External Monitor: Widescreen or Not?

[Superego]

So I'm looking to get a new monitor for my docking station this fall for school and I'm not sure if I should go with a widescreen or not. My personal opinion on widescreen is this: I can't stand it on a laptop but I do like the idea of it on a 22" monitor for the purposes of multitasking.

My T60p has a resolution of 1600x1200 and I'm not sure how a monitor with a native res. of something like 1680x1050 will distort my desktop. I'm not looking to extend the T60's desktop, just project it onto the ext. monitor, so would I even notice a difference? I'm not against going with something like a 20" 1600x1200 monitor but as I said before, the idea of widescreen does appeal to me in this case.

I guess I'd just like to hear people's thoughts on this. Also, any suggestions on monitors are welcome (I've been looking mainly at Dell and Samsung as I get a discount through UMN) .

[tomh009]

As long as you run with external monitor only, you can set up Presentation Manager to switch your T60p to the external monitor (at proper resolution and aspect ratio) automatically when you dock, no distortion required!

So you can simply choose the monitor with the physical panel size and resolution that you need ...

[pianowizard]

I do like the idea of it on a 22" monitor for the purposes of multitasking.....My T60p has a resolution of 1600x1200 and I'm not sure how a monitor with a native res. of something like 1680x1050 will distort my desktop. I'm not looking to extend the T60's desktop, just project it onto the ext. monitor

For multitasking, what you want is as many pixels as possible. 1680x1050 has fewer pixels than your T60p's 1600x1200. Get a 1920x1200 external LCD instead.

[Superego]

Pianowizard, thanks for the 1920x1200 suggestion, but the price is a bit high for me (grad. students don't get much!). I'll keep my out for a deal.

tomh009, I knew there was I reason I kept that piece of Thinkvantage software around. Thanks.

[pianowizard]

Pianowizard, thanks for the 1920x1200 suggestion, but the price is a bit high for me (grad. students don't get much!).

Then you should just stick with the 1600x1200 on your T60p. You can multitask better on it than on a 22" 1680x1050 LCD. The 22" is better for watching movies though.

BTW, if you're so poor, would you be interested in selling your T40? I am trying to buy one as a secondary laptop. See my WTB thread here.

[Superego]

Sorry pianowizard, the T40 isn't actually mine....it's IBM's and I don't think they'd like it if I sold it to you . I think I'm going to go with your suggestion on the 1920x1200 as I found a Samsung for under $500; I was expecting 700-800+ so that was a nice surprise.