Seeking: LCD with 60-80 ppi/dpi at optimal resolution

Who would ever want a 17" LCD display with a 1024x768 native resolution?! It's so wrong. It's likely to only have VGA input, probably barely works with a modern OS, and most people would want at least a 1200 or 1400 pixel horizontal resolution at this display size.

Ahh, but what about persons with diminished vision? OS X 10.4 does not scale the UI very well. XP seems to do a bit better with changing font dpi settings, but it doesn't hold up in real world use (too many apps expect a fixed dpi). LCDs don't run well at anything less than maximal resolution, and that resolution expects 80-120 dpi. I want about 60-80 dpi for the person I'm buying for (macular degeneration, post-lens replacement, etc).

I think a 17" LCD with a 4x3 aspect ratio and 1024 horizontal might do, but they're dreadfully hard to find. I might do better with a cheapo 19-20" squashed" (16:9 or 3:2 - DVD friendly) form factor with 1200 horizontal ...

Update 12/9/06: Turns out NexTag is great at this sort of thing. I really need to pay more attention to them. Alas, I can't find a 17" with 1024, 15" is the largest display.

• 15" and 1024x768
• 17-20" and 1280x1024

The 19" 1280s look more promising, though there really very few options ...

• 19" Samsung LCD, 1280 x 1024 for about $250 might work ... It has both VGA and DVI, but I think it's almost unavailable.
  
• AOC LM960 is another budget 19" LCD at 1280, but it's working display is probably smaller than the Samsung.
• HP Pavillion F1905E
• HANNS-G JC-199D
• FUJIPLUS FP-988D

Suggestions welcome!

Update 12/11/06: See the comment describing the value of the 20" iMac display with the Ctrl-mouse wheel zoom feature. A usenet comment from rtn corrected my assertion about LCDs and sharp display -- with a DVI interface the display is also sharp at integer fractions of the maximal resolution (edited slightly):

LCDs produce sharp results at their native res, and also typically at integer fractions thereof, if you use a digital connection, like DVI or HDMI.

Get a 1600x1200 and run it 800x600, or 1920x1200 wide* and run it at 960x600.

Using a 30in 2560x1600 at 1280x800 is also a possibility, and you wouldn't even need a dual-link DVI card.

* First make sure the graphics card/chip can be configured to emit custom resolutions, as 960 horizontal isn't exactly std.

Regards, Bob Niland
http://www.access-one.com/rjn

In practice 17" CRTs are still on the market that will cost less than a 1600x1200 LCD panel, and they're sharp at a wide range of resolutions, so this probably won't affect my buying decision this time around. In future, however, as 1920 resolutions become commonplace, the 960 horizontal option for persons with vision limitations will become relevant.