If you had a choice for a computer monitor, would you choose a 30 inch one or two 20-24 inch ones??

6 Comments

1. bambamitsdead says:

   May 25, 2010 at 2:54 pm

   Well, if you have 2 video cards it kind of makes sense to have 2 monitors.

   Plus 2 monitors in the 20-24″ range will have more screen area than a 30″.
2. mak60062 says:

   May 25, 2010 at 3:05 pm

   I personally own two 21 inches and i love it. Its great for anything from gaming to just browsing the web. I like it beecause i can have so many more windows open its great. I dont like the 30 inches actually.
3. K says:

   May 25, 2010 at 3:28 pm

   30 inch is great for movies but for desktop the 20-24 inch is the best.
4. david.dcalfine says:

   May 25, 2010 at 3:49 pm

   The 8600 really can’t drive two monitors, though the SLI might help.
   It can’t really drive a 30″ display too well either.
   As long as you’re not doing serious gaming, the 30″ would probably be better.
5. Simon T says:

   May 25, 2010 at 4:43 pm

   If you have a lot of windows open at a time and want to see as much information as possible then:

   A 30″ display has an area of 404.5 sq inches
   2*20″ give and area of 360 sq inches (90% of a 30″)
   2*22″ give and area of 435 sq inches (108% of a 30″)
   2*24″ give and area of 518 sq inches (128% of a 30″)

   A 30″ has a resolution of 2560 by 1600 giving 3.9 M pixel
   2*20″ are 1680 by 1050 *2 giving 3.36 Mpix. (86%of 30″)
   2*22″ are 1680 by 1050 *2 giving 3.36 Mpix. (86% of 30″)
   2*24″ are 1920 by 1200 *2 giving 4.4 Mpix. (112% of 30″)

   So unless you are going to go with 2*24 you are better off with the single 30″. 2*22 is a push, 2*20 is worse.

   If you are going to play games, then 2 monitors will give you a very wide view, but the center of that view is going to have a large gap across it.

   The downside of the singe 30″ is that analog video is going to look bad, the pixel clock is just too high. Probably not a problem as I would suspect that your cards and the monitor will have DVI. But it will need to be dual link DVI which just possibly could have compatibility issues. Probably not a problem though.

   2* monitors will give a wide, shorter view which some people prefer. Kicking back and watching a DVD is going to be better on the 30″ (that’s bigger than the TV in my bedroom!) as it will only fit onto 1 of the 2 smaller monitors.

   All things being equal my choice would be the 30″