Tech

Acer 19″ Widescreen Goodness

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Yesterday, I received my shiny new AL1916W monitor. For the last 18 months or so, I've used a LG 17" Flatron screen, and it's served me well. With the arrival of the Xbox 360 though, my trusty LG wasn't cutting it. You see, the 360 is unashamedly a beast of widescreen proportions. Trying to shoehorn its widescreen goodness into a standard 4:3 screen is like trying to watch this summer's next big blockbuster on your video iPod – unsatisfactory.

So I started to wonder whether I should get a widescreen monitor. There's nothing wrong with my LG, and I've grown quite accustomed to it, so what if I change my screen for the 360 and it makes using the PC something of a chore? After much research, changing of minds, and scratching of heads, I decided to go for the Acer AL1916W. There are other options; there's an equivalent Viewsonic screen, and there are a variety of 20" screens (such as the Dell 2005fpw), but they're all far, far more expensive than the Acer (which retails for roughly £170). Tales of backlight bleed, ghosting, and other such undesirable qualities lurk in the darkest corners of the internet, and I had some concerns as to whether the screen would satisfy my needs. Our friend the Monkey also ordered one, although the purpose of his purchase was to replace his 14" 4:3 television. I had no doubts he would be ecstatic with his purchase, for obvious reasons

So it was with some trepidation that I carefully unboxed my full 19 inches of potential widescreen pleasure. The screen looks very nice, it certainly doesn't betray its relatively cheap price tag. The power button is a little on the spongy side, but I can live with that. The screen is significantly wider than I had expected too. It has a native resolution of 1440×900 – exactly the same resolution as Apple's widescreen powerbooks (and presumably other widescreen laptops). Thanks to the talent behind PlasmaDesigns I was able to get some very slick looking desktop wallpaper, specifically designed for this resolution. So far, so good. Windows looked nice – although getting used to extra width took some time – and the screen is clear and responsive for typical Windows activities (browsing, email, etc).

A quick flick of my switchbox toggled the screen over to the Xbox 360. Given that I've been using a VGA cable with my LG screen, I wasn't expecting much more than some extra screen space. Running the 360 on a 4:3 screen usually results in "letterboxing" – borders at the top and bottom of the screen. This means you're rarely going to get full screen gaming using a 4:3 display, and end up with a visible resolution of something like 1280×800. I've always felt a little deflated by the picture quality using the VGA cable; I expected so much more, especially given how magnificent the output can look on an HD screen. I didn't consciously expect the Acer to change my opinion of the 360's VGA output, but it did.

The first thing I tried was Geometry Wars. I wanted something fast moving, colourful, and widescreen to try the screen. Everything looked great – there was no ghosting, and the resolution looked spot on (set to 1368×768). I was quietly impressed. Next, I tried the Quake 4 demo I'd downloaded, and was similarly pleased. I gave Condemned a quick check to see if the backlight bleed would prevent me from enjoying such a dark game, and found that I was quite happy with that too – there's some obvious backlight bleed present, but not so much that I can never play any dark games again. For my next trick, I dropped Kameo in the tray and was blown away. Using the VGA cable and my 4:3 screen, I always thought Kameo looked pretty, but it never looked quite as "next gen" as some articles had claimed. On the Acer, it looks majestic: colourful, vibrant, and immersive. I am truly in awe of how Kameo looks on this screen.

Finally, I played a round of Madden against das Monkey and got spanked. The difference in quality between Madden on my 4:3 LG vs the 16:9 (well, 16:10 if you're being fussy) Acer is very similar to the difference in Kameo – everything just looks so much better.

So I'm happy. Very happy. If anyone wants to buy a 17" LG TFT let me know I've heard stories that some buyer's Acer screens have issues. I know for a fact that mine and das Monkey's screens are perfectly fine. My advice to you would be don't hesitate to buy one, whether you're interested in widescreen gaming on the PC (Everquest 2 looks particularly nice in widescreen) and especially if you're running an Xbox 360 through anything other than a widescreen HD display. Just make sure you buy one from a reputable company with a proven customer service record (Amazon springs to mind, mine came from Misco). In short, this screen or one like it is an essential purchase if you're using an Xbox 360 on a standard resolution, small screen tv, or monitor.

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