LCD monitors

17" is 17". If it were "substantially larger" someone would be in trouble. Size-wise the screens aren't much different. What you DON'T have with the LCDs is the large bezel around the screen (which makes the LCD screen itself appear bigger) and the slight "black line" that you get on conventional monitors at the edges. All in all you might pick up 1/4" or so top to bottom and side to side.

I have a ViewSonic 17" LCD panel at work (a different model though!) and it works just fine. It took a week or two to get used to but after that I like the LCD much more than the conventional monitor.

Howdy:

Unfortunatel, in the case of monitors, 17" is NOT 17" in.. Monitors are measured diagonally therefore the viewing size is closer to 16", NOT 17"..

As for LCD screens, they are as close as you can get..
as per the spec sheet on both..

SonicView VG700: Full 17" viewable screen

HP v70: viewable area 15.7"

Murray

Off the main question, but I use a Sampo at work and love it just for the extra 8" to 10" of desk (real desk) top it gives me immediately in front of the monitor. It's the most useful part of the desk.

If I could afford it, and didn't have cats, I would have one at home.

LCD monitors
Just for curiosity, Roger, why would having cats keep you from having an LCD panel? I have always found that cats make great paperwieghts, BTW.

Mine has a very soft screen - so soft it can be deformed by touching it. My concerns over what would happen if Barney decided to use it as a scratching post were one of several reasons that he became a house cat instead of office cat.

LCD
I quite understand!

P.S. What kind of cat is Barney?

I have a 17" Samsung LCD monitor, and I love it! It's 17" measured diagonally.

LCD
I'm leaning toward the ViewSonic 19 inch. This is basically because of its ability to adjust viewing angles. However, I think I should probably check out some others which have this capability. PC World has some other good recommendations beside the ViewSonic line.

The only LCD that I've really seen up close is a ViewSonic and the user is delighted with it. Which is, of course, a big plus.

I have the Samsung SyncMaster 191T. (I think that there may be a model that supercedes this now.) Anyhow, I looked and looked, and found that the ViewSonic and Samsung, to me, were the clearest. At the time, Samsung had a "deal" so I chose that one. If you are going to spring for an LCD, I think it pays to get the biggest one that you can afford.

Before I had this monitor I had a Sony 21" CRT. The picture did not reach the edge, so I figured that I was only getting 20". Can't see much of a difference between the 21" CRT and the 19"LCD!

I would get the 17" if I were you. The reason is that the resolution is the same for most 17" and 19" (usually 1280x1024 max) which means that the 19" has a larger pixel size (~.29) for sharper imagine, you want a smaller pixel (.264mm is about the best you can get with current LCD). So really, the screens will show just as much as the other. One will just be enflated. Secondly, look at the viewing angles, the response time (< ~20ms is preferable), the brightness (225 or 250 nits would be best), and the contrast ratio (larger ratio is better). All of those things will contribute to the quality of the image. I've been looking at them lately cause I wanna get one... look at these two models: NEC MultiSync LCD1765 and the Sony SDM-HS73.

LCD Monitors
Thank you, everybody for your help. I finally decided on the ViewSonic 191b which is highly recommended by PC World.

I've ordered it via A2K/Amazon from a source in Texas unfamiliar to me but highly rated by Amazon customers, so I'm confident that everything will go smoothly. I don't know if A2K benefits from purchases made from Amazon-connected suppliers, but I hope so. (The direct A2K connections were out of stock on this model.)

Now I'm waiting eagerly for it to come. When it does I'm passing my old monitor on to someone who hopes to be able to hitch his laptop to it. (Can this be done?)

Thanks again, and I'll let you all know how it works out.