I've been wondering for a little while now about this.

AFAIK, computer monitors and TVs are meant to have a 4:3 ratio for the display resolution (except for widescreen, but that's another matter). Pretty much all the display resolutions you see for a standard monitor are this.

- 800x600
- 1024x768
- 1152x864
- 1280x960
- 1600x1200

And so on...

How in the world did 1280x1024 get thrown in there (Aspect ratio = 5:4)? Considering that I've never seen a CRT monitor with an aspect ratio of 5:4, it seems odd that it's an option for me at home on my CRT. When you view it on a CRT monitor with physical dimensions with a 4:3 ratio, you end up with distortion. I'm guessing that LCDs with this resolution have the proper physical aspect ratio, but it still seems odd to me to have it this way in the first place.

Any leads as to why this is the way it is... or is it just because there is no hard-set standard for display aspect ratios?

The SXGA standard uses a 5:4 aspect ratio- used on some TFT LCD displays.

Right... but from what I can see, 1280x960 is also listed as a SXGA. SXGA+ is used in laptop screens, and is a 4:3 aspect ratio (1440x1080).

It just seems odd to me that 5:4 exists at all...

I have a 21" crt and use 1280x1024. It may cause some of the icons and the like to be distorted but other than that, I like the size of everything on the screen. If it is doing anything else, I'm not noticing it. The ratios above and below this leave things a little small or large. This and full mouse sensitivity so I can scroll all the way across the screen without leaving the pad suits me. Another side effect I found a little disconcerting at first was when someone in the forum would talk about 'this thread' being 6 pages and I was only coming up with 4. I got a decent price on a refurbished 21" and no regrets.

DL

I used 1280x1024 on my 17" Viewsonic...

if i go 1280x960, then i get black cut offs either side, with 280x1024 it auto adjusts and fits perfectly and looks ace.


Also, you will notice in new PC games it gives you that option for resoltuion for LCD monitor, works fine with me

I also get a lot more clarity

i have a viewsonic vx924 and its native is 1280x1024, looks great . and its seems to be the maximum supported by most games.

I can echo that......

My 21" Nokia looks clean and clear at that resolution. Although the icons are too dang'd small to see.

So why again is that not a viable screen setting?

Cheers

You should physically measure your monitor. If the horizontal and vertical dimentions have an aspect ratio of 4:3, then the 1280x1024 resolution will give you a distorted image. If you want to try for yourself, draw a box that is say... 800x800 pixels in Paint or Photoshop, then measure the box on your screen (with a ruler). The sides should be the same length. If they're not, then you've got a distorted image. 1280x960 is the correct resolution for screens of this size/ratio.

Just a note... LCD monitors are made with square pixels, so there's no problem with mis-matched aspect ratios here. If you view the monitor at the rated resolution, you're fine.

My original question just came up because even in the day when LCD monitors didn't exist, the 1280x1024 resolution did and people used it. Since 99% of consumer monitors have a physical aspect ratio of 4:3, this is just wrong...

guys just increase the size of the icons then. default is 32x32 i think, i bump it up to 48x48. but for desktop i use avedesk png's at 96x96.