Best CRT Monitor for Games (especially dos)

[Scott Squires]

The problem with using LCDs with vintage computers is that no one makes panels smaller than 20" anymore. And it's hard to find a good 15" panel used. Nearly all LCDs scale the image to fit the screen, which is really ugly. Only a few premium models have a 1:1 pixel mapping option. I haven't found a 15" yet that does. The P1914S is barely a 17" resolution on a too-large (19") panel. I have been using my Dell 2007FPb monitors, which have 1:1 pixel mapping. But it's such a waste of desk space to put a 1025x768, 832x624, or smaller image on a 20" screen.

olePigeon, if you want 1600x1200 with versatile compatibility, do check out the 2007FPb. You should be able to find them on craigslist in the $20 to $40 ballpark if you keep an eye out for them. They were very popular professional models, and there is still a decent number of them working their way out of service.

 

[Gorgonops]

Lately I've been using an ooooold (with a capital "O", it's one of the oldest PC monitors I've owned with a DVI port) HP Pavilion F70 with my Raspberry Pi 3 and I've been pleased with how well it renders output from RetroArch and friends at low physical resolutions. Its scaler seems to do a more sensible/conservative translation than later cheapskate 17" (usually VGA only) LCDs. The dot indexing seems to be exact in the 320 and 640 pixel wide modes at least, so I'm not sure for really low-end gaming a 1600x1200 monitor will really be better than a good 1280x1024. Probably want to avoid 1024x768 like the plague, though.

 

[olePigeon]

Too bad the Dells are ugly as sin. :-/

 

[Cory5412]

The P1914S is barely a 17" resolution on a too-large (19") panel

As a quick side-note -- this configuration, 1280x1024 on a 19-inch panel was extremely common. Probably the actual vast majority of LCD monitors put in offices between when they started making them and up to about 2007, maybe 2008, are of this type. A lot of industrial applications and machines were designed for monitors of this form factor, which is why Dell and HP keep making new displays in this format, along with, usually, a 17-inch version.

I'd hop right on it in a moment if Dell produced a "P2016S" of sorts -- 1600x1200 on a new LED backlit IPS panel with a DisplayPort input added and the newly redesigned stand/case and USB hub.

One suggested use of 20-inch 4:3 monitors with older computers has been to use an 800x600 mode and let the monitor scale it.  It'll be a different sort of terrible looking.