HTPC Dual Monitor vs. One Large Monitor

Totally agree, I wouldnt want a 30" one either, considering how big my 32" TV is you gotta sit far back to see that so a Monitor that size is a bit mad.

 

dual large monitors

i would like a 24" wide for a main screen and then say a 4:3 20" or something next to it as a secondary display

 

I've had many dual screen set-ups, I have a nice widescreen LCD annnd a nice 32" Sammy LCD TV...

I really like the dual screen setup for office work, the divide helps to keep things organised I think - whether this is a good thing or not probably does depend on your application though. I can imagine that a photoshopper will want the biggest single screen they can confortably get away with.

For multiple applications I prefer multiple screens (actually three is best) and it also helps to have a second processor too

Rob.

p.s. congratulations Atomic, your demonstration of patience was admirable- not sure I could've taken the stick you did in this thread without getting annoyed!

 

I totally agree with you cheese, for work (office apps + email + web) multiple monitors (dual in my case) is certainly more productive, and for home I much prefer widescreen. Widescreen Gaming is great

With dual core/processor I always thought it was a shame you couldnt set certain apps to run specifically on the second core/processor...

 

I've got the dell 2005 widescreen for use at home and was running my old 15" NEC 4:3 LCD as a 2nd monitor (as I've also got my 360 hooked up to my dell, and it proved handy if I was gaming on my 360 but also using MS messenger/email/media player) before I moved my PC and run out of room to use it.
Unless you want dual monitors for a particular app I'd definitely go for a widescreen

Edit: I think the dell 30" monitor requires you to have a dual DVI output from your graphics card to support the high resolution (or at least that's the impression I got from the newsletter I got from dell when they released it) so that may be something to keep in mind.

 

Do any of you that have tried a setup with a 23/24" with a 19" backup second monitor feel like it was uncomfortable or awkward to have different size screens or did you prefer it?

 

Blademrk: I believe you meant to refer to a card that supports dual-link DVI (DVI-D, digital only cable).

It seems funny that they sell a monitor with a resolution of 2560x1600 and offer a video card to go with it that has a maximum external resolution of 2048x1536. I wonder how that works?

Ryan B.

 

Yeah, a big wide monitor. You do this by going to the store and buying one. Simple as. Atomic's been making perfect sense. TVs and computer monitors are two totally different things. 42" HDTV is considerably lower resolution than even a 20" widescreen computer LCD.

I agree with Pookey - a 30" dell would be way too big to be practical. I've got both a 20" and 24" WS from dell, and both are delightful. Running games at over 1080p is a bit nasty on the card, but that's what you pay for having a honkin' huge monitor.

Unless you have two identical monitors, with thin bezels, duals are quite a poor choice in lieu of a proper widescreen. I run both my 20 and 24 inch screens but not next to other - the 24" is my main display and the 20" is off on a different table for apps that I need to leave open but not access too often (odd bits of code, itunes, occasionally a visualizer, whatever).

PHxS - 2048x1536 is for analog(ue) connections. The dual-link DVI connections offer the 2560x1600 res you need for 30" uber-LCDs. Cards since who knows how long ago have offered that 2048 res, only newer cards (7-series, x1-series, for the most part) offer dual-link DVI

 

You can, you just have to go to "set affinity" in task manager each time you run the program.

I heart my dual HT Xeons

 

Actually, PS is great on duals, cos the toolbars ALL appear on one screen, and the other, primary screen is JUST a work area... it's great. If PS was ALL I used this for I would have dual 20" LCDs, but as it's used for gaming, watching DVDs, and loads of other stuff, a big, wide monitor is a good compromise.

 

Google (or Bit-search) for imagecfg
Sets apps to auto-affinitize Nice for those games especially that get freaky with dual cores.

 

Yeah, Photoshopping on dual monitors is much more fun. The second monitor doesn't even need to be big - a 15" will do really. Same for if you want to have MSN and winamp (For example) on one screen and then anything else on the other.

The downside of having one big monitor is that I feel compelled to maximise my browser window to fill the screen, so all the extra space is wasted unless you can force yourself to only use half the screen which feels a bit unnatural to me. But for games, TV, films etc, one big (preferably wide) screen owns

 

I have my 32" HDTV as my monitor atm. Is there a program where i can split the screen into half and have msn on one side and internet on other?

 

I knew about that but I wanted it to remember which core...

Nice! Thats waht I wanted

http://forums.bit-tech.net/showthread.php?t=107813