Monitor dimension/type questions

[DJMattB241]

I swear I looked through the FAQ and as many related-looking threads as possible.

I'm eying a 27" widescreen monitor for my cabinet. Here's my questions:

1) I've seen 27-30" Vizio TVs at Walmart that are under $200 (720p, 60hz). I'm assuming I shouldn't get these, but I'm not sure why. Are these bad for some reason?

2) Most arcade games from the 80s-90s are not widescreen, and I assume MAME would be playing them in at least their proper aspect ratio, if not resolution, so... does that mean my screen will just not ever use the left and right 1/4th of the screen? Like, there will just always be these black bars on the sides?

[DrChek]

2) Most arcade games from the 80s-90s are not widescreen, and I assume MAME would be playing them in at least their proper aspect ratio, if not resolution, so... does that mean my screen will just not ever use the left and right 1/4th of the screen? Like, there will just always be these black bars on the sides?

MAME can be set to preserve the original aspect of the game or stretch to fill the screen, so you can have black bars or not if you want.