2 19 inchers or one 22?

[martini161]

For chirstmas this year, i hope to be buying a new monitor. its not that my current one is bad, i just want something a little bigger. should i go with a 2nd 19 inch monitor, or one new 22 inch one?

[GI-JOE]

Get the 22 inch one. I have a 19 inch, and my bro has a 22 and the difference is pretty noticeably (size wise)

Plus you could always use the 19 inch as your secondary monitor anyways!

[bubba]

go with the 22". I ran dual 19"s at work for a while then got the 22. Yeah the dual 19's looked cool, but it got annoying after while if you didn't do stuff that took advantage of it, that and it takes a boat load of desk space.

Now if you do a lot of vid editing, cad work, or 3D modeling then run the duals but I would still get the 22 and run your current one as the secondary. have the 22 as the main work space and pull the menus and render to the 19.

[FZ1]

Depends on what you will be doing - gaming and movies, get the bigger screen. Working on multiple applications etc is much better on 2 screens. Personally, a use 1 WS 24" with a WS 20" as a second monitor.

Researchers at the University of Utah tested how quickly people performed tasks like editing a document and copying numbers between spreadsheets while using different computer configurations: one with an 18-inch monitor, one with a 24-inch monitor and with two 20-inch monitors. Their finding: People using the 24-inch screen completed the tasks 52% faster than people who used the 18-inch monitor; people who used the two 20-inch monitors were 44% faster than those with the 18-inch ones. There is an upper limit, however: Productivity dropped off again when people used a 26-inch screen. (The order of the tasks and the order of computer configurations were assigned randomly.)

i can't find it but I read somewhere else a similar test and the 2 screens where better than one. I guess it depends on the app. Obviously, spreadsheets are better on oen big screen but multiple apps are better on 2.

http://blogs.wsj.com/biztech/2008/03/10 ... ductivity/

[martini161]

i will be doing mainly gaming but i also do some AutoCAD and 3D modeling (when im feeling creative). im just wondering what it would be like with the greater FOV in FPS games

[Apoptosis]

I run two 20" monitors in the office at 1600x1200 and they are great. Two bigger than that would take up too much desk space, so I'm happy with 20".

[DMB2000uk]

i will be doing mainly gaming but i also do some AutoCAD and 3D modeling (when im feeling creative). im just wondering what it would be like with the greater FOV in FPS games

Your FOV won't change from the 19" wide to the 22" wide. :-/

Having recently gone from a 19" to a 22" myself, I seriously recommend getting the bigger monitor, as others have pointed out, if you find yourself needing more real estate after the swap, then just hook up your 19" as a secondary.

Dan

[martini161]

how can your feild of view not change? i know most games dont do this automatically, but there is a program that does it. its called widescreen fixer.

[FZ1]

i will be doing mainly gaming but i also do some AutoCAD and 3D modeling (when im feeling creative). im just wondering what it would be like with the greater FOV in FPS games

In that case, get the bigger screen. None of those apps really beg for a second screen. Doing programming and web design, I usally have a browser, FTP app, coding app, database app, etc all up at the same time so 2 monitors is almost essential.

[DMB2000uk]

how can your feild of view not change? i know most games dont do this automatically, but there is a program that does it. its called widescreen fixer.

Your 19" is 1440x900 right?

Well a 22" 1680x1050 is in the same ratio, so although you have more pixels on the screen, the area of the game that it shows is still the same, it's just more detailed.

If you are coming from a non wide 19" then you are right, your FOV will change.

Dan

[martini161]

im talking about going from 1 19 inch to two 19 inch

[hercules71185]

I used a dual set up for gaming before and didn't like it much considering I only had one game that worked at the time. The single 22" is better for your screen area and they are cheap now like 150 bucks. It's all preference, but for gaming having a split down the middle of the 2 doesn't look good. For multi tasking 2 is better. You can have a browser on one screen, IMs and music player on the other. Or open up a browser with step by step info on one and the other to do what you are looking up instead of minimizing...
I've seen a sale at compusa aka tigerdirect that was a 24" glossy screen that looked very good for 240

[Major_A]

Doesn't answer your question, but...
24" monitors are coming down in price.

As asked before and I didn't see it answered, are you running a 19" 4:3 or widescreen monitor? Reason I ask is because with the popularity and price most games now are natively supporting widescreen monitors. I don't know how well they'll behave with a dual monitor setup.

[camaroguy1998]

Definitely get the bigger screen, 22" or 24" and use your 19" as a secondary!
No question!
I have 2 - 22's, the only thing I would give them up for would be 2 - 24's

This is an old pic but I still use the same monitor setup!

[Sovereign]

Dual 22" checking in here. They're cheap Acers but boy are they an improvement over my single 17" (which is now a tertiary display for F@H, download manager, Hamachi, Xfire and some sticky notes). Used to have just one 22" and the 17", then I saw an identical 22" on Woot.com...

Damn Woot and their deals!