Looking for the best setup for working with text

A

alexv

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Mar 1, 2008
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Hi,

I am trying to figure out the best setup for software development/technical writing/reading etc. That means I have a lot of text on the screen - editors, pdf files, terminal windows, big spreadsheets - that sort of stuff. The main goal is to get the highest text sharpness possible (including during scrolling - important!), the second goal is to get a lot of screen real estate. At this point I am torn between one 24" widescreen monitor vs 2 20" 4x3 monitors. What do you think? What models I should be looking at? Will IPS be better choice? Also are there videocards better suitable for this kind of stuff? I don't play any games and I don't watch any movies on that computer - just stare at the code and documents all day long :) The budget is about $800.

Thanks
 
For $800 get two 24" monitors and rotate them vertically. You'll see more text that way.
 
The best setup for programming is a single 30 inch monitor, but they start at about $1200. The tighter dot pitch allows you to get a heck of a lot on the screen.

I think 2 24s in portrate mode would be hard to work with, having that big divider right down the middle of everything. Maybe a pair of 21s in landscape mode.

I have a 24 inch Dell and it is pretty good, but I would like to upgrade to a 30 incher.

Best of luck

Dave
 
I'd get three 22" monitors (some cheap ones like the on-sale Acer) and two video cards.

$185x3 for the monitors + say, two HD3450's (2x$55). $665 for a whole wall of text. Add on a fourth 22" and you're only a little over budget and you have a LOT of freaking documents open at the same time.

But if you require crystal-clear text while scrolling, then it's CRT time. That's not going to help with sharpness though.
 
Thanks for all responses! So far I narrowed down my choices to two: 2x HP LP2065 ($329 each after rebate at newegg). Pros: it looks like they started using IPS panels again and there are many reviews specifically praising the exceptional text quality. Cons: the model is 2 (3?) years old so the technology is not state of the art.

The second choice in my price range is the new 24" Dell Ultrasharp 2408WFP ($699). Pros: the series has very good reputation as far as sharpness goes and this is the latest technology. Cons: there are no detailed reviews yet (I have seen reviews for the previous model that weren't as favorable) and this is not an IPS panel.

So I am still on a fence...
 
I don't know about IPS being better for 'text quality'. I have an S-IPS panel (23") next to a TN one (22") and the text sharpness is identical. The only difference is a little more blur (go figure) on the TN, and of course some color shifting across the height of the panel.

Both suck equally when fast-scrolling documents due to blur. But I would still take three of those TN 22" models over two 24" IPS models if the priority was seeing as much text at the same time as possible. Personally I like having a largish 1900x1200 display (23-28") in the middle of two 22" displays.

The only caveat is that I always use DVI for the monitors. If you use VGA, then definitely YMMV depending on the panel's internal electronics.
 
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