Well, I suppose there's a certain amount of "What you've never had, you don't miss" in it, but I was actually quite content with the old monitor, which was set to 800x600 - I only relegated it to "spare" because it started playing up a little, going blank about every third day, needing ten minutes or so switched off before it would come back to life.
So, I took a wander along the High Road, where we are fortunate in having two little independent computer repair type places that sell secondhand stuff, plus one of those "Cash Converter" stores that is also worth a look on the offchance. As per Captain Cretin's post, secondhand monitors are fairly cheap - I was surprised *how* cheap! Having no idea of current prices, I had budgeted for up to £50, and was thinking 15 inch, but on seeing what was on offer, decided to get a 17 inch instead - in very decent nick, and only £40, so I'm now on 1280x1024.
Without having to make my brain work too hard though, I can think of three friends who still use 800x600 and, as I did, take the attitude of "If it's still working perfectly well, why spend money replacing it?"