Dual-monitors or one large one?

[TomStanley]

Hi everyone,

 

Yet again I am in a debate with colleagues at work. What do people think of the option of either having two 19" monitors, or one 24" widescreen monitor.

 

The resolution of the 19" monitors would be 1280 x 1024. The resolution of the 24" monitor would be 1920 x 1080.

 

Would people rather have two 19" monitors or one 24" monitor?

 

Tom.

[ryburn]

24" all the way! Far too much room taken up with two monitors

[glennda]

Personally i have 4 19" monitors on my desk two for my Linux box and two for my windows box. Using synergy to connect the windows keyboard and mouse to the Linux box.

 

Toby

[glennda]

24" all the way! Far too much room taken up with two monitors

 

just one 24"? an assistant head here has 2!

[powdarrmonkey]

I will always prefer 2x 4:3 ratio monitors, I find them much more flexible than just having one big area (and I loathe widescreen).

[localzuk]

Personally, I run 3 19" monitors, but find that I wish they were bigger and had better resolution than 1280x1024 each.

 

This is mainly down to my using Visual Studio 2008 though, which has pretty much no multi-monitor support, so I end up having to constantly adjust the size of working areas in it.

 

So, if you do coding, a single 24" is probably better. If not, then 2 19" is better IMO.

[soveryapt]

As people have said, it all depends on what you're planning to do with it.. personally, I tend to use just a single monitor (just looking to invest in a 24") hooked up to my KVM to go between boxes .. it you're doing something where you are coding and viewing results as you go then 2 is probably better as you can have a proper distinction between the 2 items on 2 physical monitors .. each to their own personal preference though ..

 

[Joh619]

At home I have a 24" widescreen with a 19" as a second monitor. Best of both worlds At work I just have a laptop, and do sometimes miss having the second monitor.

[Pete10141748]

I vote for 2 monitors, as that's what I have set up at home (though the sizes are different).

 

On my desk I have only 1 19" widescreen, but it does it's job enough for me and I'm happy to use virtual desktops if needs be (plus my naff little PC can't do dual screen )

[RinSewand]

at work... a 22" widescreen and a 19" 4:3, though I'd prefer two 22's.

 

At home (well, when I have them all set up eg: while doing my dissertation) two 24" Dells, a 17" AG Neovo, a 12" touchscreen for music, and a 170" Projector with my work outline... plus the 15" laptop, it still wasn't enough.

 

Given the choice I'd go with more monitors over size, for a single monitor I couldn't go less than 24"

[Jamo]

I will always prefer 2x 4:3 ratio monitors, I find them much more flexible than just having one big area (and I loathe widescreen).

 

Nooooo widescreen is the future!! I feel so constrained with a 4x3 monitor!

 

I have a 24 incher. 1920 x 1200 fantastic quality. I also have a 22 inch next to it but i rarely use it, the screen is great for the W7 side snap feature which you just couln'dt do with a 4x3!

[Domino]

work, two 19" - I find being able to have email or monitoring always open while working in another is great.

 

home one 27" and one 19" - mostly for video work, as having a preview in a different display to your timeline/clipbanks is handy

[Rydra]

dual monitor definately.

 

It is especially useful if you access servers or RDP into machines, monitor cctv/video stream etc.

Also I find it easier to distinguish 2 pages when on different screens, than both windows on one screen, eg when copying info from a website to a document etc. You end up with a bigger footprint with the dual monitors, and makes window sizing a lot easier.

 

I use a 23" and a 19" at home, plan to upgrade to a pair of 24". Right now I am stuck with a 15" at work, but will this week with new budget and all, be buying 1 or 2 24" monitors for the office. Why so big? drop size to a 22/23" they are basically the same size, about £10 difference. Drop much lower, the prices drop considerably, but so do the resolutions, and the sizes. Any bigger is too expensive.

[Ollie2278]

For work purposes I would go for two 19" monitors everytime, there is slighty more work space and you can separate off any programs that you may be using. I used two monitors when working a helphesk, live call monitoring software on one andcall logging software on the other.

[WTFBBQ]

If you're lucky enough to have Windows 7 on your box, you can drag the title bar of a window to the vertical edge of the monitor to make it take up 50% horizontally. With this, a single widescreen monitor becomes much more productive (and easier to validate the purchase to the budget controller!)

 

It's the biggest feature I miss since swapping from Win7 Eval to Ubuntu Karmic...

[dhicks]

Would people rather have two 19" monitors or one 24" monitor?

 

Two 19", although at home I have three. See also:

 

Coding Horror: Three Monitors For Every User

 

--

David Hicks

[pavlovs_dog]

I have two 24" dell monitors, saves having 3 or 4 19" ones.

[TechMonkey]

Why no 2 x 24 inch widescreen option?

 

I would generally say 2x whatever just because it is easier then to arrange windows and the like without making the mistake of maximising a window and having it fill the whole thing! It helps to divide up the work space and is easier to compare and contrast or work from 2 documents.

[Flakes]

go for 2 monitors, ive went from 2 21.5 inch wide-screens to one 30" HDTV and regret it, i miss the ability to separate tools and programs off into a different screen.

[powdarrmonkey]

Of course you could have one 24" monitor, a dual head graphics card, and a KVM switch... that could be interesting.

[AIT]

personaly i prefer 2 x 19inch wide and 3 x 19in square

[Tyiell]

I have a laptop with a high res (1920x1200) tft and a second 1280x1024 monitor. Works well, I couldn't do without the flexibility of a laptop as I move around site, but I always miss the extended desktop when I don't have it. Why? See attached!!

[teejay]

I have 2 x 20" 1680x1050 which I find just a nice size, plus they are the ones which rotate into portrait mode which is really usefull for wp or reading pdfs etc.

[CHR1S]

I use my 37" HDTV at home, its great for media stuff but I have to get way too close to read stuff on the web

[Soulfish]

Two 24" monitors here. From your list I'd go for 2 x 19" monitors though. Much prefer being able to shove things onto one monitor.