doconnor>) (06/25/91)
It's not the size of the pixels and whether I can see them that matter to me when I'm determining what resolution I can use on a certain size monitor. The reason I think 1K by 768 is wasted on less-than-19" monitors is because I'm only willing to read a certain size text or larger when I'm doing it 8 hours a day. This is about 58 lines on a 20" monitor, or about 38 on a 14" monitor. That's a line pitch of about 5 lines per inch. I think laser printers usually do 6 lines per inch, for comparison. [ N.B. Vertical height of a TV is about 3/5 the diagonal measure. Horizontal width of a TV is about 4/5 the diagonal measure. Also, that monitors are sold by tube size, and the visible (useable) size is usually about an inch less than that. ] So 768 scan-lines with a 20" monitor running 58 lines of text gives me 13 scan-lines per line of text, an adequate number. More scan lines would buy me smoother characters, but not more characters, since I'm not willing to use a magnifying glass, or put my nose to the screen :-) [ 20" color monitors cost $1700 for the cheapest mail-order I've seen, and $2100+ for really nice ones like the Mitsubishi Daimond Scan 20 ] On a 14" monitor, 38 lines of text is as about small as I'll go. If you use the Amiga's 640x400 mode, this gives you over 10 scan-lines per line of text : a little rough, but useable. You can overscan to get 11 scan-lines per line, I imagine. [ good 14" color monitors cost, what, $250+ ? ] On a 13" ( 12" visible ) monitor, 36 lines is my limit. That's 11 scan-lines per line of text in 640x400 mode. I've got a 17" (16.25" visible) monitor on my A3000. Which I am willing to read at 48 lines to the screen but not much smaller. In the 640x480 "Productivity" (aka "VGA-like") mode, non-overscanned, this is 10 scan-lines per character. I wouldn't mind a few more than that, but it's still OK. [ 16-17" monitors cost from $600 and up, mine can be got for $850 mail-order. It's a Samsung SyncMaster 17, .31mm dot pitch, will do up to 1024x768 interlaced or non-interlaced. Shouldn't be obsolete TOO soon ;-). No, I haven't tested it at 15Khz YET, but it will do down to 20Khz so... ] Now, if you're doing graphics or CAD work, you may have different requirements. Or maybe your close-focus eyesight is better than mine. That's fine, to each their own. But for my uses, the A3000 has all the pixels I need for a 17" monitor. Needless to say, all the above applies only to flicker-free displays. Just say no to interlace, eh ? -- -- Dennis O'Connor, uunet!srg!titania!doconnor non-representative.