The right panel for the job

[Dante Rising]

Hello everyone,

This is my first post here, so I wanted to first thank all of the people that make these forums such a professional and courteous place to visit.

I've just built my new computer, and have decided that my current monitor, a beautiful Dell 2209 series e-ips panel, is too small for my needs. But I absolutely refuse to go back to standard TN monitors.

I'm trying to decide which is the best route to take for my next display. This rig is basically for 75% gaming, 25% internet and applications. Based upon my computer build (i5 2500k, GTX 580 Super overclocked, 8 gb of ram, Win 7) I know that the max resolution my system can handle for gaming effectively is 1080p.

I'm trying to decide between a Dell U2711, Dell U2410, Apple Cinema Display, or a 32" Samsung HDTV 5500 series, which has been confirmed to do proper 4:4:4 subsampling, as well as have relatively low input lag.

1) Would I get a "better picture" from a 27" monitor that is forced to scale down from its normal resolution to 1080p, or would I be better served by an HDTV that has that 1080p resolution as its native image? Previous LCD monitors I've use were very poor at scaling, so I'm concerned about how newer LCDs handle this.

2) I will be roughly 3' away from the image, so is a 32" HDTV too large for my environment? It seems like 27" would be the sweet spot, but a 32" upper tier HDTV is roughly 250 less expensive that either the Dell or the Apple 27" monitors.

3) Is moving from a 22" monitor to a 24" monitor probably not enough of a jump to be worthwhile?

Any assistance would be appreciated.