Dual monitors

[scem0]

My birthday is coming up, and my mom is willing to spend $300
on a monitor for me. But after visiting an apple store and playing
around with dual monitors, I don't like the idea of a single
monitor . So I was wondering if getting two 15 inch monitors
would be smart? I have found a 14.1 inch for $150, and by April
17 I am hoping there will be a 15 incher for $150. Would two
15 inch displays be as good as a monitor I could get for $300?
(Probably at best a 18 incher)?

I am talking strictly LCD. CRTs are too harsh on the eyes, and I
use the computer a LOT.

I am planning on putting these on my top of the line 970 powermac
when it comes out btw.

So, what would y'all do monitor wise?

 

[bousozoku]

I used to have one 15 inch LCD and a 15 inch CRT connected to the same machine and it was great.

The connectors will be the big deal. If you buy a cheaper LCD, it's going to have a VGA connector. Apple's monitors are all digital and to get another LCD with a digital connector (DVI) it's quite expensive.

 

[WannabeSQ]

a low end LCD like that isn't going to be too nice. Id get a better LCD and keep what you have now for your second monitor. Maybe try finding an Apple 15" lcd for $200-$300 on ebay. Then get another for another holiday, or save up money from work, or get a job.

This all depends on your video card. The new ones are dual digital, which makes it harder to do dual analog monitors. If its an older one, like a radeon 8500, its a breeze as goin DVI to LCD is cheap (came with my card, I run dual 17" CRTs) so if you have an ADC video card and find an ADC apple LCD you wont have to buy an adapter, which is like $50-$100. To me, it's worth it to go Apple.

 

[ibookin']

Re: Dual monitors

Originally posted by scem0
My birthday is coming up, and my mom is willing to spend $300
on a monitor for me. But after visiting an apple store and playing
around with dual monitors, I don't like the idea of a single
monitor . So I was wondering if getting two 15 inch monitors
would be smart? I have found a 14.1 inch for $150, and by April
17 I am hoping there will be a 15 incher for $150. Would two
15 inch displays be as good as a monitor I could get for $300?
(Probably at best a 18 incher)?

I am talking strictly LCD. CRTs are too harsh on the eyes, and I
use the computer a LOT.

I am planning on putting these on my top of the line 970 powermac
when it comes out btw.

So, what would y'all do monitor wise?

Where are you getting these deals? 18" LCD for $300? Sounds good, even though I don't need one as I have an LCD iMac now .

 

[beatle888]

i would blow it all on one monitor to possibly get the nicest picture. can you use your existing monitor in addition to this new one?

oh by the way, you can always pick up a cheap apple monitor at the good will, i got one for 25.oo and it works great. i use it for pallets. i know you said no crt's but if its gonna be your secondary monitor you wont be staring into it all day....you'll be looking into your new, really nice and big lcd monitor.

 

[Bear]

Re: Re: Dual monitors

Originally posted by ibookin'@mwny
Where are you getting these deals? 18" LCD for $300? Sounds good, even though I don't need one as I have an LCD iMac now .

These are analog LCD screens at that price.

Digital LCDs (DVI connector) are still up there in price. Enough up there that the prices for Apple displays are reasonable. a 17" non-Apple DVI might be in the $500 to $600 range now. Forget trying to match the 20" or 23" with a non-Apple display, Apple's prices are the same or better for these 2. (At least for now.)

 

[scem0]

I can't use my existing monitor as an addition because it is going
to stay on the PC it is on right now, which will be my sister's
computer.

Edit - After looking for ADC to DVI and vice versa, I have found
that there is a gender thing with these cables . Male to Male,
Female to Male. What does that mean?

 

[Kwyjibo]

without getting too grpahic, if you stop for a sec I think you will understand the male/female thing. On a USB connector for example the part you plug into your mac is the male part and the prot on your computer is a female port because the male part goes inside of it. Its the same for apple ADC and DVI connection. The male part goes inside of the female part

 

[scem0]

I get it now...... .

Male inside female.... I'll keep that in mind.

btw - I haven't found a 18 inch LCD for $300, but I am speculating
that there might be one when the 970 powermac comes out.

So do I have to buy some wierd connector, or if my video card
supports dual monitor will it have 2 DVI ports? What exactly
is the difference between ADC and DVI?

 

[bousozoku]

ADC carries other things such as USB to keep Colorsync happy.

 

[scem0]

so that means that ADC is better, right? In that case, why does
apple use DVI?

 

[janey]

Originally posted by scem0
so that means that ADC is better, right? In that case, why does
apple use DVI?

most standard graphics cards come with DVI, not ADC, ports.
i think it would be better to just blow away the money on a nice LCD and later get another one
it's what i did and i thought it was worth it.

 

[Kwyjibo]

Originally posted by scem0
so that means that ADC is better, right? In that case, why does
apple use DVI?

Apple uses ADC exclusively for its pmac line and its LCDS as I'm sure you've read. The ADC conncetion provides power, usb and the video signal to the lcd. This is a much simpler way and higher quality way for them to communicate with their own monitors. They put DVI on thier cards because it is a more common standard and it is a better version of VGA in many ways. Since it is more standard it can be used with mroe deivces DLPS or other digital lcds. The powerbooks which also run off of a battery, could not power that display and the powerbook for very long so they put the more common dvi jacks in the 15 and 17 so they are more comaptible. This is also why apple sells a dvi to adc adaptor.

 

[scem0]

So do you think that the 'faster' and 'fastest' models of the 970
powermac (whatever it will be called) are going to have graphics
card supporting dual monitors? I assumed so since the current
ones have Radeon 9000's which do support dual monitors.

But what about VGA - isn't that what many monitors use?

Excuse me for my lack of knowledge on monitors, but I have never
really given them a second though.

 

[Kwyjibo]

Originally posted by scem0
So do you think that the 'faster' and 'fastest' models of the 970
powermac (whatever it will be called) are going to have graphics
card supporting dual monitors? I assumed so since the current
ones have Radeon 9000's which do support dual monitors.

But what about VGA - isn't that what many monitors use?

Excuse me for my lack of knowledge on monitors, but I have never
really given them a second though.

as far as i know apple has supported dual montiros for a very long time and windows users used to be envious but these days both paltforms do it. the pmacs come with a dvi to vga covnerter so you can attach one vga monitor. There are third party adc to vga covnerters http://www.macmall.com/macmall/shop/detail.asp?dpno=974867 that you can use for dual vga. i suggest you check out http://www.apple.com/powermac/graphics.html. We can only assume/hope that these specs will increase and the certianly won't decrease. and you may want to check out that 970/blue balls discussion

 

[scem0]

OK, thanks so much for the help everyone. I think I fully understand
dual monitors, and I will be purchasing 2 once I get my powermac.

Thanks

 

[Bear]

If it wasn't clear, the video cards that are in the Powermacs have one ADC and one DVI connector.

So depending on what type of displays you get, you will need adapters.

And as for the perosn who said DVI is a better SVGA - that is flat wrong. DVI is digital, SVGA is analog. The video siginal coming out of the ADC port is digital and is very similar if not identical to the digital signal from the DVI port.

DVI also carries the video signal in analog (I don't know if the same is true about ADC) so it;s a very simply cable to go from DVI to S-VGA. However you will get a better image on a monitor that uses ADC or the digital part of the DVI signal.