[help] 20" crt vs. 17" imac

I am currently using a 20" (viewable) crt display with my mac mini. It's running at 1280x1024 because the 1600x1200 natural res puts the mini's 3d card to it's max (no cube animation, and everything runs a tad slower).

I am most likely switching to a 17" imac very soon. How would the screen real estate compare?

My CRT isn't widescreen, so I'm led to believe that it's fairly the same amount of space, only wider and shorter. What would be a good way to get a visual representation (besides side by side, I don't have that option) to compare the screen sizes? I would be running the imac at it's natural res (not sure what that is). I know I could make an image the correct dimensions of the imac, but I'm not sure what the conversion would be to actually have it be accurate on my monitor.

Additionally, I do a bit of video editing and it would be conforting if someone could tell me that the 17" widescreen would be more (or equally) useful as my 20".

Thanks.

#294467

Personally, I always like to operate at maximum resolution - everything just looks crisper. The 17" might be physically smaller, but will look much better at its maximum res of 1440x900. Basically, you're sacrificing some size in return for better quality. If that's okay with you, then don't sweat a smaller screen.

Hope that helps...

#294471