New Monitor(s) - 2x19" or 1x22"+??

youcancallmeal

So I'm planning on selling my Samsung 193p 19" monitor in favor of something larger or a dual monitor setup. Currently have my eyes on 2 x Samsung 940BF or a big wide screen monitor like this.

I'm kind of leaning more towards a dual monitor setup as I believe it would be so much handier for college work and also watching movies and surfing the web all at the same time. Although a 22"+ monitor would just look lovely
I do play games quite a bit also but I'm happy enough playing them on a 19" monitor.

Just can't decide Anyone got a dual monitor setup? Would you like to change it for a single big wide screen monitor?

8T8

I don't think the dual display is the way to go especially with a big widescreen which is a lot easier to work with in terms of window management.

Things to think about:
* To play games at native resolution of 22" widescreen 1680x1050 display requires a good GPU, you can play at lower resolutions of course but some stretching may occur at non wide resolutions like 1280x1024.
* Almost all games do not support dual displays and one will go blank while the other displays the game.
* Specialist multi-display software called Ultramon is required to make the most use out of multi display setup's as XP's built in controls are pretty rubbish.

If your GPU does not have the horsepower to drive games as the native res of most high end widescreens & you don't want to change it try something lower like this Samsung 20" widescreen with a 1400x1050 resolution, you still get all the benefits and a lot easier on the bank account as well.

youcancallmeal

Well I have a 7900GT which I presume could handle most games at 1680x1050 or else I could just drop the res ingame? Its not the games really that bother me, its more about the ability to multitask without having to be minimizing and restoring windows all the time.

jank

Why not go for a 26" LCD TV like this.

http://www.pixmania.com/ie/uk/171224/art/daewoo/dlp2612-26-16-9-hd-ready.html

youcancallmeal

jank wrote:

Why not go for a 26" LCD TV like this.

http://www.pixmania.com/ie/uk/171224/art/daewoo/dlp2612-26-16-9-hd-ready.html

Nah too big and wouldnt really have the kind of image quality I would be going for. If I was going to buying around that size I would definitely be getting the Dell 2407 but thats out of my budget range

jank

youcancallme>al wrote:

Nah too big and wouldnt really have the kind of image quality I would be going for. If I was going to buying around that size I would definitely be getting the Dell 2407 but thats out of my budget range

Is there actually a big difference in the quality in terms of an actual monitor and an LCD TV?

What are the things to look out for?

astrofool

I have a 20" screen and 17" screen (both LCD), and wouldn't trade them, great for watching a movie or tv episode and surfing at the same time, or absolutely brilliant for any dev work.

Next thing I get will be a 24" or 30" screen and match it with my 20" screen

astrofool

A big 26" monitor like that has a resolution of 1366x768 which is too small for doing work up close, eg. Dell's 24" screen has a res of 1920x1200, and the 30" is 2560x1600.

They're grand for gaming however, but it would be like going back to the dark ages with screen estate. Even a 19" PC monitor has a resolution of 1440x900, greater than that of the tv.

jank

I see.

I came across better 26" LCD that offer a 3000:1 contrast and 6ms response time but the pixels remains the same however.

Would it actually be that bad!?

8T8

youcancallme>al wrote:

Well I have a 7900GT which I presume could handle most games at 1680x1050 or else I could just drop the res ingame? Its not the games really that bother me, its more about the ability to multitask without having to be minimizing and restoring windows all the time.

Yeah that should be okay for most games as long as you hold back on the AA in certain games at least.

How about this though two wide screen displays;
19" BenQ 1440x900 €217 each you could get two & have multi displays with widescreens so you can have your cake and eat it

BadCharlie

astrofool wrote:

I have a 20" screen and 17" screen (both LCD), and wouldn't trade them, great for watching a movie or tv episode and surfing at the same time, or absolutely brilliant for any dev work.

Next thing I get will be a 24" or 30" screen and match it with my 20" screen

I was thinking the same as astro's setup. I would go for a big fancy LCD for my games and something small that you could run along side your big monitor, to do orther things while you watch your movies and so on. I dont see the point in spending alot of dosh on two 24inch screens as one will not get much use. More like a 17inch or 15inch for the second monitor should be fine.

But i wont be doing anything like this my self as i simply dont have the money.

youcancallmeal

8T8 wrote:

Yeah that should be okay for most games as long as you hold back on the AA in certain games at least.

How about this though two wide screen displays;
19" BenQ 1440x900 €217 each you could get two & have multi displays with widescreens so you can have your cake and eat it

These look ideal but what I cannot understand is why they have no DVI inputs and more or less the same monitor here but with the DVI input is nearly €70 more

8T8

Probably save money by omitting DVI the specs are pretty good even if it is VGA the image quality should still be fine.

If you really want multi-displays then I think that would be a good way to go over the non-wide 1280x1024 displays as you will get a lot more desktop space to work with.

Also OcUK have a selection of 19" widescreens with DVI & VGA at about the same price like this Asus for €210.

Anti

i picked up my 22" from overclockers for 218£ shoould still be there. 44" would be schweet !

youcancallmeal

I was looking at this thread and then remembered a friend of mine works for Dell so now I've managed to organize 2 of these for €600(Including the discount already there )

Anti

not bad at all

awhir

save some money and get the lg on komplett.i just got 1 and its nice.:)

astrofool

jank wrote:

I see.

I came across better 26" LCD that offer a 3000:1 contrast and 6ms response time but the pixels remains the same however.

Would it actually be that bad!?

You could get two 20" Monitors with a resolution of 1680x1050 (each) for that price however.

Don't get me wrong, it would be a nice tv, but try sitting 3 feet away from a TV for a while They're perfect for Media Center PC's.

The sooner all LCD's have DVI the better, it produces a noticably better picture than VGA, and allows cleartype to work properly (found under effects under appearance in desktop properties).