Your monitor can make a big difference in your computing enjoyment. The factors to consider are connections, resolution and size.
Monitor Connections
Purchase a monitor and display adapter that are both DVI (digital). Then, the signals will be created in digital and remain digital. Otherwise, signals are created in digital in the computer, converted in the display adapter to analog and then back to digital again in the monitor. Even though most LCD monitors come with both VGA (analog) and DVI (digital) inputs, many PCs still come with analog VGA output and require installation of a third-party DVI display adapter to keep everything digital. Keep it all digital... there is a difference!
Monitor Resolution
The standard resolutions are 640x480, 800x600, 1024x768, 1280x1024 and 1600x1200, the latter three being the most commonly used. For example, 1024x768 means there are 1,024 columns and 768 rows of pixels on screen. The higher the resolution, the more material is viewable on screen; however, a high resolution on a small screen makes text very small.
Be sure that the flat panel display's maximum resolution is the one you want to work with all the time. The sharpest resolution on an LCD display is its maximum resolution (see flat panel display).
Monitor Size
The graphical user interface (GUI) on today's computers simulates an office desktop, but when is the last time you worked at a desk one foot wide? Computer stores may advertise a 17" monitor as part of a package, but that is the bare minimum screen size.
For a superior Web surfing experience, choose a 24" or 26" monitor with 1600x1200 resolution, and two Web pages can be displayed side by side at about the same size as two sheets of letter-sized paper. Most Web pages are 800 pixels across, although they are increasingly being expanded to 1,000. Better yet, put dual monitors side by side and view four documents at the same time. While this may seem extravagant, consider how you look at papers laid out on your desk. Supported by the operating system and created by plugging two display adapters into the computer or one adapter that supports dual monitors, a dual monitor configuration only begins to recreate the usefulness of paper pages on a real desktop. See dual monitor and flat panel display.
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