LCD monitor prices

Last time I looked at this was back in 2006.  Back then, you could still easily find 4:3 monitors (1280x1024 and 1600x1200) and 16:10 monitors (1680x1050, 1920x1200).  Now the 1920x1080 panels have pretty much pushed everything else out of the market.

Pixel sizes range from 0.248 up to 0.311 mm/pixel for desktop LCD monitors.  That's a range of about 102 ppi for the smaller pixels and 81.7 ppi for the largest pixels, or about a 25% difference.  If the underlying operating system is not setup correctly, that can mean that a font which would be 9pt on the larger screen will appear about the size of a 7.2pt font on the smaller screen.  For older users, that can cause issues with reading text on the web or in documents for long periods.


My personal feel is that anything smaller then 0.285 mm/pixel (89 ppi) is going to be too small unless the user has near-perfect vision.  In the past, that meant if you wanted a 1680x1050 display, you needed to go with a 22" size instead of the 19" size.  For the 19" glass size, the 1440x900 displays were preferable.

(I own both a 19" 1680x1050 and a 22" 1680x1050.  The 22" version is simply a lot easier to deal with long-term because the pixels are about 15% larger.  The 19" monitor gets very little use as a result.)


There are also "large format" LCDs, which are more like TVs then monitors.  Those have pixel sizes starting at around 0.500mm per pixel.  The display area is larger, but the resolutions on some of those are only 1366x768 or 1920x1080, it's just spread over a much larger area.

Amazingly, you can still get 4:3 displays and the SXGA is a popular size with over 60 models at a popular online store.  The smaller 800x600 (SVGA), 1024x768 (XGA) and the larger 1600x1200 (UXGA) displays, however are extremely rare now.  Most of the action has now shifted to HD1080 screens.

Current prices:


SXGA 5:4 1280x1024 (17-19" $100-$300)
WXGA 16:9  1366x768 (18.5" $75-$130)
WXGA+ 16:10 1440x900 (19" $80-$135)
WSXGA+ 16:10 1680x1050 (22" $150-$230)
HD1080 16:9 1920x1080 (21.5-24" $130-$300)
WUXGA 16:10 1920x1200 (24-26" $290-$400)

A lot of the HD1080 screens have a pixel pitch of around 0.276mm (92 ppi) if you get something in the 24" range ($170-$230).  The 27" HD1080 screens have a pixel size of about 0.311mm, but their prices start at $260.  So unless you have the money for the larger glass, you'll probably have to settle for the 0.276mm pixel size, which isn't that far off of 0.285mm.