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another 24 acd or sell and upgrade to a 30

jetjaguar

jetjaguar

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Apr 6, 2009
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ive been thinking of adding a second monitor to my current setup or
to just sell my current 24acd and buy a 30 with the possibility of adding a second 30 down the road.

Prior to this mac setup i had a dell 3007 for 4 years and it served me fine but
then decided to sell it off since it was out of warranty .. long story short it got damaged in shipping.

So here i am with a mac pro and single 24acd. I was never a big fan of running dual monitors but that was on the pc side and this is my first mac besides from my laptop. I am currently back in school studying film after being out for awhile. What is the opinion around here ? dual monitors or a single big one ?
 
You'll get more mileage out of two 24"s than one 30", IMO. More pixels, more desktop real estate.

What kind of film work are you studying, BTW? Your best option might be an HD-SDI interface and a broadcast monitor, but your budget might not support that :).
 
editing but this is just a setup to do school projects on and possibly some side work down the road

but majority of the use will be for daily stuff .. web browsing .. etc

if i decide to go the 30inch route .. i can sell my 24 and not have to put a ton of money in .. either that or
i can wait and see if apple will release a 27inch
 
Before my macbook pro, I had a PC running dual monitors. It makes the world of difference.
 
I think dual monitors is the way to go. However you are goin to need another video card or a dvi to MDP converter as no graphics card for mac has two MDP ports.

Just a thought if you hadn't worked another graphics card into the budget.
 
jetjaguar said:
ive been thinking of adding a second monitor to my current setup or
to just sell my current 24acd and buy a 30 with the possibility of adding a second 30 down the road.

Prior to this mac setup i had a dell 3007 for 4 years and it served me fine but
then decided to sell it off since it was out of warranty .. long story short it got damaged in shipping.

So here i am with a mac pro and single 24acd. I was never a big fan of running dual monitors but that was on the pc side and this is my first mac besides from my laptop. I am currently back in school studying film after being out for awhile. What is the opinion around here ? dual monitors or a single big one ?
Click to expand...

The 30" displays are massive. I'm sure the screen real estate in a single display would be beneficial, given your situation. I recommend the 30"!

Habitus :apple:
 
This is personal taste of course. I'm running two 24in monitors and like it. However, the mac has what I consider to be an extremely annoying "feature" of only allowing one title bar. This design philosophy works fine for me on one monitor but really fails when I am using a program in the second monitor where I need to access the title bar frequently- the mouse and my eyes are constantly going back and forth and it really impedes the workflow. So, my choice would be a single 30, but two 24s are a lot better than just one!
 
damn cant decide .. i would need to sell this monitor and pick up a refurb 30 .. what will end up happening is right after that apple will refresh the line
 
I switched from dual 24" to one 30" and I'm loving it. For my purposes, desktop space and clutter were main concerns and I love the extra height for coding.

But seeing as you are in the film editing industry, I would think dual 24" would be better for you since you work mostly in a horizontal fashion. Or even better... dual 30" ;)
 
+1 vote for one 30", but consider the 3008wfp or equivalent rather than the 30" ACD.
 
Paul B said:
+1 vote for one 30", but consider the 3008wfp or equivalent rather than the 30" ACD.
Click to expand...

i was considering that but i kinda wanted to stick with apple hardware which is kinda dumb. i had a 3007 for 4 years and works perfectly but dont have it anymore .. how is the 3008? also dell is releasing a 27inch as well

arent the 3008s 2k ?
 
Paul B said:
+1 vote for one 30", but consider the 3008wfp or equivalent rather than the 30" ACD.
Click to expand...

+2, but really, there are not many 30" panels you can go wrong with. I found a few on craigslist for $500 a piece (which I bought, and are now sitting on my desk), and the quality of the display is comparative to any other I've seen.
 
I would suggest 2 24"... look for some refurbished deals (there was one for $599 a few weeks ago)...

2 displays will give you more space...you'll have no problems adjusting with them after a few days or weeks of use...
 
which 30 is a better monitor .. apple or the dell 3008 or the 3007?

i had the original 3007 non hc for 4 years and it served me well .. just
wondering which is better ,, the 3008 is only 2 years old where the apple is like 6 ?
 
MacVibe said:
This is personal taste of course. I'm running two 24in monitors and like it. However, the mac has what I consider to be an extremely annoying "feature" of only allowing one title bar. This design philosophy works fine for me on one monitor but really fails when I am using a program in the second monitor where I need to access the title bar frequently- the mouse and my eyes are constantly going back and forth and it really impedes the workflow. So, my choice would be a single 30, but two 24s are a lot better than just one!
Click to expand...

Download secondbar here. It makes your extra monitor have the menu just like the original monitor. Really useful when I am running multiple programs on different screens.
 
Think of it this way:

48Inches of screen real estate.
Or
30Inches of screen real estate

Seems pretty obvious to me as to which one to get. You will definitely get much more work out of 2 x 24"s. 30" Displays are a rip off right now
 
2 x 24" (1920x1200) will have 48" and 4 609 920 pixels
30" (2560x1600) will have 30" and 4 096 000 pixels

So, 2 x 24" would be a better choice
 
id say go with the 30 or 2x dell 24's I can not stand the glass screen after years with the new iMac and my umbp I just hate the reflections.
 
i just dont like mixing and matching .. the 24 at times does bother my eyes and its only at less than half brightness

i was really considering buying a refurbed 30 inch from apple .. the 3008 from dell is 1499 new
 
jetjaguar said:
it has a mdp? i think i might go with the apple with an option down the road to add a second 30
Click to expand...

Not mini.The normal sized connector. You just need a cable.

Also, the Apple has an OLD panel, while the Dell is quite current.
 
jetjaguar said:
yea i guess .. apple just looks so much better
Click to expand...

They are gorgeous and honestly, even if the panel of the 30" is over three years old now, it is still one of the best you can get.

It uses the same panel as the Dell 3007, has a brighter backlight though.

I never regretted that I paid 1900€ for that thing and I would always do that again.
Still, wait for next week, MAYBE they show an updated version with LED backlight.
 
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