My intention: to alert other would be buyers on the option and advantages of 16:10 over 16:9. so that those ppl who share my similar profile & preferences, won't have to go through the buy-16:9-then-found-not-useful-then-sell-then-spend-more-$-buy-16:10-at-last cycle, in other words, don't repeat my mistake and burn $ in the process. those samsung etc marketing guys won't tell us these things.

originally posted: http://forum.lowyat.net/index.php?showtopi...&#entry54630054

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just bought Dell u2412m for 799 from garage sale, brand new! wow blows me away!!

guys u might regret taking 16:9 if in future if u plan to use it for more productive things like programming, graphics design, spreadsheets, or documents etc. for these kinds of tasks, 16:10 is clearly much better - the extra 120 pixels in height can let you open 2 pages of A4 in full side-by-side (in Word or in pdf) and you still can read all words clearly. the slightly more $$ paid for these extra pixels is completely worthy.

I have compared and found that: a 22" @16:10 will have a height of 11.66", and a 24" @16:9 is only at 11.77" - means that to me the usefulness of a 22" (16:10) is the same as a 24" (16:9).

if i still can't convince you, just consider this simple fact: if you start by taking 16:9, and then regret it, you can't do anything to increase it to 16:10, other than selling it. but if u take 16:10 first, u can view all 16:9 contents without any problem, just ignore the thin black bars on top and bottom la, what's the big deal?

honestly, i really hate those forces behind the industry (samsung maybe?) to push 16:9 to such prominence now. this ratio is only good for watching movies (that still not considering that a lot of big budget movies are made in 2.35:1, so even 16:9 will still give you black bars!), it is rubbish in all other kinds of usage. if 16:10 remains in mass production, their costs will be as low as those 16:9 now. what a waste!

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no i'm not a purist, neither am i a casual user - i use my computer daily for a living. I have been hunting hard to find monitors that are more for practical and productive use, other than those just good for watching movies. and what i can see in the market are loads of 16:9 in all sizes, with prices getting lower and lower, but just not a single one in 16:10 - well, except a few IPS models from Dell, and Asus, and due to the low production numbers, their prices are so high! I bought Dell u2412m at ~800 even though i don't really need an IPS, because of the limited choices out there. hence my frustation expressed above.

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below is my own research during the process of monitor hunting (H: monitor height):

16:10
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20" - H = 10.56"
22" - H = 11.66"
24" - H = 12.72"
27" - H = 14.31"

1680 x 1050 : dell 2209, sam 226BW
1920 x 1200 : dell U2410, dell U2412m, Dell 2407WFP-HC
2560 x 1600

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16:9
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21.5"- H = 10.56" (not 22" & 10.79" as previously stated)
23"  - H = 11.28"
24"  - H = 11.77"
27"  - H = 13.24"

1920 x 1080 : dell ST2420L, ST2410, s2408w, Viewsonic IPS VX2336S, sam B2230H
2048 x 1152 : sam 2343BWX,
2560 x 1440 : dell U2711,

Thanks for viewing, and welcome any discussion - no offense to anyone. These are just my personal opinion.

Actually bro, i have no objection to 16:9, just that I'm pissed off by the market situation where almost ALL new monitors now are availble in only the 16:9 format, but those of us who want other dimensions are so lacking of choices, and, if found, we are left with few models at much higher prices than it should have been.

Strictly speaking, those who complain about the black bars on 16:10 are pointless too, because if you are using your 16:9 monitors to view downloaded movies, quite many of them are made in 2:35:1 format, then you will have black bars too, so how? And seriously, I have been using my 16:10 monitors to watch all sorts of movies of various aspect ratios, and, those black bars have never bothered me at all, because after a few seconds, my eyes got used to them and just focus on the movie itself, never distracted by the bars at all.