Two 22" or one 24"?

P

PoorBehavior

Limp Gawd
Joined
Oct 23, 2004
Messages
312
Just had to warranty and old 21" Trinitron CRT and it got replaced by a crappy non trinitron crt with major image issues. I will probably RMA the damn thing at least once more before I give up and give it to my nephew.
So, 24" of glorious widescreen for $ 6-700.
or
Two 22" of less glorious widescreens for about the same total.

You are on the Budweiser Hotseat: which do you pick and why?
 
I have already picked. My apple 23 inch lcd was messing up and I took it back to compusa under warranty. They gave me a new one but it was messed up new out of the box. I was given store credit as I didn't want the other screen(they came in on the same pallett). I had the option of getting the 24 inch gateway screen or 2 22 inch gateway screens(they had the hp and some others in 22 as well). Ended up with 2 22 inch screens. I love it. I also have my xbox 360 hooked to the second screen for gaming when I want to. Overall the dual screens is great for getting work done.
 
Well not matter you have three screen or two, but the real effect of having on big screen is awesome.
 
Depends on what you do... I do alot of work, so dual screens is ideal and gives you an increase in efficiency... But if you're just playing games or watching movies, go for the bigger size.
 
Your situation sounds a little like mine-- going from one 21" CRT (though mine was Trinitron) to LCD, and being torn between two smaller screens or one large one. In my case I was not looking at 22" since I wanted to avoid the inferior TN panels, but was instead looking at 20" or 21" screens. Naturally two 2407WFP would have been ideal, but I didn't have the $1400+ to do it with :D

Ultimately I decided to go with the duals, and I don't regret my decision at all. I use my computer primarily for web/email/IM, graphic work, web design, school work (MS Office type stuff). Not so much for movies and gaming. Dual monitors REALLY help with productivity, I can keep multiple documents/programs open at full size, or drag multiple smaller windows to one end while keeping my main focus on another end. You're sacrificing 240 pixels of height but you're gaining a whopping 1440 pixels of width; that's even wider than a 30" screen.

If you do any sort of productive work on your computer or if you multi-task a lot, I would definitely go with the duals, but if you are mostly into gaming and movies, consider the 24". But if you ask me, the cost of a Westy 37" isn't too much more than some of these 24"s are going for, so I would just do that :p

One thing I will stress though is that in MOST cases you will want identical monitors for duals. If you have different sizes/resolutions, it will make your workspace seem really weird and less natural. Even if your monitors are the same size but different makes, the way they display colors may be slightly different and thus will seem strange. I have seen some interesting setups that use two different models, but I'd never do it, personally.
 
I had to make the same decision, and I went with one Dell 2407WFP in the end. I don't have it yet - I should be getting it next week.

My reasoning:

1) Currently, I'll be running this from my laptop, which only has ONE port out. So I'll use my 15.4" laptop with my dell 2407WFP, having a dual setup with my laptop at 1680x1050 and my external screen at 1920x1200.

2) My 15.4" laptop has a resolution of 1680x1050, the SAME as the 22" monitors. I know that I CANNOT fit two windows comfortably side by side on 1680x1050 - so I really wanted a monitor where I could do that. Even 1920x1200 is a bit tight for two windows side by side, in my opinion, but it's better than 1680x1050.

3) Down the road, I can always buy another 2407 (after I've had time to save again) and have a super-sweet dual setup, most likely hooked up to a desktop at that point.

4) I really wanted enough resolution to run 1080 lines natively, and the 22" (or 20,21, etc) monitors only give 1050 vertical lines. It's just not quite enough, and will for 1920x1080 movies to be scaled. But that's just me, and wanting to be able to run 1920x1080 movies...

Yes, I've thought about this issue for quite a while now. ;)

So I made my decision and finally ordered the dang thing with my tax refund. I hope my thoughts will help you make your decision.
 
Two 22" monitors have much more screen estate than a single 24" monitor. As others have iterated, dual screens are great for work, esp. if you are programming, video editing, or doing graphics work. In addition, many games are beginning to utilise dual-screens (ie Supreme Commander).
 
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