Resolution Monster

Resolution Monster

I like high resolution monitors. I do. People complain that the text on my screen is too small; I tell them to have their vision checked. People ask me why I need a webpage, my email client, my IM client, and a terminal open all visible at the same time; I say because I like it!

Until now, I have reached by goal through sheer Resolution. First, there was 1280x1024 on a 17" CRT, then 1450x1000 on an LCD, and then 1600x1200 on a 21"CRT. This last monitor is a beast. It weights over 60lbs. and has a giant red light bulb that indicates that monsterous amounts of electrons are flying right at you through a glass pane that is designed to glow in accordance with these tiny, fast, charged little guys. There are two knobs on the front, each almost an inch in diameter, that are responsible for regulating the brightness and contrast. The beast is sheilded from magnetic fields, rack-mountable, and originally lived in a submarine (or so its former owner was told when be bought it from a military supply store). In short, this is the apex of analog design.

Enter the desk. The desk is old and ill-designed. He is made from compressed bits of wood and covered in some kind of black laminate that tries to fool you into thinking its made of real wood. But please do not mock the desk for he is like Atlas, carrying a great burden on its shoulders: the beast.

It is now time for the desk to retire, and its replacement to emerge from the throngs of desk that are vying to be bought from the stores they call purgatory. No equal has been found :-/

It seems I may be forced to part with both the desk and the monitor.

Alright, enough with the drama. I need a flat screen monitor and I don't have $600-$1000 to buy an LCD that can do 1600x1200. Options: 19" LCD that does 1280x1024. Will I miss the extra resolution? Yes. How will I cope?

Well first, I'll need new fonts on my terminals. Proggy Fonts offers an awesome, progammer-designed, free font that is very legible at a size of only 8pt. MS Word, Excel, etc. can always zoom out. I never played games at 1600x1200 anyway. The only time I think I'll really miss it, is when I am mixing tracks or editing images. Looking at waveforms or at pixels just cannot be compensated by zooming out.

I'm sure in another couple of years it will become practicle to get a nice 23" LCD that does 1920x1080 ... or more!

I am, in short, a Resolution Monster on a budget :-P