Dual Monitors or Single Dell 24"

[virtualrain]

I'm fairly certain the Dell 2405 offers a non-scaling mode that will center the image in the middle of the screen - giving you black-bars on either side.

 

[SuperFreaky]

Get the 2405 you've already done the 2x17" thing.

Also, 2 x 2005s looks stupid. Bad aspect no matter which way you rotate them. I've tried it.

 

[Nocturnal]

Hands down 1x2405. Have you seen people's pictures of the monitor setup? You can run two web pages side by side and not have to worry about scrolling. It's absolutely amazing.

 

[Stretchman]

I've been using an Apple Cinema Display 23" HD with my PC for a few years now and have really enjoyed the widescreen aspect ratio. I'm a writer, and it's very nice to be able to have two pages of text spread out side by side when i'm using Word.

Games are pretty cool, I don't even mind the fact that some have to stretch in order to fill the entire screen. I haven't tried a dual monitor setup yet, but I don't think I'd enjoy it as much as having a single, large focal point for all my computing tasks as I do with my Cinema Display.

 

[fstime]

2405, thats easy.

 

[Hanpan]

Single 2405FPW

 

[EvilRage]

Single 2405FPW. I have one running with my 6800GTs in SLI, and it works like a charm. I haven't noticed a significant speed drop from my 22" CRT, and the widescreen aspect is awesome. I play CSS, and can run it with most of the details cranked to my preference and not run into any slowdowns.

 

[virtualrain]

I'm concerned that the 2405 is almost too big... has anyone felt that after buying it?

 

[Stretchman]

Hi Virtualrain,

Thanks again for your helpful post in the Asus A8N-SLI premium motherboard setup thread, it saved me a bunch of work, and my awesome FX-55/7800 GTX setup is now complete.

I wanted to append my previous post, and answer your last question. I noticed many posters here are recent converts to the 2405, and probably haven't used that big of a display for more than a year yet.

In some cases, I believe that yes, the 2405 could be too big, depending on your ergonomic position, and the kind of dot pitch/resolution you are used to running. I agreed that the widescreen aspect ratio is more in line with our natural mode of sight, but at 24", your eyes will have to scan a lot more to take everything in. That's more work for your eyes, and this goes double with if you are sitting particularly close - perhaps witin 18 inches give or take.

I acquired my Cinema Display 23" about 2 1/2 (almost 3 more like it) years ago, and had a great time with it. I did notice right away however, that the 1920x1200 native resolution in Windows was much to tiny for me to read comfortably, and I had to increase the DPI and play around with larger fonts to compensate slightly.

Recently, due to work, I had to give it up and use a 17" Dell LcD for about a month and a half. I thought i would hate it, but got used to it suprsingly quick. Now, with my new comp, I went back to the Cinema Display in it's former position on my desk, and i'm experiecing dry eyes, slight eye strain and and almost a sense of naseau. Yes, I do plan to get my eyes checked, but in the meantime i've spent a lot of computer work on my 17", 15" and 19" LCD's in the house, and have experienced none of the these symptoms.

I'm experimenting with different viewing distances right now, but in this case i'm starting to suspect that yes, the display might just be TOO big, and might be causing some eyestrain. With my regular 4:3 aspect monitors, I can look at one singular focal point, which may have something to do with viewing comfort.

I wonder how the guys with those 30" monster Apple Cinema Displays do it? lol

edit: the one monitor i don't have any experience with yet is the 20" widescreen display, which might be more suitable, though this is just a guess, it seems to strike a nice balance between the smaller 17 to 19" dislplays and the almost too large 23 to 24" displays.

 

[love2skate824]

just go 2x2001, duh

 

[almach1]

The two widescreen models from dell are in fact like having dual displays. With the native resolution on them you CAN run two windos open side by side and see the entire web pages.

 

[homestar runner]

personally i'm a triple monitor guy. I'm running 2x17" dell 1700FP's and my primary monitor is a 21 inch CRT. If you can spare the desk space i'd recommend multimonitor. It is easier to switch between tasks when you can maximize one application in one monitor and a different app in another

 

[Stretchman]

This thread has actually gotten me interested in exploring the possibilites with a dual monitor setup.

Many of the technological websites are abuzz with it's praises, such as here:

http://www.pcworld.com/howto/article/0,aid,120396,00.asp

Although, according to Tom's Hardware, gaming is still harder to set up:

http://graphics.tomshardware.com/graphic/20040216/

I guess technically, one of the advantages - running a word document in one screen while running a webpage or other application in the other - is solved by resizing your app windows on a widescreen screen display.

Here's a lady whose using two dell 20" displays:

http://graphicssoft.about.com/b/a/167369.htm

Here's a really good discussion about the pros and cons of dual setup:

http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies-archive.cfm/388298.html

And of course, the gratuitous dual 24" screenshot:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v313/petal666/General/IMG_1105_900.jpg

I'd love to hear more input from people who are running dual displays.