Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!mips!spool.mu.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!bloom-picayune.mit.edu!athena.mit.edu!pshuang From: pshuang@athena.mit.edu (Ping-Shun Huang) Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware Subject: Re: Any recommendations on VGA vs SVGA for cd-rom browsing ? Message-ID: Date: 30 Jun 91 04:00:40 GMT References: <1991Jun29.233109.24036@leland.Stanford.EDU> Sender: news@athena.mit.edu (News system) Distribution: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware Organization: Massachusetts Institute of Technology Lines: 31 In-Reply-To: rameshn@leland.Stanford.EDU's message of 29 Jun 91 23:31:09 GMT In article <1991Jun29.233109.24036@leland.Stanford.EDU> rameshn@leland.Stanford.EDU (ramesh narayanaswamy) writes: > i am planning to bug a 386 clone, and i am debating whether to buy > VGA or SVGA card/monitor. the only reason i have for buying a color > monitor is i plan to buy a cd-rom at some later date. I hope that it is a safe assumption that you mean you want to buy a 386 clone system, not bug one, right? If the latter, I can't help you since I have no experience in covert electronic surveilance whatsoever. {grin} It is not clear to me exactly why you think your plans to add a CD-ROM to your system should make a difference as to what video display to get. Whether you have a monochrome-VGA or color-VGA or SuperVGA system should not make much difference with regard to the CD-ROM drive, with the exception that if you buy CD-ROM's with large amounts of color imagery, you may wish to have a color display (but then again, 8-bit color as afforded by VGA would not be enough anyway...) I would recommend that you get a SuperVGA system over a standard VGA one since at this point the price differential is very small, and you will greatly appreciate having the extra resolution to display more information on your screen at a given time. Take a look at the relatively new cards which are coming out that are economical but add something special (i.e. anti-aliasing with the CEG or proprietary chipset, 24-bit color instead of just 8-bit, graphics coprocessors, etc.) and see if any of their features would be useful for your applications for the system. -- Above text where applicable is (c) Copyleft 1991, all rights deserved by: UNIX:/etc/ping instantiated (Ping Huang) [INTERNET: pshuang@athena.mit.edu]