Foo - Dual Monitors

Our office has it in the budget to upgrade some of the other stations here to dual-monitors. Question -- should we use two widescreen monitors for each dual-monitor setup or order square monitors?

I have been using a dual-monitor flat-panel setup at my station for about 3 years now. Just two square 19s with a video card and driver. At the time, my setup was pretty state of the art (not fancy, but current).

However, I have noticed things have changed -- primarily, most monitors these days are now widescreen, and those are actually cheaper than square monitors. So, when setting up others with a dual-monitor setup, is it advisable to pay a little more for square LCDs, or are people these days doing dual-monitor setups using two widescreens?

90% of my office is dual wide screen LCD's... the extra width is very nice for development!

Go for the widescreen. You can display 2 full 8x11" pages side-by side.

Go for the widescreen. You can display 2 full 8x11" pages side-by side.

It sounds like you are recommending a single widescreen. I am going to do dual-monitors, and my question is whether to use conventional square monitors or widescreen monitors for each dual-monitor setup.

Thanks.

Haven't a comment on...... w i d e s c r e e n..... or not but FWIW our state agency only buys 'refurbished' stuff from Dell......nothing new as it turns out. Monitors, servers, boxes, the whole lot for the past three years.

Really surprised me but so far we have had few if any problems according to the IT department.

It really depends on your specific use.

I personally like square monitors for general computer use, like email, internet browsing, etc, but prefer wide screens (both of the same size, ie, 19") for work. Luckily I have a 28" wide screen and 20" square at work; covers both bases!

or just get a big resolution screen like dell 2408WFP instead of 2x 19" regular.
2x 20~22" wide screen is nice to have if you really need to pull up multiple pages or programs at once.

but you know, biggest secret to using screen space wisely is to open in non-maximized windows and having a workspace switcher like linux GUIs offer.

depends on what you're doing. For word processing, I think "square" is better. It gives you more vertical space to view lines of the document (unless you work in landscape orientation a lot or have a lot of toolbars on the side of the screen). Also, trying to fit two documents on a single LCD means you have to manually drag each window. I typically put one document on each monitor and then use the "maximize" button, which automatically fills it to the respective monitor (make sure windows is set to dual-view, not stretched across multiple monitors). hopefully that makes sense.

It sounds like you are recommending a single widescreen. I am going to do dual-monitors, and my question is whether to use conventional square monitors or widescreen monitors for each dual-monitor setup.I mean dual widescreens for four full 8x11" pages side-by-side.

depends on what you're doing. For word processing, I think "square" is better. It gives you more vertical space to view lines of the document (unless you work in landscape orientation a lot or have a lot of toolbars on the side of the screen). Also, trying to fit two documents on a single LCD means you have to manually drag each window. I typically put one document on each monitor and then use the "maximize" button, which automatically fills it to the respective monitor (make sure windows is set to dual-view, not stretched across multiple monitors). hopefully that makes sense.Open up two windows. Then right-click on the taskbar's empty spot and pick "Tile Windows Vertically". I typically have 5-9 windows open at any given time without any overlapping. Personally, I like this arrangement with two Dell 20.1" monitors set vertically next to a 30" one:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e346/DannoXYZ/Investments/Dell3007WFP2x2001FP.jpg

I have a pretty good hardware budget, but we still haven't switched to dual monitors (basically because it hasn't been requested by R&D).

About two quarters ago, the price of a 22" widescreen monitor dropped to the same price as the 19" square monitors I was buying. It created yet another political issue with hardware deployment, but it just made sense to switch at that point.

I think we're at the point that everything is moving to the widescreen format. That's what I'd recommend for any new purchases as long as you have the desk space to accommodate it.

depends on what you're doing. For word processing, I think "square" is better. It gives you more vertical space to view lines of the document (unless you work in landscape orientation a lot or have a lot of toolbars on the side of the screen). Also, trying to fit two documents on a single LCD means you have to manually drag each window. I typically put one document on each monitor and then use the "maximize" button, which automatically fills it to the respective monitor (make sure windows is set to dual-view, not stretched across multiple monitors). hopefully that makes sense.

well, 20~22" wide screens are 1680x1050 while 19" regular are 1280x1024 so there's more horizontal AND vertical space with wide screens.

you'd have to get a 20"+ regular which has 1600x1200 if you want more vertical space.

The decent wide panels can also be rotated on its side so you can get 1050x1680.

Open up two windows. Then right-click on the taskbar's empty spot and pick "Tile Windows Vertically". I typically have 5-9 windows open at any given time without any overlapping. Personally, I like this arrangement with two Dell 20.1" monitors set vertically next to a 30" one:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e346/DannoXYZ/Investments/Dell3007WFP2x2001FP.jpg

I really like that setup. I may try something like that myself. Since I spearheaded the dual-monitor idea for the office, I think I have the green-light to push it to three for my own office. I just want to make the best decision for the other users. Incidentally, IT is not my role at the office, but being a techie type I am happy to be in charge of these sorts of projects.

Open up two windows. Then right-click on the taskbar's empty spot and pick "Tile Windows Vertically". I typically have 5-9 windows open at any given time without any overlapping. Personally, I like this arrangement with two Dell 20.1" monitors set vertically next to a 30" one:
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e346/DannoXYZ/Investments/Dell3007WFP2x2001FP.jpg
ooh, nice feature, i'll have to try it at work. widescreens are pretty cheap now, i guess comparing a 19" WS to 19" 4:3 doesnt make sense.

Our office has it in the budget to upgrade some of the other stations here to dual-monitors. Question -- should we use two widescreen monitors for each dual-monitor setup or order square monitors?

I have been using a dual-monitor flat-panel setup at my station for about 3 years now. Just two square 19s with a video card and driver. At the time, my setup was pretty state of the art (not fancy, but current).

However, I have noticed things have changed -- primarily, most monitors these days are now widescreen, and those are actually cheaper than square monitors. So, when setting up others with a dual-monitor setup, is it advisable to pay a little more for square LCDs, or are people these days doing dual-monitor setups using two widescreens?

I use two widescreen monitors...it's sweet :)

Here's some good deals on LCD monitors:

Fry's - Samsung SyncMaster 953BW 19" LCD Monitor (http://shop1.frys.com/%7B91dmQfGtGEDbUUH-VPiSBw**.node2%7D/product/5551480#detailed) - $199 after rebate
Buy.com - AOC-Envision 2216Sw 21.6" Widescreen LCD Monitor (http://www.buy.com/retail/product.asp?sku=206427564) - $199 after rebate
Buy.com - Viewsonic VX2255wmb - 22" Widescreen LCD Monitor (http://www.buy.com/retail/product.asp?sku=204318403) - $249 after rebate + 5% off coupon (http://www.buy.com/retail/coupon.asp?prid=84773074)

dual wide, 22s or 24s

go for the more expensive dell models (fpw) - they use superior panels than the ones shared by most other manufacturers/'rebranders'. there are only a few different panels out there - typically the superior panels have slower response rate , but color , viewing angle , etc are all very much better

GET DUAL 30's!!!!!! THEN YOU"D BE THE *****!!!!!

Widescreen = moar pr0n open at once. :p

Open up two windows. Then right-click on the taskbar's empty spot and pick "Tile Windows Vertically". I typically have 5-9 windows open at any given time without any overlapping. Personally, I like this arrangement with two Dell 20.1" monitors set vertically next to a 30" one:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e346/DannoXYZ/Investments/Dell3007WFP2x2001FP.jpg

That's mighty fine!:love: