What are you going to be doing with your computer?
If you’re going to be playing games, check that the games you wish to play will play at an acceptable framerate at the native resolution of the monitor on the graphics card supplied. If you’re getting it for business use, check that the PC can actually support multiple monitors before buying them.
[QUOTE=lazybratsche]
IIRC, two 19" monitors gives you the same amount of screen space, at approximately the same resolution, as a single 24" widescreen. There’s no reason you can’t have two windows open side-by-side on the same screen (though they can’t both be maximized).QUOTE] I have two 20’s at work. I have no problem maximizing a different window on each screen.
Funny, back in the early 90’s I had duel screens, just recently, I got them again. Love it. Much more productive. And less prone to make mistakes.
I should add for work I use dual monitors. A 19" flat panel for most of my work and a 17" Tube that I use for inquiry/reference mainly.
I haven’t had the need at home except the PC in my family room where I will work on a 17" panel and use my 37" 1080p LCD panel as a display.
Jim
I have about a dozen PCs in play at work and at home, with CRTs and LCDs from 14" to 21". The setup I use the most is a dual monitor with 21" CRT in front of me and 17" LCD somewhat to one side.
IMHO monitor area is the biggest knob you can turn to make a system nicer to use. Dual monitor systems are actually faster to work with, if your work pattern often includes having two big windows open in formats that take up over half the screen width. A single big monitor lets you do better work, if your work pattern often involves having one window open as big as you can make it. I think a good strategy is to buy a system that is sufficient in other ways, and allocate the elective part of your expenditure into one huge monitor or two big ones, depending on the shapes of the windows you most often need open.
It seems to be easy to set up dual monitors, by the way, but get harder to set up 3 or more. Last time I looked there were lots of cards with 2 outputs and not nearly as many with 3. I think you can buy multiple cards, too, but don’t know how weird that is.
And I have one software package in which one of the dialog boxes only sees mouse clicks if it’s on the righthand monitor, though its other windows see mouse clicks on either monitor. It’s always something…
I have the following:
Work: 17" widescreen (laptop), 2x 19" standard
Home: 22" standard.
A good rule of thumb that I follow is that the keyboard, mouse, monitor, and video card should cost about as much as the rest of the computer put together–after all, the monitor and keyboard are what you’re actually working with, and you want something that’s incredibly comfortable to have your hands and eyes on.
Beyond that, as to the wide vs. standard or dual vs. single debate, it really does depend on what you are doing on a daily basis with the computer.
My advice may not totally be applicable to everyone’s situation, because my next computer is likely to cost $3000-$3500. Yes, I’m a video game junkie and I work from home a LOT.
One thing I’ll add: you should not stint on your monitor(s). Get the best you can afford. Stint on everything else but don’t stint on the main way your computer interacts with you. Your eyes will thank you.
Because nothing says “Legitemate Threat” like a 10 foot lizard with a fatally septic bite. Large monitors are very good.
Another vote for two monitors.
I use a 19" 4:3 CRT (recently upgraded from a 17" CRT) as my primary monitor, with a 17" widescreen LCD as a secondary. I generally have Firefox maximized on my main monitor and iTunes maximized on my second one. When I play games, I often play music in iTunes at the same time, and I can see what’s going on in it even when the game is using my whole primary monitor.
Watch for what kind of cables are compatible with your video card and monitors. Some video cards have DVI connectors that can be converted to VGA, some have ones that can’t. All CRTs use VGA connectors, and I think most LCDs have both kinds now, but my last LCD had only VGA.