Dual 24" or One "30

[Malfoy]

I currently have one Dell 24" and I'm liking it. But as always, one needs more screen real estate. I could get another 24" and make my effective resolution 3840x1200 or I can sell my current 24" and get a 30" for 2560x1600. Now I know I lose 512,000 pixels going with the 30" than dual 24" but at the same time I don't have the line going down the middle of my view (the borders of the monitors). What would you guys do? I do PS and mostly web work(programming and design). I plan to get into Final Cut Pro after Xmas. Let's not let cost be a big factor but focus on how people manage their workflows. Thanks in advance.

 

[G5Unit]

Both have their advantages and disadvantages. The 30 inch is AMAZING! The 24 inch is GREAT! 2 is even better. But if you think about is you technically don't GAIN 512,000 pixels with 2 24 inchers. You're not going put a window in between the 2 monitors. Big black line going right down the middle. The 30 inch in the end will VIRTUALLY give you more space to work with.

Why don't you sell mr one of your 24 inch dells? Please?

 

[iGary]

I currently have one Dell 24" and I'm liking it. But as always, one needs more screen real estate. I could get another 24" and make my effective resolution 3840x1200 or I can sell my current 24" and get a 30" for 2560x1600. Now I know I lose 512,000 pixels going with the 30" than dual 24" but at the same time I don't have the line going down the middle of my view (the borders of the monitors). What would you guys do? I do PS and mostly web work(programming and design). I plan to get into Final Cut Pro after Xmas. Let's not let cost be a big factor but focus on how people manage their workflows. Thanks in advance.

It's awful nice being able to open 12MP images at 50% resolution for me. That's what made me sell my dual-monitor setup.

 

[Jay42]

I agree with what was said above. What do you need the space for? Dual monitors are great if you have, lets say, an image you are working on and then have the palettes and tools on the other. Two displays can also be useful if you have multiple windows that you work on at once. However, if you need more space in one window, you will find that you don't get much more effective screen space with two 24's.

 

[adk]

The thing is with dual 24" you really can't effectively ever get one window bigger than one 24" screen. you may lose 512,000 pixels, but you'd be using your space way more efficiently.

 

[radiantm3]

With the 30", you will gain 400 pixels in height which is invaluable.

 

[poolin1243]

before my studio was robbed, my 30 inch was great...thing is that with cs2 or the like, you can move the monitor onto a cart and have it right there to show images in real time during shoots. for photoshop...i think the 24 would be fine, considering you can have one pane for actions, layers, levels, etc...and the other for the image...thats what i would do if i could do it again.

 

[Will Cheyney]

It's a very tough call. Having two large monitors would be very useful but one huge monitor is impressive enough by itself.
It really depends on what you plan to use it before and whether you have worked with a dual screen setup before.
I would probably find the 30" setup more practical.

 

[Err]

i have a diff opinion then most so far, i find the dual setup far more useful to me, i think most things are built with strict width in mind but everything scrolls verticly, like itunes, all browsers, text in general, i know for editing video two displays is far better for me then trying to work on one 30", just my 2 cents. guess it depends on what you are doing, another examle would be coding, much better on 2 screens, because of how we read/write text.

 

[bigandy]

if you're planning on Final Cut Pro editing, get a 30". nuff said. two screens is great for everything but FC Studio in my mind. the whole splitting things between screens doesn't work well in FCP, Motion, or anything like that. in my opinion...