LCD monitors: not by size alone

The dominant aspect of LCD monitors that figures in ads and sales pitches is the diagonal size. Many online web-sites and shops classify LCD monitors by vendors, prices and diagonal sizes. Sizes also figure prominently in ads, press releases and sales pitches.

Diagonal size could have been a major determinant in purchase decisions for CRT monitors, but it is not sufficient for LCD monitors. While CRT monitors came only in 4:3 aspect ratio, LCD monitors also come in 16:9 (aka widescreen) aspect ratio. There are other widescreen formats like 15:9 or 16:10 but 16:9 is the most common. For the same size, widescreen monitors are cheaper for a good reason - their area is smaller than their 4:3 counterpart by about 11%. The cost of a monitor depends on the area so the widescreen monitor is cheaper than the standard format.

For working with documents and web-surfing, I prefer standard monitors to widescreen monitors as the former display more lines of text. Widescreen monitors are better suited for videos and games. Of course, if you have a video card can rotate screen and your monitor can rotate on its axis, you can get the best of both worlds.

Next time you shop around for a LCD monitor, don't go by size alone.