One Screen Or Two

happyhero

Hi

Can anybody give me some guidance, I have for a long while now, had two screens on one PC, and found it very useful, I mess around with stocks and share etc, but I also found it handy for some other work I do etc. Anyway that is not important, whats important is that I found it very beneficial to use two screens, sorry if I sound spoilt here, don't mean to.

Now I need to buy to new ones as the old two were playing up, so much so that I am currently borrowing someones 17" CRT. This is not a bad screen but is torture after what I was able to do before. If I split the window, I am for ever scrolling left and right, you basically cannot see enough in one go.

I have done some checking / review reading and I am interested in 2 Dell wide screen 20" models, which are normally £500 each but I can get them for £350 each. That is still £700 which is enough, but this price has made me doubt what to do next. With this amount of money I could get a,( I know I am going mad but I love big screens,) 32" or 37" screen and split the screen. (I have seen some PC's sold with a 42" plasma as the screen, which actually appeals to me, crazy as it might sound to some.) At this size the windows would be big enough. My layout would cope with this satisfactory.

My dilema now is which way to go, I cannot think what the pros and cons might be, can anyone help me out I think I can do the same things which ever I choose.

Incidently I found two screens great when I was trying to do some work and my 5 year old daughter kept knagging me to play, I have a TV card with Sky connected, so I would simply put the TV on one screen and work quite happily on the other. We are both happy then.

Any help would be gretly appreciated.

Rex_Mundi

I've got one computer set up at home with two screens running off an Nvidia Geforce 6800 Ultra. You can't fault the quality on both monitors. The resolution of a monitor is far superior to a TV (I've tried both), so I would recommend staying with the two monitor option and a VERY decent graphics card (lot of RAM helps as well if you want to use different applications at the same time).

happyhero

Ian_Griffiths wrote:

Here's mine - four Dell 1800FP via an Nvidia Quadro NVS 400 card.

More res than a twin combo - I have 5.2mp vs 3.5mp of two Dell 2005FPW - and considerable cheaper than 700 quid!

2005FPW for 279 - http://www.itclear.com/monitors.htm

.

Hi Ian, I really fancy the wide screen and find you have to go bigger if you go widescreen as they appear smaller, so I am after the 2005FPW models, silly question really considering you have 4 Dell's but have you checked the picture against other makes and found them the best, the reviews I read deffinitly say go for the Dell screens which I must admit surprised me. I knew they were ok but I didn't think they were the best, until the reviews educated me. Also what is it you are talking about when you mention 52mp vs 3.5mp? Also the video card you have is that just one you selected for 4 monitors or did it come out top on the reviews. I would not know which card was best for the money, wouldn't want to pay a load for little gain.

You are chasing one on EBay now, I assume that is a lot better. I am very fussy with quality but not if the price gets too silly.

When I have tried to get this monitor cheaper and found it a lot cheaper usually in the small print it says refurbishes or something similar. They do offer the 3 year warranty usually but being fussy I don't really fancy something that had to have something done to it because it was not perfect in some way. The site you mention is a very good price and says new (whereas it appears they do second hand stuff)so it seems tempting but is it brand new and not refurbished or something. Have you bought anything from them before?

Lastly being dumb here are you saying you would rather stay with seperate monitors than have one huge screen, if so why?

alictait

Incidentally, have you checked out the moitors on Aria.co.uk - they appear to me to be very competitive and they also do a guaranteed no dead pixel on tft's for an additional £15 per screen.

Worth a look

HTH

Nemo

If you want to pay the extra for the pixel check then fine, it's down to personal choice, but I wouldn't buy a TFT from a company that provides this option, without paying the extra. Those that fail the zero-dead pixel check will just get put back into stock, so you'll have a greater chance of getting a screen with dead pixels.

alictait

Nemo wrote:

If you want to pay the extra for the pixel check then fine, it's down to personal choice, but I wouldn't buy a TFT from a company that provides this option, without paying the extra. Those that fail the zero-dead pixel check will just get put back into stock, so you'll have a greater chance of getting a screen with dead pixels.

Very good point nemo - never really thought about it this way.

happyhero

alictait wrote:

Incidentally, have you checked out the moitors on Aria.co.uk - they appear to me to be very competitive and they also do a guaranteed no dead pixel on tft's for an additional £15 per screen.

Worth a look

HTH

Can anybody tell me what actually happens if you pay for a dead pixel check, i.e. how do they test it properly, what do they do, but more importantly does it garantee you no dead pixels or no more than a certain percentage or what?

I suppose once you buy this monitor if you are unlucky even though you pay for this service, you may find one or two dead pixels appear after a month or so, which is just tough, or would this be unusual?

Sorry if I am asking dumb questions here but I want to know what service I may pay for if at all possible.

Any info appreciated.