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racer1441

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Jul 3, 2009
1,888
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Well, bought a Dell 24 inch monitor about six months ago to run on my MacBook. At the time, thought the thing was huge.

Now, I'm sickened by how small it looks.

What's the biggest you've gone? And how are you doing it?

Thanks!
 
What's the screen res on your 24"? My iMac (1920x1200) seems plenty big enough most of the time, only rarely do I wish I had something bigger.
 
Acer 22" 7 months ago, seemed huge and well matched for my 13" macbook.
Always want a bigger, better screen but at the time 22" was the cheapest best size to go with.

If I were to upgrade I'd go for a 27" or a 30" but I know they are huge and a price to match therefore wont be upgrading in a long long time. I make do with my 22".

I once had a 32" TV as my monitor, the resolution was not good enough but the size was massive, loved it, dont think you can ever have to big. looked out of scale to my laptop though lol!

Luke
 
Acer 22" 7 months ago, seemed huge and well matched for my 13" macbook.
Always want a bigger, better screen but at the time 22" was the cheapest best size to go with.

If I were to upgrade I'd go for a 27" or a 30" but I know they are huge and a price to match therefore wont be upgrading in a long long time. I make do with my 22".

I once had a 32" TV as my monitor, the resolution was not good enough but the size was massive, loved it, dont think you can ever have to big. looked out of scale to my laptop though lol!

Luke


Same experience here. The 24 was huge! And now it's so tiny!
 
At the time, thought the thing was huge.

Now, I'm sickened by how small it looks.

The monitor itself is probably huge, but the objects on the screen are relatively small, no? Is this your problem? (put another way, the DPI of your screen is very high, which makes text and icons look small, even though the monitor itself is very large)

Or do you need more screen real estate still?
 
hmm, you've had it for six months and you don't know it's resolution... somethings telling me you're making an uninformed decision

Yep. I didn't commit my resolution to memory. When I get back to my desk, I'll look, but I figured I'd never have a gun to my head about it.:rolleyes:
 
The monitor itself is probably huge, but the objects on the screen are relatively small, no? Is this your problem? (put another way, the DPI of your screen is very high, which makes text and icons look small, even though the monitor itself is very large)

Or do you need more screen real estate still?

No, dpi isn't a problem. I just need more real estate.
 
Haha I know how you feel. Just last summer, I finally found a deal on a 30" monitor and decided to bite on it. I seriously love the extra real estate, and miss it whenever I'm using another monitor.

If it's within your budget, I'd say a 30" with 2560x1600 is definitely worth the upgrade. For me, I felt like it would be the only monitor I would need until it finally dies, and hopefully that won't be anytime soon. There are some good prices out there. You just have to look around. Dell's always got deals and coupons, and some in the refurb store.
 
Haha I know how you feel. Just last summer, I finally found a deal on a 30" monitor and decided to bite on it. I seriously love the extra real estate, and miss it whenever I'm using another monitor.

If it's within your budget, I'd say a 30" with 2560x1600 is definitely worth the upgrade. For me, I felt like it would be the only monitor I would need until it finally dies, and hopefully that won't be anytime soon. There are some good prices out there. You just have to look around. Dell's always got deals and coupons, and some in the refurb store.

What model did you get?
 
Ahh, I got a 30" Apple Cinema Display. It was used, but still had about a year and a half left of Applecare, and the guy was only selling it for $750. That was back when ACDs were still going for well over a grand, so it was a hell of a deal to me.

Even though the 30" ACD lacks inputs, and might seem pretty dated compared to other monitors, I love it for the color, and real estate, so for my needs, it does everything wonderfully. Of course, I'd never pay the $1800 that Apple charges for it brand new right now.

I'd say some other good options are the Dell 3007 or 3008. Samsung and HP make some supposedly good 30"ers as well, but I've only used the Dells at school. From my experience, the Dells are pretty nice. They have good panels, and a bunch of inputs, so I'd look into those if you really want a larger monitor. I've seen people get them for as cheap as $700-ish from Dell Outlet.

Another monitor I've been reading about that really has caught my interest is the Dell U2711. It's a bit expensive, but from what I've read, it's very impressive. So that may be worth looking into as well for one of your options.

Most importantly, make sure you can drive a 30" monitor. Most Macs with discrete GPUs should have a dual-link DVI output, or if you have displayport, you'll need an adapter. Otherwise, you won't get the full resolution, which is the whole point of having a 30" beast. The reason I thought I'd mention it was because in my search for a new laptop (non-Apple), the model I want only has an HDMI and VGA output, so I would not be able to use my 30" with it. Guess that's why I'll always have my old MBP on hand.

But I'd definitely say go for it, and move up to a larger monitor. You'll never look back, and you might even wonder why you never upgraded sooner. Just make a list of your options, research each one, decide on the one that best suits your needs, search around for a deal, and finally pull the trigger and enjoy!
 
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