How big is too big?

[LokutusofBorg]

I'm a programmer by profession, and I game and do most everything else in my free time on my computer. And I'm a dual monitor zealot. At work I have 2 Dell 20" 16x10's (2009W). At home I have 2 old BenQ 19" 12x10's (FP931). I work from home 3 days a week (Remote Desktop + /span FTW!) and I really miss the real estate I have on those 16x10's at work. So I want to get bigger monitors at home.

I've got my eye on the 22" Dell 2208WFP. It's currently on sale for a great price. Does anybody know how this monitor compares to the 2009W? Any details on the panel(s) they use?

The other one I have my eye on is the BenQ G2400WD. My current BenQ monitors have been fantastic monitors for years now. No problems whatsoever, great picture, etc. So this monitor is very appealing.

My main concern is, as the title suggests, will dual 24" 19x12 monitors just be too much real estate? I've never used a monitor that big, let alone two of them. The dual 16x10 monitors at work feel about right. But here's the conundrum: I recently bought an HD camcorder (Canon HF100) and plan on spending a lot of time editing and watching my HD footage. Having a full 1920 monitor to do that on sounds really cool.

Anybody have any (expectedly subjective) feedback on the too-much-real-estate concern?

TIA.

 

[Painman]

Someone concerned about "too much" real estate? This has to be a first.

Trust me, once you have it, you'll find ways to fill it.

 

[Denithor]

How does 5040x1050 across 3 22" LCD panels sound to you?

Matrox TripleHead2Go Digital Version

Buy it here: $299

Then add three of those Dell 2208WFP monitors and enjoy!

 

[MalVeauX]

Heya,

There is no such thing as `too big.' The only time too big and problem come together in a single sentence is when we're talking weight and how close you sit, or just poor quality. Things are getting higher and higher resolution. Images at high res look silly on a low res device. So if you can get 1080p now, you should (both monitor, or Plasma/LCD HDTV). In fact, why even get a monitor if you already have them? If price is a concern, consider that these are things you look at all day long, for years. Doesn't it make sense that you'd want to invest into something more enjoyable and useful to you? Or are you ok sitting 2 feet away from something you squint to read at higher resolution?

Browsing @ high res & on a big display

There's no such thing as too much real estate. There's a 15" laptop screen next to a 37" 1080p HD TV (which I use to browse the net, play games, etc). Text is crisp, color is great, everything is wonderful. I can't stand to use computer displays at work anymore, as they're so tiny. Your field of vision is huge; why limit your focus to a tiny little box? I have a 42" plasma, a 37" lcd, and I tend to use my 22" LCD and 15.4" LCD along side them. I like to wrap it around. I love multi-head systems for gaming and general use. I can watch HD content on one, while displaying other things elsewhere. It's like living in a movie when you really wrap it around yourself and just have fun with it. Again, when you do it daily and for years, why hold back and keep on with the traditional small stuff? Go big!

Here's Fallout3 on `big real estate':

Playing Fallout3 (game) @ high res on a big display

Far more enjoyable on a PC; makes it feel like a console, but with way more power and control and function.

Very best,

 

[manimal]

I used to stare at over 7 panels all day long and once calibrated correctly they didnt give me eye strain in a normal day. Now on days where I worked for 17-26 hours then yes my eyes wanted to fall out of my face.

At home if you game your systems specs should tell you if the bigger panels are going to work well or not since the puter that drives your games well on 19s certainly will be working alot harder on all those extra pixels.


Anecdotaly the day I got my dual 24 setup in place last year I gamed on bothl screen-World In Conflict-if you go dual 24 get that title if you already havent, same with Supreme Commander

 

[chizow]

If programming and text/code is your main concern, then real estate/resolution and pixel pitch can become a concern. 24" 19x12 has finer pitch so unadjusted text will be smaller on screen. Same for 30", which is even more pixels and finer pitch. You'd see similar in the 20-22" range with the 16x10s. Personally I love more resolution so I don't think you can ever have enough, however you may want to opt for the larger panels with the same resolution if you're mainly concerned about text. That said, if you go with any of these widescreens with the intent of getting a lot of work done, you may want to look into ones that can shift to portrait mode (and actually work).

 

[LokutusofBorg]

Originally posted by: manimal
At home if you game your systems specs should tell you if the bigger panels are going to work well or not since the puter that drives your games well on 19s certainly will be working alot harder on all those extra pixels.

I'll be upgrading my computer when I get my tax return, but this is a good point. Will a 4850 caliber card be able to play games at 19x12? [EDIT: I'll be making sure to read some reviews to figure this out... will be a month or two before I buy.]

Originally posted by: chizow
If programming and text/code is your main concern, then real estate/resolution and pixel pitch can become a concern. 24" 19x12 has finer pitch so unadjusted text will be smaller on screen.

Thanks for pointing this out. I need to get these details for my current monitors and compare to the BenQ. If it's too big of a difference I'll have to consider other options.

 

[LokutusofBorg]

Here is the dot pitch of all the monitors I'm either using or considering as an upgrade...

0.294mm : BenQ FP931 (current home monitors)
0.258mm : Dell 2009W (current work monitors)
0.282mm : Dell 2208WFP
0.270mm : Dell 2408WFP
0.270mm : BenQ G2400WD
0.270mm : HP LP2475w
0.282mm : Dell 2209WA

My current work monitors have a very small dot pitch, but I've never really felt that the text was overly small. Maybe just a little bit, but not too bad. So the fact that the others have a larger dot pitch makes me feel good about them. I'm glad I looked into this aspect of things. Thanks chizow.

At this point the G2400WD is topping my list.