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General discussion

Monitor Upgrade Suggestions

by Wilf_Brim Jun 14, 2006 10:00AM PDT

Having lived through 3 different systems, its time to upgrade my monitors.

On this system I have two 17" CRTs. I've been using dual monitors since 1998 (most of the time) and love the flexibility of having all that screen size (I have WMP 11 on the other monitor right now).

The price of LCDs has dropped now to where I can afford a similar amount of screen real estate. The quesiton I have is this:
I really want a 24" widescreen, but they are mongo expensive. I'm thinking about getting a 20" widescreen, or maybe going with 2 17" 4X3 monitors. I could even buy 2 20" widescreens for the price of 1 24". Do any of you have experience with the 24" widescreens? Are they worth the $800 price tag?

Discussion is locked

7 Posts
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Dell's 24" may have a problem
by alpabarot Jun 14, 2006 9:08PM PDT

Dell's 20" had serious banding problems (think changing the color quality to 16 bit) but that has apparently been fixed. If so they are supposed to be good monitors for the price. I believe they have USB ports built into the bezel and base?

http://forums.us.dell.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=dim_monitor&message.id=54714&c=ca&l=en&cs=&s=gen

I had Dell's 23" LCD TV a couple months back and tried using it as a monitor but it had problems working with my video card due to a non-standard resolution. (dropped frame rate and ghosting). But it looked great when connected to my xbox.

Have you thought about two 19" non-wide screen LCDs?

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Before upgrading to such large monitors
by SantiagoCrespo Jun 15, 2006 2:01AM PDT

You might want to find out if your current video cards will be able to work with them (if they have enough memory, processing power, etc).

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Both good points..
by Wilf_Brim Jun 15, 2006 10:30AM PDT

The points raised are excellent. Going to 2 4x3 (either 17 or 19) monitors is a real possibility, probably right up there with getting a 20" widescreen.

Either way, I'm going to have to upgrade this video card. It is a Radeon 9500Pro, which was a great card for it's day, some of them were firmware hackable to become 9800s. However, it can't push the pixels necessary for a larger widescreen. I'll have to get a new card, probably a X1600 Pro (one of the few modern cards still made with an AGP interface).

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Definitely go LCD
by MacHugger Jun 15, 2006 11:20AM PDT

If you are spending any serious amount of time in front of your monitors, definitely go with LCD. They don't seem to tire my eyes as much since I don't detect any noticeable refresh like on a CRT.

The only problem with LCD is that there are a lot of crappy ones on the market. So, I'd use CNET.com or Consumerreports.org or some other source that has recommendations on image quality. Better still if you can get into a store and look at them for yourself.

As I always recommend to my friends, never skimp on monitors and never skimp on your seat (I highly recommend Aeron chairs). They are more important in your entire setup than the CPU, as far as I'm concerned. Why? Because both of these things have a tremendous impact on the health of your body while sitting at a desk all day long.

-Kevin

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LCD all along, but good points..
by Wilf_Brim Jun 16, 2006 2:50PM PDT

The point about the life of the monitors is a good one. These 2 17" CRTs have survived 2 systems, not counting incremental upgrades. Expect a good monitor to easily outlast the computer for which it was purchased, and probably the one after that. That is the one and only reason I'm considering dropping the $800 on the Dell 24" widescreen.

Still, $800 is alot of cash, and I keep thinking that I may both save money and get more usable pixels with 2 17" or 19" 4x3 LCDs. But that widescreen is just SO COOL!!

I'm typing this on my 17" Dell widescreen laptop. When I first opened and saw all that screen real estate I had an "ooooh" moment.

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Longevity
by SantiagoCrespo Jun 16, 2006 3:17PM PDT

You might want to be careful, read plenty of reviews on image quality, and keep in mind LCDs don't live as long as CRTs. I think The monster LCD has a lot of cool factor running for it, but I'd consider two smaller monitors, just in case one of them dies on you.

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Anandtech Unofficial LCD Buyers Guide
by alpabarot Jun 16, 2006 9:06PM PDT

someone on the Anandtech forums has put together a buyers guide. This will either help point you in the right direction or cause you to second guess yourself.

http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.aspx?catid=31&threadid=1745344&enterthread=y

I've heard good things about the 20 inch widescreen Viewsonic VX2025WM but I'm really jonesin for an Asus PW201 because of the extra inputs (if the display is any good). I can connect both my xbox, desktop computer and perhaps an external cable box.

Viewsonic - http://www.viewsonic.com/products/desktopdisplays/lcddisplays/xseries/vx2025wm/
Asus - http://www.asus.com/products2.aspx?l1=10&l2=89

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