My old CRT had amazingly high resolution given that it was only 17" or something. Of course you couldn't really see much at 1600x1200, but it could do it!
This was what jumped out at me. People have short memories; screen resolutions have not really improved in the last 15 years, and possibly aren't still as high as the rate they were at in the late 90s. Of course, they've improved in other, very obvious ways.