NEC Display Solutions Italia

Widescreen format

Widescreen LCDs are becoming increasingly popular for business and private use. Users who spend many hours in front of a computer monitor each day are impressed by the spaciousness of the 16:10 format. In addition to this extra space, widescreen monitors offer many other advantages. The widespread belief that widescreen monitors are suitable for multimedia and entertainment applications but not everyday office work is easy to disprove.

With a broad selection of LCD monitors ranging from 19-inch to 26-inch variants and from entry-level to high-end, NEC Display Solutions has the perfect widescreen monitor for every application, from the office and SoHo sector to professional image editing all the way to complex CAD/CAM or archiving applications. For daily office tasks with CRM, SAP or Excel applications, wideformat displays provide the user with more screen area and images that are “easy on the eye” - a clear advantage in terms of ergonomics.

Considering the many applications now operated simultaneously, a standard display does not provide enough space for all the contents to be displayed on the screen. Wide-format displays offer key advantages at an attractive price here. In Office-XP, for example, Microsoft has introduced “Smart Tags” for the first time. These are information windows appearing down the side of the screen which make it easier for users to perform their tasks. Windows Vista makes intensive use of this display technique and Smart Tags form an integral part of the new operating system. However, their full potential can only be exploited on widescreen LCDs. Added to this is the fact that graphic applications, office software and multimedia software will in the future support widescreen resolution. Windows Vista comes with a 16:10 display and the next generations of graphic cards will also be optimised for the 16:10 widescreen display format.

Consciously embracing wider screens

Ergonomists have been recommending wide screens for a long time because human vision is better adapted to width than height. Applying this rule of thumb generates considerable benefits for users sitting in front of wide screens, including making work much easier while also increasing productivity. The widescreen format enables a better overview of the monitor when several applications are open at the same time - the individual programs are easy to operate even when the windows are right next to each other. Users who work with spreadsheet applications such as Excel see a third more columns, designers using graphic applications or design engineers using programming tools have plenty of space to position option boxes alongside the main window,and financial investors see charts that are a third larger, thus frequently providing the decisive piece of information. Extensive tables and websites can also be displayed and viewed better on widescreens as there is no need to scroll from left to right.

Widescreen - the best choice in ergonomics for Microsoft and Office applications

People who spend the majority of their time working with a PC change focus between the screen, keyboard and working documents about 30,000 times a day. This requires the eyes to instantaneously adjust to new distances, viewing angles and contrasts. Ergonomics should be be given top priority so as to minimise the sideeffects of long hours spent in front of a computer screen, such as vision problems, tiredness, headaches and back problems. The widescreen format is much better suited to the eye’s natural field of vision, making it possible to work longer without becoming tired. ErgoDesign® , developed in-house by NEC Display Solutions, also allows users to position the screen to suit their personal preferences thanks to many adjustment options for height, tilt, etc.

When buying a new monitor, there have been a number of standards in place for many years. Until now, these include resolutions of 1280 x 1024 and 1600 x 1200 pixels as well as monitors of 17, 19 or 21 inches. If the available screen area was no longer sufficient, users were forced to move up to the next class. The new wideformat displays now offer a real alternative - and require some rethinking in resolution and dot-pitch.

The key parameter - dot-pitch

But which wide format is best suited to which type of application? One key parameter when purchasing a widescreen monitor is dot-pitch. It indicates the distance between the individual pixels on a monitor. The larger the dot-pitch, the more ergonomic and easier it is to work with text applications and spreadsheet calculations. Dot-pitch is an important criterion for database applications. The legibility of columns of figures and text building blocks improves with increasing dotpitch. However, dot-pitch should not be confused with the term dpi, which stands for “dots per inch” and is a measurement of resolution.

This dot-pitch information should be taken into account before purchasing a widescreen monitor. Frequently, however, too little attention is paid to precisely this criterion, leaving the user confused by the myriad of varied widescreen formats on the market. Additional confusion arises when buyers assume that the bigger a monitor is, i.e. the more active screen area it offers, the better its image quality. But caution should be taken here. The inch size of a widescreen monitor has nothing to do with its ergonomic qualities. Choosing the right format for a specific application is much more important. And there are as many widescreen formats as there are various applications. A wide-format screen should be at least 19 inches, with the 22-inch format considered ideal for most applications.

This is where it becomes very clear that increasing dot-pitch improves legibility and thus ergonomics. The good quality of a 19-inch screen in 5:4 format is especially striking here. It is used as a reference value for the relationship between dot-pitch and ergonomics. This is closely followed by the 26-inch widescreen format, then the 24-inch and 22-inch widescreen formats. The optimum widescreen format is available for each application. A look at the various inch sizes helps to gain an orientation.

19-inch screens - the affordable entry-level choice in wide formats

A 19-inch widescreen monitor is ideally suited as an entry-level model into the world of wide formats. In everyday office life, this format offers more room for columns and requires less scrolling in the document. With an optimum resolution of 1440 x 900 pixels, this monitor is also the ideal complement to widescreen notebooks, as they frequently have the same resolution. The dot-pitch in this format is 0.284 mm - an excellent value that makes working on a computer comfortable. A monitor in this format is ideally suited for homeusers who want to make an affordable entry into wide formats and use their computers primarily for surfing the Internet and processing text. On the otherhand, a 19-inch wide display is sub-optimal for image processing and multimedia tasks. Buyers should consider a widescreen LCD of at least 20 inches for these tasks. The reason is obvious - as compared to the 19-inch wide format, the 20-inch wide format offers an additional 468,000 pixels, permitting a resolution of 1680 x 1050.

20-inch widescreen - the all-rounder for home usage, specialist for gaming and multimedia applications and upgrade from the 17- inch format

LCD displays in the 20-inch widescreen format offer a resolution of 1680 x 1050 pixels and 34.6% more active screen surface (1,764,000 pixels) as compared to a conventional 19-inch monitor. Although the pixel size is not optimal for text applications, it is entirely sufficient for occasional text processing and surfing the Internet. However, these monitors can display their true abilities in the fields of gaming, multimedia and image postprocessing. The added pixels show themselves off to their best advantage here - the NEC 20WGX2 Pro is popular with gamers and amateur photographers for a good reason. NEC Display Solutions also offers two 20-inch widescreen models, optimally suited to the needs of a small or home office, in the entry-range.

22-inch widescreen - the successor to the 19-inch format in the office

The 22-inch widescreen format is ideally suited as the new standard size in office environments. The LCDs are positioned as the successor models to the conventional 19-inch 5:4 formats. They have the same frame height as their predecessors, but offer nearly 10 cm of additional space in width. Converting to the new format in the office environment allows therefore more comfortable working routines. The new format also boasts clear ergonomic advantages:Resolution of 1680 x 1050 pixels in comparison to 1280 x 1024 on 19-inch monitors adds whole new viewing dimensions. Fonts are displayed at higher resolutions, active screen surface is increased by 24 per cent and 35 per cent more pixels leave more room for additional gadgets, sidebars or messenger services in daily work. The pixel size of 0.282 mm is extremely attractive, letting users work longer without tiring as even the tiniest details are clearly displayed.

24-inch widescreen - semi-professional in wide format

With an optimum resolution of 1920 x 1200, the 24-inch widescreen format is recommendable for more ambitious users. With HDCP support and a DVI interface, even full HD contents (highdefinition 1080p) are no problem. This format has the same frame height as a 21-inch LCD display in 4:3 format, and together they form an ideal team for dual-screen solutions. As a result of the pixel size of 0.270 mm, the 24-inch widescreen format offers good to very good properties for text display and table calculation and is the ideal upgrade from 21-inch formats. The enormous screen width of over 51 cm offers undreamt of possibilities in regard to table width of database applications and is the same height as the 21-inch format.

26-inch widescreen - unimagined possibilities for professional users

26-inch screen - a monitor of 55 cm in width with a diagonal of 66 cm. In comparison, a 19-inch monitor in 5:4 format has a monitor width of 37.6 cm.These numbers reveal the vast potential of widescreen formats. The range of possibilities is limitless, from CAD/CAM applications through desktop publishing all the way to text archiving. Thanks to its enormous frame width, a 26-inch widescreen LCD can display two DIN A4 pages in original size while
still leaving room for sidebars and other tools on the edges. This makes text work such as comparing documents much more ergonomic and productive.There is no need for tedious minimising and maximising of windows as there is sufficient room for all applications. This format best showcases all of its strengths in applications such as Photoshop or QuarkExpress, as well as monitor displays in the offices of insurance companies or traders/brokers. With a dot-pitch of 0.287 mm, a 26-inch widescreen monitor is the model of choice for easy reading of texts and documents. With HCDP and DVI interfaces, the enormous resolution of 1920 x 1200 even permits the display of HD contents.

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