Help me decide on what monitor(s) to buy.

In My Humble Opinion
1

First some background info…

I’m in the next three months I’m going to spend thousands of hours using Pro Tools and for the way I work, I require a ton of desktop space. The monitor I have allows for really high resolution which is nice but this monitor is about to give away on me. There are lines travelling up and down the screen and, frankly, it gives me a headache - so I need another one (or 2).

I’m probably going to buy an LCD monitor. The reason for that is size. My desk is small and it looks really cluttered with a CRT monitor (not to mention 2). I’ve looked at the 23 inch apple monitor and it’s a pretty nice looking monitor but the problem is, it only has a 400:1 contrast ratio.

The Samsung 24" Syncmaster has a much higher contrast ratio and are better in virtually every other category but are also much more expensive. ($500 more in canada).

Soooooo help me out what should I buy and feel free to come up with suggestions of your own - that’s why it’s in the forum it’s in.

*dual monitors is an option, so 2 smaller LCD’s would be doable.

2

Two monitors is definitely the way to go. I have a 21" monitor at home and two 17" monitors at work. When I work at home, I’m constantly cursing the lack of space, even though the monitor is larger than either of my work monitors.

Mr. Athena’s monitor is in the process of dying, so I’ve been researching new ones. I’d go with two of these right now, if I were you. Tom’s a good guy, and I trust what he says. Two 19" flat panels should be a dream to use.

3

I think this depends on the software you use and the way you work. For games and playing DVD movies you’d want one huge screen, but I think for most other software, two monitors would be better.

Also, if you have two monitors, you can angle them inwards. I find this easier to read than one huge flat screen.

The Samsung 204T (20" LCD, 1600x1200) sells for about $530, so if you buy two of these plus a new video card with dual DVI, it’ll still be cheaper than the Apple 23". You get 1600x1200x2 pixels, which is 25% more than the Apple 23". And I believe the 204T has a swivel feature, so you can have two portrait-mode monitors side by side if you prefer.

4

Dual monitors seems like a good idea. Edit Window in one screen and Mix Window in the other. That would make mixing a lot simpler for me.

That Viewsonic seems pretty solid but so does the 20" samsung. hmmmmmmm.

5

Dell do nice monitors at decent prices. Two of these or these should more than sort you.

Skimping on your monitor is a false economy.

6

Those ARE nice. Dell has done well by me before. Off to the site I go.

(as I type this my monitor flickers)