1024 x 768 is a 4:3 aspect ratio. That is the same as old fashioned TVs with the almost square screen. If you maintain your resolution at a 4:3 ratio on a new widescreen monitor you will retain the almost square display with a black bar down the left and right sides. Your icons and fonts etc will be the same size/shape on the new screen as they would be on an old square screen. You definitely have a video adapter. It is either an expansion card or it is integrated into the motherboard. Your Monitor plugs into the VGA port that is part of the adapter. If you run BelArc Advisor, SIW or similar utility it will identify your adapter. The one in my Dell from Hell is a generic nVidia FX5200. It supports only 4:3 aspect ratio resolutions but still looks great on my widescreen monitor. If your adapter supports widescreen resolutions and you select a resolution near your current 4:3 resolution (say 1066 x 600) your icons and fonts should retain sizes and shapes very near your current display. If vertical space is important, I recommend buying a widescreen that is about 30% larger than your current screen. For example, if your 4:3 screen is a 17" then go for a 22 or 23 inch widescreen. That will give you about the same distance from top to bottom of the screen. I don't know how color quality will vary from CRT to LCD. However, I suspect it will be best at higher resolutions, higher contrast ratios and faster response times. Don't settle for 720p. Get 1080p. For the very best of everything, pair a top notch monitor with a top notch video adapter with HD capability and an HDMI port or at least a DVI port. My monitor of choice is a Samsung SyncMaster 2333HD. I just bought a second one. It is a 1080p HDTV and monitor. I strongly suggest you visit a local retailer that has monitors or HDTV/monitor combos on display so you can see what you will get. Walmart has some Viewsonic monitors on their website. I'm not sure how to answer your question about how widescreen differs from square screen. If you are referring to how people and things in movies and TV shows appear shorter and fatter or taller and thinner, that is totally dependent on how you tell your TV to present what you are watching. If the programming is 4:3 and you tell a widescreen TV to display it in a 16:9 ratio, then everything is shorter and fatter. If you tell it to display in a 4:3 ratio they all look normal. If you are watching a 16:9 program and the TV is displaying as 4:3 then everything will be taller and skinnier. I can not imagine any reason why you would want to force an incorrect ratio on a computer monitor so this would not be a problem. Don Judith/agoodread.com wrote: > Where would I find if I have video adapter or not? On my > tower? I have a Gateway 710 Series and it has two ports. > One has an adapter already. > > As to Walmart, they don't carry ViewSonic Monitors. There > is a huge difference between the CRTs I have (one is from > Gateway and the other is ViewSonic). Color is better on > the ViewSonic. Need it for the digital art I do. > > You didn't answer how a wide screen differs from 1024 by > 768 resolution? What does it do to programs? > > Judith > > --------------------------------------------------------------- Please remember to trim your replies (including this sentence and everything below it) and adjust the subject line as necessary. To subscribe, unsubscribe or modify your email settings: //www.freelists.org/webpage/pctechtalk OR To subscribe to the mailing list, send an email to pctechtalk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with "subscribe" in the Subject. To unsubscribe send email to pctechtalk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with "unsubscribe" in the Subject. To access our Archives: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PCTechTalk/messages/ //www.freelists.org/archives/pctechtalk/ To contact only the PCTT Mod Squad, write to: pctechtalk-moderators@xxxxxxxxxxxxx To join our separate PCTableTalk off-topic group, send a blank email to: pctabletalk+subscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx ---------------------------------------------------------------