Looking for a second monitor for my current setup. I’ve got a 21" monitor now and have narrowed my options down to these 3 setups. All setups have almost identical specs in regards to viewing angle and the like. So of the 3 setups which would you chose?
Current 21" monitor is a Samsung SyncMaster 215TW
The 24" monitor I was looking at is a Gateway FPD2485W 24" LCD.
Both monitors have 1000:1 contrast and 178 degree viewing angles.
Just buy one good 22inch and a new laptop, where else could you get a computer with an integrated ups? And about 3 hourse of work time before it goes down? And you can even take it with you to the Blender Conference.
OK, from what I see behind me, two HP 2207 22" monitors are great to work with, if you don’t mind the glassy look. (my roomy’s rig). They’re cheap, good looking… aaand I’m drooling again.
Personally I’d prefer one HUGE screen to two almost huge ones… unfortunatly, I’m not that rich yet.
If I could afford it, I’d probably go for a single 22" lcd with a standard 17" lcd on the side. If I really had money, then I guess one could go with two 22".
As it is I’ll be going for a single 20" for my desktop, and then I’ll use my laptop for viewing tutorials and the like beside it.
I have a 24" 1920x1200 and I’m truly satisfied with it.
Beware that if the 21" are 1680x1050 you graphics card cannot handle 3360 horizontal pixels, so the only way is to tilt them vertically (if you can).
Surely that doesn’t apply to all graphics cards?
yeah i’ve seen many set up in that config no problem 
maybe its low end cards, or older agp ones?
//charlie
I use a 24" monitor now (since the beginnig of july) and i must say it is reaalyy great !
I planned to use it verticaly but you soon get the feeling you are talking to Shaquille O’Neal so tall that is !
In fact i still have my old 17" besides so i can turn it on and browse the BlenderWiki or Blender artists while using blender on the 24" (1920x1200) !
No probs with the 1920+1280 horizontal resolution…
The only slight pb is that i cant turn that into ONE huge monitor using Hydravision: the 2 don’t have the same vertical resolution…
So i can’t spread Blender across the 2 monitors.
I think i would recommend a 24"
In fact i get more pixels with 24"+17" than with 2 22" at 1680*1050…
quite odd,
this is an extract from nvidia’s latest GeForce 8800 GTX w/ 768MB:
“Able to drive the industry’s largest and highest resolution flat-panel displays up to 2560x1600.”
Two 1680x1050 are far beyond 2560.
Yes but it probably has 2 DVI outputs (like my 1950 pro)
So this figure must be the maximum you can handle on one DVI.
In fact my setup has 19201200 on DVI 1 and 12801024 on DVI 2.
I think that you need to use both the outputs of a GC to drive Big big monitors like 30 "…
To be confirmed though…
Yeh that would definitely mean per monitor, not total.
So you could have two 2560x1600 monitors, making the theoretical max res 5120x1600, or 2560 x 3200
or if you have two graphics cards 
or if you have a dual gpu graphics card for that matter…
I have the same monitor, 215tw, which is a great monitor indeed. I am thinking about buying another one as well.
After a careful evaluation of what people had to say and seeing the 24" monitor again I decided just to bite the bullet and get the 24" monitor. Now that I’m running it Dual 21/24 is nice but my gfx card is having a much harder time keeping up with the fill rate.
How do you actually use it, I mean do you expand the screen to the other screen? And you said you can use blender in dual screen now.
You have to hack, which e.g. is described here.
get the two 21in and a cintiq (and spend every dime to your name)
I have a Asus G1S laptop (15in) and and dell LCD (21in). Trouble is, they are separate resolutions, but it’s still worth it by far. Pretty much any dual screen is good. 
I would get the biggest monitor that I could afford and make the current one my secondary screen. Does it have to be a Gateway monitor? You can probably find something cheaper in price than a Gateway brand. If the specs and warranty are good then the brand doesn’t matter. Back in January, I got an Acer 22" widescreen for $250 after rebate (of course, the prices are even lower now :rolleyes:). I’m very happy with it. I use my old 17" CRT as my secondary (for tutorials, docs, web, etc.).
i have worked with several dual monitor setups and I always prefer the ones that are the same monitors. They can have the same color balance, brightness, contrast, angle, height, which all make working on them smoother.
If you can, I say go with the same one, especially if you plan on doing work on both. Right now I have my laptop attached to a 22 incher. I do work on the 22 incher and put itunes and my chat windows on the laptop, which works well. But I would prefer symmetry, so I could do even more.