I’ve acquired over the years, from old 15″ junkers to 21″ monsters that weigh around 100lbs each (they’re old … and big). I decided that none of these would do. Work has spoiled me with flat panel LCD monitors, and I decided I just had to have one. It would take up a lot less space on the trip, be a lot lighter to move around, and after the show I could use it as my main computer monitor at home, replacing a monstrous 21″ monitor.
[side rant]
The day before OVGE, I went to Staples to pick up a monitor. Staples has replaced Best Buy in my life as “the place that never has anything in stock” — although Best Buy’s not any better, so I suppose Staples simply shares the title with Best Buy. When I arrived at Staples I saw lots of monitors for sale, but one really caught my eye — a ViewSonic 19″ widescreen model. The best news was, it was on sale for $219. which was cheaper than even the cheapest 19″ regular monitor that they had on display. To make a long story short, of course they didn’t have any in stock, so I ended up driving to Office Depot and getting the exact same thing. Staples is basically a great place for me to go window shop and see what I want to buy at Office Depot.
[/side rant]
I didn’t open the monitor before I got to OVGE, and I was surprised that it didn’t accept the same resolution that my laptop does, which runs at 1680×1050. I ended up running the display at some funky resolution that kept scrolling the screen around randomly. It worked for the show, and I figured I’d iron out the bugs when I got home.
Last night I hooked up the monitor, and I can’t get anything to work right. The monitor keeps popping up an error that reads, “this monitor works best at 1440×900”. Problem is, neither of my computers offer that resolution (I have two machines running to the monitor through a KVM system). My 3ghz Compaq doesn’t even have any Windows 2003 compatible drivers available, and only offers standard video modes meaning all the text on that machine is r e a l l y w i d e. My Dell fares a bit better, but not much. It does offer a couple of letterbox modes, but neither are the 1440×900 the monitor keeps asking for and the text looks a little scrunchy.
In retrospect, I think I should have bought a regular aspect (non-widescreen). This is also seriously making me rethink the purchase of a widescreen television anytime soon.
Are you still having this problem? What graphics hardware do you use? You could use powerstrip I imagine.
I ended up replacing the monitor with a 19″ 4:3 flat screen monitor. By the time all was said and done, it was cheaper to buy another monitor than it was to buy two video cards (one for each machine that was sharing the monitor). I finally realized that I do too many things in full screen mode that simply don’t scale properly. In a couple of years I suspect all monitors will be wide screen and all the kinks will have been worked out of everything by then. Maybe by then I’ll be in the market for another new monitor …