Do You See What I See?
The latest installment in my computer laboratory is an HP f1905. It’s a glorious 19-inch flatscreen LCD monitor - a big step up from my 17-inch CRT monitor (whose actual viewable area was only 15 inches). Ya-ha!
With a 1280×1024 native screen resolution spread over 19 inches of screen, I get more real estate than my previous 1024×768/17″ setup. Native means I can only set my screen resolution to its default 1280×1024 configuration. Anything more or less than that will just produce crappy visual output. However, with 19 inches of surface area, who needs more? Not me! (or not yet!)
Web Design
One of the things that I’m loving with this monitor is that I can see more of my code while working with Dreamweaver. No need to minimize / hide / close my favorite task panels! They’re always there for fast and easy access along with more of my code! Ya-ha!
Note: It’s not really good practice to write long strings of code when you can always chop it down. I was taught in my Java college class to limit the number of characters per line to 80 characters. This is in consideration of other people viewing my code on lower resoultions. A little courtesy so that they don’t have to fidget with the horizontal scroll bar while reading code. Moreover, shorter horizontal code is more printer-friendly than Telenovela Code.
Linux
While I’ve been using Linux for three years already, I still consider myself a n00b in the field. There are still a lot of instances when I have to refer to manuals, forums and tutorials to help me get my work done. This upgrade allows me to squeeze more stuff in the screen. For instance, it allows me to RTFM on the upper half of the screen while happily typing away on the lower half of the screen dedicated for the terminal. If you think four 1024×768/17 workspaces are a lot, wait till you get four 1280×1024/19! Ya-ha!
Entertainment
Of course, no kick-ass computer kicks ass until it can do everything that it’s master wants it to do. After programming or doing systems analysis or doing whatever MIS should do for a living, I usually unwind with an action-packed level of Doom3 or a funny episode of South Park. The big screen makes me feel like i’m watching from a television set. And yes, all the games I’m currently playing rock with my upgraded setup. Ya-ha!
There is a down side to this setup though. As with most LCDs, this LCD has a limited viewing angle. This means that while everything might look perfect when viewing the LCD at eye-level, image quality diminishes when viewing it from another angle (e.g. i don’t see anything when i’m watching the screen diagonally from the sofa). But I can live with that - that only means that Trailblazer will be dedicated for *cough* work *cough*!
Do You See What I See?
I’d have to say that this is better than my dual-monitor setup with Zoom (laptop monitor + CRT monitor). It offers big savings on the electricity bill (LCD consumes less power than CRT) and sets the right mood for either play or work - and sometimes, that little change in mood makes all the difference between a boring day of problem-solving and a cool day of making progress in work.
A few inches of difference for mankind, a big step for Pipboy.
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