Perhaps it is just a fluke, but it seems monitor manufacturers may finally be realizing they should just tell users what resolution their monitor should be set to.

In what seems like common sense, my latest monitor actually tells me on the built-in menu screen what its optimum settings are.  As somone who has been using computers since 1983, all I can say is, “Well, it’s about time!”

Over the years I have had to play with the built-in monitor settings endlessly to find the correct settings to make everything look normal on my screen.  My latest computer came with my first ever widescreen display, and it was also the first time I had ever had a 22″ viewable area.  I was totally befuddled why things weren’t measuring the pixel size I knew they should like the 125X125 to the right of this very article were showing up well over their set sizes.  Finally, out of pire frustration I opened the menu window to see if I could find anything in the settings I could play with, and I found the above image about the resolution I was set at, and what the monitor suggested.  (Sorry it’s blurry, I had to shoot it with a camera)

I was stunned.  This is the first time I have ever seen a monitor for a PC tell me this, and, sure enough, as soon as I changed it to the wildly large size of 1680X1050, everything looked proper again!

How in the world did manufacturers just finally figure out this was a good idea?  Or has this been going on for a while now, and I just never bought the correct monitor to see it?  Either way, this is a very welcome addition to a monitor, and I hope it is something we see more of in the future to ease everyone’s pain in setting up a new computer.