It was before everything became widescreen. 1280x1024 at 19” was pretty common I think, which is 86 PPI and would correspond to FHD at 25.5”. I still have a 27” 1920x1200 from 2007 at roughly the same PPI, which was considered a high-end monitor at the time (only few monitors like Apple’s Cinema HD Display with 2560x1600 at 30”, 100 PPI, surpassed it). 27” FHD is only slightly worse at 82 PPI. Just move it an inch or so farther away.