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General discussion

Widescreen flat panels, is 24" worth it?

Jun 14, 2006 1:58PM PDT

The time has come to upgrade from CRT to LCDs. The main question I have is in regard to widescreens.

I currently have 2 17" ViewSonic CRTs. I have been using dual monitors since 1999, and am quite spoiled at all having all the screen real estate. If possible I'd like to change to 1 widescreen LCD, vice 2 4x3.

The issue is size of widescreen. I'd like to get a 24" Dell, but they are currently going for $800. The 20" widescreens are slightly more than $300. I can get 2 widescreen 20" for the price of 1 24". Of course, I think that trying to run 2 widescreens at full resolution would bring most vid cards to their knees, but it may be able to be done.

So, should I
a) Buck up and pay the $800 for the 24" Dell
b) Deal with the 20" widescreen
c) Get 2 17" or 19" LCDs.

What do you all think?

Discussion is locked

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Get the two 20" widescreen monitors, or two 20" 4:3 monitors
Jun 14, 2006 4:43PM PDT

If it's primarily for general computing purposes, I think you're much better off getting two 20" monitors - you end up with more usable space.

If it's more for gaming or watching movies, which are both mostly going to happen on a single monitor, and you want that really immersive experience, then the 24" may be a better option.

Any reasonably modern video card will handle the two monitors. I've driven mine from a not particularly modern ATI Radeon 9800XT and a more modern nVidia 7800GS, and both have handled it fine (of course, I only use one monitor when playing games). Also, Vista runs fine with all the eye candy turned on also (though a bug in current Vista builds means you get display corruption if you run both displays at full resolution).

DingoJunior

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Don't bother with the widescreen.....
Jun 14, 2006 7:24PM PDT

I've got a widescreen laptop (1680x1050) which I use with a second 17" monitor, and while it's nice having the additional width on the screen I find it's much more comfortable to use my home desktop setup - 2x17" TFTs either side of a Dell 20.1" at 1600x1200. Given the price difference between a 20.1" 'normal' and a 24" widescreen, I'd advise that you get another cheap PCI graphics card and use all 3. If you had a 24" wide in the middle of a pair of 17s, though, you'd probably end up with whiplash from looking at one end of your viewable area then the other.

Note that a 20" normal-aspect-ratio would probably set you back less than the 20" widescreen, yet give you more in the way of viewable pixels.

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The Dell 2007WFP (widescreen) is often cheaper...
Jun 14, 2006 9:29PM PDT

The Dell 2007WFP (widescreen) is often significantly cheaper than the 2007FP (4:3 aspect) - the main reason I bought the WFP rather than the FP.

If they'd been close to the same price, or the FP cheaper, it would have been a tough decision. Particularly if you're getting two, so you get lots of screen width even with 4:3 monitors.