My periodic checking of FatWallet (and now, SlickDeals.net) led me down an interesting tangent…

1080p is 1920×1080. Higher-end HDTV sets will do this resolution. So I was browsing deals on 1080p TVs (not necessarily interested in buying, but I saw the link and had to follow it through…), and thinking about how we used VGA and HDMI off of an Xbox and PS3 (respectively) into Kyle’s TV, for amazing results.

Which then led to the next thought… You can get a 32″ HDTV at 1080p for about $500. That’s ‘kind of’ small for a home TV (though I certainly wouldn’t complain!). But for a monitor? A 32″ computer monitor at 1920×1280 isn’t bad. Yes, it’s the same resolution you might find in a 22″ LCD, meaning a lower pixel density, but it’s not as if you’re trying to use an old 50″ CRT at 640×480. It’d be halfway-decent. I’d want to try it before ordering a 32″ HDTV to use as a computer monitor, mind you, but in theory, it ought to be alright.

By the way… The 16:9 aspect ratio of HDTV sets (1920:1080, width:height) is exactly the same dimension as the sensors used on digital SLRs and the like.