12 HD Days of Christmas: Day 5
"On the 5th day of Christmas..." etc. etc., you get the point.
Or maybe you don't, because you're squinting, reading this on some vintage 13" Apple IIe monitor. If you are, I know exactly what to put under the tree this year, Gateway's FPD2185W 21" LCD monitor.
This isn't the only widescreen LCD monitor to come out this holiday season NEC's n2050w comes to mind as well as Dell's 37" monster, but I've been looking around online and responses from the lucky owners of this one have been universally enthusiastic, take a look and see what you've been missing.
First of, it's widescreen baby. If you've never had a widescreen monitor let me tell you, having two browser/image/document editing windows open in full size next to each other is great, you might go back, but you won't want to.
Second, it's high definition, with a resolution of 1680 x 1050, which will give you all of the 720p loving you need, plus picture-in-picture. 5 different video inputs, including component and DVI/HDCP means you'll be able to plug in and watch all your high definition content with no DRM issues. The Faroudja scaler will smooth anything you connect to the S-video or composite inputs, and movies appear as vibrantly as any LCD on the market.
8ms refresh rate eliminates any question of smearing within games, and rotates 90 degrees to give a huge portrait view. I could go on and on, but why listen to me when you can check out what people who have one are saying, not just someone looking under the tree for what Santa will bring (family, you reading this?)
Anandtech forums (screens by djsnmith7)
ZDNet user reviews
Quite simply, if you need your monitor to pull double duty in 2006, it gets no better.
Previous HD Days of Christmas: