The ultimate question: 30" or 24"

Is bigger better?

  • 24"

    Votes: 45 54.2%

  • 30"

    Votes: 30 36.1%

  • 32"

    Votes: 8 9.6%
  • Total voters
    83
J

joshley

Limp Gawd
Joined
Nov 6, 2006
Messages
136
Hi peeps,

Basically, I'm going to buy a new TFT. The main purpose of this is to be a desktop/gaming TFT, but watching movies would be nice.

For your average desktop setup, what's the best screen size, 24" or 30"? I don't care about gaming FPS considerations, I'm getting an 8800GTX and will sooner or later get another, when the prices drop (given that 30" would likely have a higher native resolution, someone's bound to mention it).

Basically: is 30" too big for a desktop TFT?!

edit: Some facts about my circumstances:

I will be sitting about 3 feet away from the monitor.
It will be used for:
- Music production using Cubase SX 4
- Development using Visual Studio 2005
- Gaming
The room will be sometimes lit brightly, sometimes very dark (good for writing music and games atmosphere) and sometimes quite dim. Difficult to say which will be the dominant lighting scenario.

josh

p.s. I've thrown in 32" for good measure into the poll
 
What can I say, if youre gettin an 8800 you be wantin as big a telly as you can afford!

How big depends on how much space you have.
I'd make more space and get a 32"
Mine is nearly 115" tho so I'm kinda biased ;)
 
115"?!?!?! Well, it's more to do with imagining an average users desk and eye distance and so on. 32" is probably too big I reckon, if it's only an arms length away!
 
I'd need more info before I could give you an answer. How far away will you sit? What kind of lighting is there in the room? What will you use it for primarily?
 
whoster69 said:
I'd need more info before I could give you an answer. How far away will you sit? What kind of lighting is there in the room? What will you use it for primarily?
Click to expand...

Good point whoster. I was originally trying to guage you're average users desk scenario; most people have the same sized desk-ish and sit roughly the same distance away and use it for games and desktop stuff. But I've answered your questions as best as I can (added edit to original post).

I am so tempted by the Dell 3007WFP... that's 9 months old now, anyone know if there's any new 30"ers in the same price range about/coming up shortly that I maybe should take a look at?

edit: after a bit of research it seems the newer improved Dell 3007WFP-HC is going on sale in one week (maybe a few more weeks in Europe, but whatever!), so perhaps I'd wait for that rather than plunging for the 3007WFP immediately...
 
Most of the people I've talked to said that 24" is about as big as you want for gaming because beyond that it's hard to see the whole screen well unless you sit pretty far away from it. For movies, the bigger the better!

I'd recommend the BenQ. I think it will have best feature to cost ratio for your needs.
 
24" for me. I sit fairly close to my monitor, and I'm against multi-gpu solutions.
 
whoster69 said:
Most of the people I've talked to said that 24" is about as big as you want for gaming because beyond that it's hard to see the whole screen well unless you sit pretty far away from it. For movies, the bigger the better!

I'd recommend the BenQ. I think it will have best feature to cost ratio for your needs.
Click to expand...

Thanks whoster, I'll think about that considerably.

chris.c said:
24" for me. I sit fairly close to my monitor, and I'm against multi-gpu solutions.
Click to expand...

What do you mean by multi-gpu solutions? Dual-DVI output requirement?


----------

It's just pics like this that make me want a 30"... I can get the Dell 30" for £910 delivered, and the BenQ 24" looks set to set me back nigh on £700. It's little difference considering the extra size.... it's just so tempting to click buy!!!!
 
i had a 24 and it was great. I now use a 30 and its even better, the only down side to the 30 is that the resolution is so high, you have to spend big money on video cards often if you want to play the latest games with all the eyecandy on
 
jacuzz1 said:
i had a 24 and it was great. I now use a 30 and its even better, the only down side to the 30 is that the resolution is so high, you have to spend big money on video cards often if you want to play the latest games with all the eyecandy on
Click to expand...


Agreed! :)
 
24 for me

I dont watch many movies on my computer, I just use it for graphic work, games and surfing.

I also sit about 2 feet away from it at my desk.

Anything bigger was just ridiculous at that close range.
 
Devastator said:
24 for me

I dont watch many movies on my computer, I just use it for graphic work, games and surfing.

I also sit about 2 feet away from it at my desk.

Anything bigger was just ridiculous at that close range.
Click to expand...

You see that's the question! I need to be able to program using this thing. I have the space to put it 4 feet away from me when needed, like gaming etc. (deep desk), but then when I bring it closer to me, I fear it may be just too massive and hinder programming and music development. I guess I need to go somewhere and see one first hand. I'm still tempted by the 30".. it's just so lovely!
 
If you can place the LCD at a lower height than your desk and pull your desk away a little so you can see the whole screen that will be ideal.
A big screen at further distance is less fatiguing than a smaller one closer up.
Your eyes will be in a more relaxed focal state making it easier to remain focussed.

I'm using a projector and am 4 metres away from the screen.
I use it sometimes up to 36hrs a session with no perceivable extra fatigue.
Its so easy on my eyes :)
 
jacuzz1 said:
i had a 24 and it was great. I now use a 30 and its even better, the only down side to the 30 is that the resolution is so high, you have to spend big money on video cards often if you want to play the latest games with all the eyecandy on
Click to expand...

How far do you sit from your monitor jacuzz1? I saw your thread when you got your 3007WFP and read through a lot of it, from the pics you seem to sit within a few feet of it. What do you use it for primarily: gaming? Work?

In terms of resolution, I'm hoping that won't be too much of a concern, I've just ordered my PC, which consists of:

Lian Li PC-A10 case
Nesteq Nova 600W external PSU
eVGA 680i
Core 2 Duo E6700
Asus 8800GTX 768MB
2GB Corsair TwinX PC8500 1066Mhz Dominator
500GB Western Digital Caviar
Samsung Lightscribe 18x DVD+-R

The bits in bold obviously highlighting the most important FPS affecting factors! I'm coming from an AMD Athlon XP-3200 with a Radeon 9700. I'm quite excited!! All that's left is for the watercooling kit to come into stock and to decide on a bloody monitor!
 
Go to Fry's and use a 30" for 2 minutes and then tell me you prefer a 24".
 
Chernobyl1 said:
If you can place the LCD at a lower height than your desk and pull your desk away a little so you can see the whole screen that will be ideal.
A big screen at further distance is less fatiguing than a smaller one closer up.
Your eyes will be in a more relaxed focal state making it easier to remain focussed.

I'm using a projector and am 4 metres away from the screen.
I use it sometimes up to 36hrs a session with no perceivable extra fatigue.
Its so easy on my eyes :)
Click to expand...

When you say place it at a lower height than my desk, what do you mean? Also, with projectors it "blows up" the image, so text etc. is bigger. With normal font on a 30" 4 feet away I reckon I'd have some trouble reading it!

36 hour sessions, I've had my fair share of those, proper pooey!
 
Scyles said:
Go to Fry's and use a 30" for 2 minutes and then tell me you prefer a 24".
Click to expand...

Stop tempting me with 30" goodness... (in a non-rude way! Bloody hell that would be scary, 30".... :eek: )

I know I'd prefer it for gaming, but it's whether it'd be practical and useful being that big when using VS2005 and Cubase SX, or whether I'd end up straining my neck!
 
joshley said:
How far do you sit from your monitor jacuzz1? I saw your thread when you got your 3007WFP and read through a lot of it, from the pics you seem to sit within a few feet of it. What do you use it for primarily: gaming? Work?

In terms of resolution, I'm hoping that won't be too much of a concern, I've just ordered my PC, which consists of:

Lian Li PC-A10 case
Nesteq Nova 600W external PSU
eVGA 680i
Core 2 Duo E6700
Asus 8800GTX 768MB
2GB Corsair TwinX PC8500 1066Mhz Dominator
500GB Western Digital Caviar
Samsung Lightscribe 18x DVD+-R

The bits in bold obviously highlighting the most important FPS affecting factors! I'm coming from an AMD Athlon XP-3200 with a Radeon 9700. I'm quite excited!! All that's left is for the watercooling kit to come into stock and to decide on a bloody monitor!
Click to expand...

I sit 3 to 4 feet away and I use it for gaming mostly, surfing and photography. I occasionlly take work home and use it that way but its predominantly my gamig rig and monitor

I have 3 other machines in my house and a lappy with four more machines at work so not an issue for work lol
 
jacuzz1 said:
I sit 3 to 4 feet away and I use it for gaming mostly, surfing and photography. I occasionlly take work home and use it that way but its predominantly my gamig rig and monitor

I have 3 other machines in my house and a lappy with four more machines at work so not an issue for work lol
Click to expand...

Ah, yes, I thought it might be predominantly gaming. I reckon if you tried to use a 30" for work with it 3-4 feet away it would be impracticle and you would struggle reading the text and so on. Unless you work as a games tester....
 
joshley said:
You see that's the question! I need to be able to program using this thing. I have the space to put it 4 feet away from me when needed, like gaming etc. (deep desk), but then when I bring it closer to me, I fear it may be just too massive and hinder programming and music development. I guess I need to go somewhere and see one first hand. I'm still tempted by the 30".. it's just so lovely!
Click to expand...

Trust me. If you end up purchasing the 24, you'll be kicking yourself later. Once you get used to the 24, it doesn't seem as big anymore, and you'll want bigger. Now my 24 feels more like a 20. Just remember that if you go for the 30, expect a graphics card change yearly, thats if you want to keep playing games at native res.
 
ModBoyzz said:
Trust me. If you end up purchasing the 24, you'll be kicking yourself later. Once you get used to the 24, it doesn't seem as big anymore, and you'll want bigger. Now my 24 feels more like a 20. Just remember that if you go for the 30, expect a graphics card change yearly, thats if you want to keep playing games at native res.
Click to expand...

You echo the very same words as the little gremlin eating away at the back of my mind convincing me to Super Size my TFT! Do you have a 30"? Have you used one? And if so, what did you use it for? Bear in mind I'll be using it for a lot of text based stuff aswell as intense gaming!

edit: Plus, I don't mind updating my GFX card each year. I'm earning these days, I didn't upgrade for 5 years much because I was a poor student! So that isn't an issue! Another point for the 30" there....
 
joshley said:
When you say place it at a lower height than my desk, what do you mean? Also, with projectors it "blows up" the image, so text etc. is bigger. With normal font on a 30" 4 feet away I reckon I'd have some trouble reading it!

36 hour sessions, I've had my fair share of those, proper pooey!
Click to expand...

For example you can mount it on the wall behind the desk with the bottom of the LCD lower than the desk height.
Pull the desk away from the screen until you can see it all from where you sit.
The idea being to keep your eyes near the centre of the screen.

Alternatively, set up your keyboard and mouse to be used in an armchair or sofa then make the screen distance wherever is comfortable.
I did the same except I made the screen size big enough to have the screen on one side of the room and my sofa on the other.

I'm not sure what you mean by the projector blowing up text sizes, they display whats normally displayed.

Maybe you are worried about higher res screens.
For the same size screen, the text will be smaller so you may need to sit closer.
Choose the screen res that your graphics card can handle and that you are comfortable with at the distance you want to sit away from the screen.
If you are worried that text will be too small, get a lower res (not size) monitor :)
 
joshley said:
You echo the very same words as the little gremlin eating away at the back of my mind convincing me to Super Size my TFT! Do you have a 30"? Have you used one? And if so, what did you use it for? Bear in mind I'll be using it for a lot of text based stuff aswell as intense gaming!

edit: Plus, I don't mind updating my GFX card each year. I'm earning these days, I didn't upgrade for 5 years much because I was a poor student! So that isn't an issue! Another point for the 30" there....
Click to expand...

The only reason I don't have one yet, is because my X1800XT cant handle it. I'm waiting for ATI's response to the 8800GTX. Once i upgrade my graphics card, I'm jumping on the 30. My buddy does alot of text based work (java) on his 30, and he couldn't be happier.
 
ModBoyzz said:
The only reason I don't have one yet, is because my X1800XT cant handle it. I'm waiting for ATI's response to the 8800GTX. Once i upgrade my graphics card, I'm jumping on the 30. My buddy does alot of text based work (java) on his 30, and he couldn't be happier.
Click to expand...

That's good to hear about your friend! I find in Visual Studio with all the other 'panels' you need open that there's often not much room left for the code view - I don't think I'd suffer that with the 3007!!!
 
I was faced with this decision and I went 24" because 30" is just too big, you have to sit too far from the monitor to get it to where you dont have to move your head, unless your running a SLI G71 or G80 it is going to be very very difficult to push decent frames at its native 2560x1600, other than that for movies you can do 1080p on a 24", I also could not justify the almost doubled price for 30" vs 24"... however i could justify double the price for a 24" than a 20" :)
 
Chernobyl1 said:
good stuff, let us know what its like
Click to expand...

ARG! I bought my ASUS 8800GTX from Ginger6.com, now they say it won't be in stock till 25th December (?!?) AND they've already charged me for it?!?! :mad: They shouldn't charge me if it hasn't been despatched, that's basic trading standards! The relevance of this to the 3007WFP purchase is: I only have an old Radeon 9700 purchased at the end of 2004, which as far as I know isn't Dual Link DVI. So I can't drive the bloody thing! :(
 
I say get this and set it on your desk, it's perfect.


this-1.png



J/K


As for what screen size to get, I would have to see them both in real life.
And I'm to poor at this point to afford either one. In a wet dream though, I
would have two 30" LCD"S side by side on a big ass desk.



1132959924ZgMvV0q7xX_title.jpg
 
joshley said:
ARG! I bought my ASUS 8800GTX from Ginger6.com, now they say it won't be in stock till 25th December (?!?) AND they've already charged me for it?!?! :mad: They shouldn't charge me if it hasn't been despatched, that's basic trading standards! The relevance of this to the 3007WFP purchase is: I only have an old Radeon 9700 purchased at the end of 2004, which as far as I know isn't Dual Link DVI. So I can't drive the bloody thing! :(
Click to expand...

Speak to the manager and explain calmly why this is unacceptable.
Ask him what he can do about it.
If he says nothing, ask if they are prepared to compensate you in some way.
If they offer no help, I would contact the trading standards authority and give them details of your negotiations.
 
I think 24 is the sweet spot. Anything bigger and you have to move your head around to much to look at things.
 
If it's mainly for productivity purposes, I'd suggest a 24". If you find you need more screen real estate, you can always add another one without totally breaking the bank.
 
dee-vee said:
I think 24 is the sweet spot. Anything bigger and you have to move your head around to much to look at things.
Click to expand...

Thats why its a good idea to place bigger screens further away from you :)
A 30" screen further away than a 24" to give the same relative size is easier to read for longer as the eyes focus is softer, thus reducing eyestrain.
 
Chernobyl1 said:
Speak to the manager and explain calmly why this is unacceptable.
Ask him what he can do about it.
If he says nothing, ask if they are prepared to compensate you in some way.
If they offer no help, I would contact the trading standards authority and give them details of your negotiations.
Click to expand...

I had almost the exact plan - but without the calm bit! But now I've calmed down a little and you've reminded me what's the best policy! I'll give them a call at lunch. Should be interesting...


dee-vee said:
I think 24 is the sweet spot. Anything bigger and you have to move your head around to much to look at things.
Click to expand...

Stuey83 said:
If it's mainly for productivity purposes, I'd suggest a 24". If you find you need more screen real estate, you can always add another one without totally breaking the bank.
Click to expand...

As I've said I'll be using it for programming, music production and gaming. If it's too big I'll have to sell it on eBay and get a 24". What put me off a 24" was I saw a 23" (couldn't find a 24" to examine) and personally it didn't win me over in terms of size. In the back of my mind, something keeps nagging telling me it might be just too big, but I'll let you all know after a few weeks with it! (As soon as I get my bleeding GFX card however!)

Chernobyl1 said:
Thats why its a good idea to place bigger screens further away from you :)
A 30" screen further away than a 24" to give the same relative size is easier to read for longer as the eyes focus is softer, thus reducing eyestrain.
Click to expand...

:D That makes me feel better! Although, because the resolution on the 30" is massively bigger than on a 24", the text, relatively speaking, is going to be smaller. So this may prove a problem. I'm excited now, I wanna find out! lol
 
Chernobyl1 said:
A 30" screen further away than a 24" to give the same relative size is easier to read for longer as the eyes focus is softer, thus reducing eyestrain.
Click to expand...

I don't see how can this stand for programming/web/etc. Having a 30" screen farther so it has the same relative size as a 24" with a much higher resolution doesn't equal reduced eyestrain in my logic. Care to explain further?
 
I didnt mention differences in resolution, my comment was aimed at using different size screens at the same res.

Higher res isnt as bad as it seems, the font size can be changed to be acceptable for text.
Or for gaming/films use a high res mode and for programming change to a lower mode.
The newer LCDs dont look that bad now when you change res.
 
The thing I've found with changing font size in XP is it tends to screw lots of things up. Forms etc. have the titles disappearing beneath text boxes and so on. Hopefully this might be less of an issue in Vista.... there's hoping! Can't wait to get this baby and try it out. At the end of the day, if it is too big and I can't read the text, I can sell it. Will report asap...
 
The LCD panels that I've owned/seen didn't look all that great unless you ran them in the native mode.
 
My 30" Dell arrived. Good GOD it's huge.. I'm gonna go see if it'll plug into my 9700 Radeon - I don't think it will though :(
 
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