id="mod_30993128">About LCD Monitor Aspect Ratios
When buying a new LCD monitor for your computer, it's pretty much impossible to find a newly made non-widescreen one. Widescreen displays are very popular these days, but are they really better than the 4:3 monitors which were popular back in the day? Some people who still own older standard aspect ratio screens are reluctant to switch to 16:9 or 16:10 for various reasons.

Find out more about widescreen and standard monitor pros and cons on the page below. Please join in the discussion and voice your own opinion about the best resolutions and ratios of PC monitors, too. And if want to learn about the standard monitor resolutions, scroll down to the monitor size chart.

Widescreen versus Standard Display Comparison
It's a bit silly to call 4:3 "standard" when widescreen is the new standard, but for the sake of simplicity, please bear with it. It can also be called "fullscreen", but that's confusing in its own way. Perhaps we should just go with "square" and "rectangular"...

Widescreen computer monitor pros and cons
Widescreen advantages:


Best for watching DVD format movies

Good for gaming

Easy to work with two windows side-by-side
Widescreen drawbacks:


Less vertical space for reading

Extra white space on websites

Less overall pixels, given the same size in inches
Standard monitor pros and cons
4:3 monitor pros:


Great for surfing the internet

Excellent for reading and working with text

More pixels (given the same diagonal size)
4:3 monitor cons:


Bad for watching 16:9 format movies

Smaller horizontal field of view in games

Can't work with 2 windows side-by-side
Proponents of widescreen often argue that 16:9 is closer to the golden ratio and as such, is more pleasing and natural to the eye. However, it does not necessarily match the human field of view.

One of the main reasons for the huge push from "square" to widescreen is cost. LCD panel manufacturers can save a lot of money if they use the same parts for both computer monitors and HDTVs. In addition, wider monitors have less pixels compared to former standard 4:3 ones if the diagonal size is the same.

Widescreen vs Fullscreen Aspect Ratio Discussion
Are wide (16:9 and 16:10) or standard ratio (4:3 and 5:4) monitors better?

Monitor Resolution Chart
Source PC monitors with aspect ratios wider than the 4:3 standard are considered "widescreen". You can see all the common display resolutions and aspect ratios in this monitor resolution list. A new trend not shown on this chart is ultrawide 21:9 "cinema" type computer displays and TVs. These screens use a 2560x1080 resolution.

16:9 vs 16:10 Aspect Ratio
Pretty much the only choice a buyer has these days
No matter how much I prefer 4:3 over widescreen, the fact is that the absolute majority of new computer displays on the market come in wide resolutions. The only real choice one has is between 16:9 aspect ratio (with resolutions like 1920x1080 and 2560x1440) and 16:10 aspect ratio (1920x1200 and 2560x1600). This is commonly known as 1080p, 1440p, 1200p, and 1600p among computer enthusiasts.

Unsurprisingly, I think 16:10 is better in most cases, as it gives you more vertical space and more pixels to work with. If you do video editing, a 1920x1200 monitor will let you watch a 1080p video and have a toolbox and a timeline visible at the bottom of the screen. If you work with text, you'll be able to have several documents or websites open at the same time, and you will also have more vertical space compared to a 16:9 monitor.

The only time I'd go with a 16:9 screen is if it was primarily used to watch movies. Those black bars can be annoying. Gaming is another issue. Most video games will work beautifully in 16:10, but you have to keep in mind that your graphics card will have to render more pixels as compared to a 16:9 monitor of the same width, so you will get slightly lower FPS.

Computer Monitor Aspect Ratio Poll
What is the aspect ratio of your computer monitor?

Widescreen aspect ratio (17:9, 16:9, 16:10, 3:2)

Standard aspect ratio (5:4, 4:3)
See results Non-Widescreen, LED-Backlit Monitor
Acer 19-Inch Screen LED-Lit Monitor - V196L b - UM.CV6AA.005The market might have turned to widescreen, but it's still possible to acquire good square monitors like this 1280 x 1024 resolution, 5:4 aspect ratio Acer with LED back-lighting.

Buy Now Related
Computer HardwareMulti Monitor Mount - How to set up a Quad Monitor Stand
by Sam Kear3


Computer HardwareLED Backlight Flicker in LCD Displays
by Andrew Po9


Popular
Computer HardwareComputer Bus Structure
by jaymut200965


Computer HardwareTypes of Computer Output Devices
by Alfred Amuno2


Computer HardwareRemoving Supervisor Password on a Lenovo T410s (In Vancouver)
by laptop.shelter1


Comments
Sign in or sign up and post using a HubPages Network account.

0 of 8192 characters usedPost CommentNo HTML is allowed in comments, but URLs will be hyperlinked. Comments are not for promoting your articles or other sites.

sendinganonymous

2 years ago

For work: Dual 4:3

For home: 16:9 if you game/movies a lot (but wait I have a TV for that), so I prefer 3:2 or 4:3

iPad is 4:3, surface pro and other laptops have moved away from widescreen and tend to be 3:2. I have a widescreen laptop and I hate it.


anonymous

6 years ago

@anonymous: Why?

3:2 = A widescreen aspect ratio close to 16:10, in which it's also known as 15:10 (3x5=15, 2x5=10).

16:9 = HD ratio best for gaming, and is an aspect ratio used in YouTube (640x360 in small view and 854x480 in expanded view, both are 16:9).

Thanks, everybody.


anonymous

6 years ago

3:2 and 16:9 are the BEST!!!


anonymous

7 years ago

4:3 is much better for computing. Web pages don't use that standard width, let alone widescreen. The problem is worse for laptops because widescreen is too short (too much scrolling), while the width is a waste of size and weight of your portable device. Please sign this petition to return to the 4:3 display aspect ratio standard for laptops:

website


Tony Payne

7 years ago from Southampton, UK

Widescreen is nice for watching movies and playing games, but for trying to program or write articles, the loss of vertical space means a lot of scrolling, and it's hard to program when you can't see as much on the screen.


PhyllisCOliver

8 years ago

Thanks a lot for this very wonderful information, since i really have no idea when it comes to widescreen and standard screen differential.

pc tune up


Tonie Cook

9 years ago from USA

Good topic. You are right about the standard monitors being easier to read, and the wide screen monitors being better for viewing graphics. My wide screen acer is an odd bird, but has what it takes to view multiple windows with tv running at the same time.


anonymous

9 years ago

Maybe it's just me being used to "non-widescreen" (or w/e they're really called) monitors, clash royale boosting but widescreen feels weird and unnatural to me. I mean sure they're great for movies, but when I'm sitting right next to it the dimensions of the screen seem pretty weird. Well when you sit back and watch a movie they're great, sure.

ISSN: 1692-7257