Hi fellow TA's,

I noticed lots of producers use 2 or more screens and I decided to do the same thing. Now I got 2 options.

1) buy the same used screen that i currently have, a pretty descent 17 inch flatscreen

2) buy 2 new 20 inch screens and sell the 17 inch I currently have.

Option 2 is about 3 times as expensive as option 1. I tend use the monitors for many years to come so I'm wondering which investment is best to make in your opinion? Are two 17 inch screens insufficient for producing?

Thanks in advance for sharing your experience about producing with a dual screen setup

Timothy

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Has your gfx card got dual output? ... you might have to figure in the cost of a new one if not ...

Personally i'd just get another 17" and save the cash ... 2 x 17" monitors should provide ample viewing space!

Yeah, as written above you gotta check if your graphic card supports 2 screens. If not, you can find a new one pretty cheap. You could check out the graphic card I use, it's fairly cheap and it's fairly good, GeForce FX5200. I would definetly go for another 17". I Have 2 17" ViewSonic VP730, and I couldn't be happier!

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2 screens are better than 1, high resolution is better than low resolution. I don't think there's any way to quantify *how much* better, but it might help you to know that I have a 24" LCD running at 1920x1200 and I've never even bothered hooking up the old 17" as a dual.

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with my tax return im thinking about getting a 30in dell monitor

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quote:

Originally posted by DigiNut 2 screens are better than 1, high resolution is better than low resolution. I don't think there's any way to quantify *how much* better, but it might help you to know that I have a 24" LCD running at 1920x1200 and I've never even bothered hooking up the old 17" as a dual.

May I ask what 24" your running?
I have been looking for a 24" but I keep hearing bad things about most of them, sounds like nearly every 24" is cheap and has back-light problems.

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quote:

Originally posted by michaelconway with my tax return im thinking about getting a 30in dell monitor

Yea, I was wondering if it's better to get a 24" or 30" screen, or two smaller screens? Seems like to me at least, a 30" is a better option (if you can afford it, and your GPU can do the max res).

A 24 inch screen looks nice but when doing the math, two 17 inch flat screens has more overview than a single 24 inch screen and it's about 6-8 times cheaper too in my case as 1920 * 1200 - (2 * 1280 * 1024) < 0. Think I'll go for option 1 and save the money.

I have an ATI radeon 9800 pro and it has a VGA and DVI output. Since my screen support both vga and dvi it should work I guess

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quote:

Originally posted by T-Soma May I ask what 24" your running? I have been looking for a 24" but I keep hearing bad things about most of them, sounds like nearly every 24" is cheap and has back-light problems.

Dell Ultrasharp 2405FPW. I think that's been superceded by the 2407WFP.

Crystal clear, good brightness and contrast, haven't had a single problem with it. And the card readers and USB slots in the side are a nice bonus.

quote:

Originally posted by Timothy A 24 inch screen looks nice but when doing the math, two 17 inch flat screens has more overview than a single 24 inch screen and it's about 6-8 times cheaper too in my case as 1920 * 1200 - (2 * 1280 * 1024) < 0. Think I'll go for option 1 and save the money.

Yes, it's true that the absolute total number of pixels is higher on two 1280x1024 screens than a single 1920x1200 screen (not by much, mind you), but keep two things in mind:

1) Don't discount the importance of vertical real estate. In a sequencer, your arrangement and/or playlist is vertical. The less you have to scroll, the less fatiguing it is to produce. If you've got a 10-minute track then you're going to have to scroll horizontally anyway no matter how much horizontal space you've got, but enough vertical space makes an enormous difference. You'll also find that if you're trying to arrange 4-5 different windows on the screen, things get squished vertically much more than they do horizontally because of title bars, menus, toolbars, status bars, etc.

2) You can't really make two screens feel like one. You can come close, but in the end, most people who have two screens find it cumbersome to span a single application window across both of them.

Again, I have another 18" flat screen kicking around, but I've never felt the need to hook it up.

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My party schedule:
2009-02-21 - DJ Attention @ I'm So Popular
2009-06-18 - DJ Annoying @ People Need To Know Where I'll Be
2012-11-32 - DJ Insufferable ɸ Or At Least the Stalkers I Complain About
2048-06-66 - Spastic & Whocares ¶ Although I'm Actually Flattered
9999-45-81 - Tweaker Gimp ☼ I Probably Won't Even Go To This But I Have To Make Sure I Fill Up All The Available Space Here

Depending on your eye sight / distance you'll be sitting from the monitors I'd think about screen resolution more than anything. My 20" Dell runs at 1600x1200 and you can probably get 2 of those for cheaper than a 24" ! 3200x2400 ! No idea though really about prices...

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I've got the same monitor as DigiNut and I'm loving it! I really don't feel the need to get a dual-monitor setup. Although, I have been thinking about upgrading to a 27-inch Dell I don't think it offers a higher resolution, but items on the screen will look slightly bigger, which is a plus when you're running at 1900x1200!

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