Question about resolution of the lcd monitors

I have a 17" 4:3 Acer LCD monitor V173. I was looking at the larger, 19" 4:3 Acer LCD V193. I was surprised to see they were said to have the same resolution: 1280x1024, from various sources (can't find official info). I thought the larger one should have larger resolution numbers, albeit with the same ratio (4:3)? If anyone is familiar with these two monitors, I'd appreciate the actual specification. Thanks.

 

it's understandable but incorrect to assume that a larger display has a higher/finer resolution. you could have a 50" display that has the same SXGA resolution (1280×1024, which is more precisely a 5:4 aspect ratio). the perceivable difference comes down to pixels per inch (PPI)--as the screen gets bigger but the resolution stays the same, the pixel density decreases and things start to become more and more pixelated. think about it this way, nearly all HDTVs have the same resolution regardless of screen size: 1280×720 (HD) or 1920×1080 (FHD). so as for those two monitors, what you've found is correct. SXGA is in fact the highest resolution that they're both able to display.

 

Thanks for the explanation. In that case, would a same image on the smaller 17" screen be a little sharper than on the larger 19" one, since the pixels are more dense?

 

to a very slight degree, yes. exactly. that's why the word 'fine' is technically used to compare resolutions (e.g. X resolution is finer than Y resolution but less fine than Z resolution), fine being synonymous with sharp in this context. so now think about apple's retina display... it's more of a concept than it is an actual hardware thing. the concept is that a given resolution is so fine, that at the typical viewing distance (15 inches from an ipad for example) a human eye with xx/xx vision is unable to see any pixelation. it's a little bit more technical than that, but that's the gist of it.

 

Thank you very much! Makes sense! (Rep'd you )

 

you're quite welcome.