21-inch 1280 x 720
28-inch 1920 x 1080
17-inch 1280 x 1024
15-inch 800 x 600
Choose your answer and the correct choice will be revealed.
Correct Answer: 28-inch 1920 x 1080

Learn why this is the correct answer

When developing Quake at id Software in the mid-90s, John Carmack did his coding on an Intergraph InterView 28hd96 color CRT monitor that measured 28in (25.9in viewable) and offered a display resolution of 1920 x 1080. The set measured 19.5 x 27.5 x 24.4in (49.5 x 69.9 x 62.0 cm), weighed 99.5lbs (45kg) and had a typical power consumption of 180 watts.

In 2014, Carmack tweeted about the monitor, saying that even his Intergraph workstation at id couldn't run Quake at 1080p, and that an SGI Infinite Reality graphic system could only handle 1280 x 1024 pixels – less than today's flagship smartphones.

To put things in further context, we browsed through computer magazine archives dating back to 1995 (PC Magazine, Byte). At the time, PC manufacturers like Compaq, IBM, Micron among others advertised their latest consumer offerings with a full list of specs on every model.

To go along top of the line specs of a Pentium 133MHz, 4X EIDE CD ROM drive, Sound Blaster 16 audio, PCI 64-bit graphics accelerator (2MB), 64 to 128MB of EDO RAM and SCSI hard drives (this was quite the luxury right there), you had the option of a 17-inch 1280x960 .28mm monitor or a 21-inch 1600x1200 model. The more expensive PC bundle would set you back $11,499, so you can imagine the kind of luxury Carmack was having with the Intergraph.