System pref- what do the display numbers mean &other questions

Question

1. are they the choices that the mini (purchased 9/07) can "send to the display" or are they the monitor's only display choices built into the monitor (like 1024x 768)
2. whats the advantage if any of a widescreen LCD display
3. will any "cheap- ie $200-300 LCD viewsonic. samsung, HP monitor work with my new mini if the monitor has a dvi or vga plug?
Its now running my old proview CRT I paid like $129 for .
4. does the mini have a set / preferred resolution range, again like the 1024 x 768
Thank you

Answer 1

Great questions edwardh1. I'll tell you what I think are the answers.
1) The mini does contain several pre-installed resolutions, so it is aware of several "standard" resolutions without any reliance on a display driver. However, whether or not the mini makes some or all of these resolutions available to the attached display will depend on how the mini "detects" the display.
2) Widescreen is much better for modern digital media. For example, DVD playback on a widescreen is much nicer than on a conventional screen. It's also nice to have a little extra width when using certain programs that have tool palettes. You can stick the palettes off to the side where they don't interfere with your work area. And if you go really big, like a 24" monitor, you can put two pages side-by-side, which can result in a real boost in efficiency with certain tasks.
3) As to whether any monitor will work with a mini, in theory the answer is yes. But if you hang out on these discussion boards long enough you will see that the road is full of potholes. Apple, as has been the case for a number of years, is always on the leading edge of new technologies, with Windows in a trailing position. If you want examples, think of USB, FIrewire, Bluetooth, DVI...the list goes on and on. Macs use a modern plug-and-play architecture for delivering the display driver to the host (Mac). Windows can perform this trick, but they also have a legacy system where the user installs the display driver (usually from a CD ROM) or else a wizard installs the driver from the internet. The problem with old habits on Windows is that they die hard. So even though modern displays for the most part correctly implement plug-and-play drivers, which in theory Windows does support, there are plenty of cases where the display manufacturers blow it and fail to do a good job of it. Instead they ship the Windows driver on a CD and call it a day. So you can be 90+% confident of a good result when buying a non-Apple monitor, but by no means is it guaranteed.
4) This question is very similar to your first question. Yes, the mini will have pre-installed several standard timings. I am sure 1024 x 768 would be on that list.
My final comment would be don't worry too much about buying a third-party display. Go for what you want with the confidence it will most likely work just fine.