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Two 20 inch or One 23 inch Display

I

iact101

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Apr 29, 2005
21
0
I am getting into digital photography and image editing and am planning on upgrading my 17 inch lcd screen.

I am doing this to take advanatage of the 6 mega pixel camera I am about to purchase.

I'm looking at either two 20 inch or one 23 inch display as this is what my budget will allow for.

What do you guys/gals think is the best set up for what I plan to use it for and any reasons why ????

Thanks
 
mad jew said:
A single 23 inch screen would be stunning. Dual displays is just geeky. ;)
Click to expand...
I disagree, dual 20'' would be cooler and it shows you take photography quite seriously. They would probably give you more room on the screen, too. Either way is a good choice though. :)
 
I don't know a lot about digtal photography but I would go for the dual 20 inch screens. There is a ton more space. What res. does your camera take? If the photos show up as a whole on the 23 display then I would go for that. If it doesnt then for sure the 2x20.
 
Dual displays (or triple, in my case :eek: ) always gets the ooh's and ahh's from the people. I would go for the two 20" displays. You will find that you have a ton more screen space with two displays instead of one bigger one. Now, if this was between two 20's and a 30, well that's a different story. :p
 
I reccomend getting one 23" now, and another as soon as you can - The 23" is a High Definition monitor (Apple Cinema Display HD - ACDHD) as opposed to the 20" being a regular display. (Apple Cinema Display - ACD)

BUT, dual screens is good for photography.

OR, you can get two dell 24" displays... supposedly as good.
 
iact101 said:
I am getting into digital photography and image editing and am planning on upgrading my 17 inch lcd screen.

I am doing this to take advanatage of the 6 mega pixel camera I am about to purchase.

I'm looking at either two 20 inch or one 23 inch display as this is what my budget will allow for.

What do you guys/gals think is the best set up for what I plan to use it for and any reasons why ????

Thanks
Click to expand...

I vote for one, just because I've found that for myself on the one occasion I tried to split screens (purely for the fun of it - email on one, documents on another) it was distracting. It must work better if you're not going back and forth between text because I know folks in the energy trading industry have three or four displays stacked around them and it doesn't seem to phase them. I'm sure you've seen the many threads on the 24" sub-$1000 Dell that's getting praise. I'll link to the barefeats review (CNET has one too) on it. http://www.barefeats.com/lcd.html The most often observed downside is that it's not as pretty.
 
2 displays, end of story! I miss having my second monitor even though it was a piece of crud it was just nice to have the extra real-estate to dump stuff like iTunes and adium and have photoshop clutter free.
 
the dell does look interesting

Thanks Guys,

Yes I know two screens look cooler but was more looking into what would work best with a 6 mega pixel camera.

I hadn't looked at the Dell cause well its dell......

I know they don't look any where near as cool as the Apples but 500 AUD price differences is simply too much to ignore.

Although does any have any personal experience using them on a Mac ?
 
iact101 said:
Thanks Guys,

Yes I know two screens look cooler but was more looking into what would work best with a 6 mega pixel camera.

I hadn't looked at the Dell cause well its dell......
But after looking at their prices out here in OZ it looks like I could run dual 23 inchs for the cost of one Apple 23 inch.

I know they don't look any where near as cool as the Apples but 1000 AUD price differences is simply too much to ignore, looks like I may have my answer.

Although does any have any personal experience using them on a Mac ?
Click to expand...

Not to offend, but if you've read the forums like at ALL, everyone that has a Mac loves dell. Well monitors, that is. Thats how I discovered it and could reccomend it.

BTW I use PC.
 
iact101 said:
Yes I know two screens look cooler but was more looking into what would work best with a 6 mega pixel camera.
Click to expand...

I would suggest comparing the maximum resolution of your 6 megapixel camera with the native resolutions of the LCD displays you're interested in. If the 20" isn't enough, go with 23" or 24" (or 30"?)...
 
I would strongly consider a Dell 2405 FPW 24" display.
or a pair of Apple 20" ACD's $899 vs $699 each.

The Dell 24" also pivots for portrait work and this would come in handy
for photography.

If you search through these forums, you'll find plenty of posts comparing
these products.

The Apple 23 looks beautiful, but continues to have many complaints about
pink issues and uneven color. Not good to hear considering the premium
you pay expecting unequalled quality.
 
A 6 Mega pixel camera produces a 3008 x 2000 size picture at its top res.

So no current LCD screen least that I know of can handle this res. And if their is one I am sure I will not be able to afford it, as I have a budget.

What I was looking for was people that actually use these products and what would work best in a work flow context. What is a better set up, two 20 inchs or One 23 inch'er.

The two 20s has more screen restate then one 23 but that comes at the cost of a nice break between the two screens. Given that neither of these screens can handle a 6 mega pixel picture at its natural res I want to know what people think is the best way to handle this situation.

Guess I wasnt clear enough in my first post.....sorry

dotdotdot.... My work place use and love Dell computers.... hence by default I also use Dell gear every day at work so I have my own opinions about Dells.

I had not seen the 24 inch screen they offer as I only look into this kind of thing when I actually need the gear. And my work place doesn't buy screens that large.......wish they did!!!!!!!
 
FFTT:

That's the question really .... what works better One 23 inch or Two 20 inch screens given my application.

I see you have the Dell 24 inch with a Mac and still recommend it which is great to hear.

Certianly a great point about the portiat mode which would be a factor, I hadn't even thought about.

Does Apple support that mode on the dell ???? eg does the dock and menu bar at that top move to the correct position ???

Product wise its either Two Apple 20s or One Dell 24 inch the Apple 23 inch is just too much more for what sounds like just its stylish looks.
 
Apple 23 inch and Dell 24 inch have different DPI, who stuff will look bigger on Dell. I recomment dual 20-inch.

By the way what is Portrait Mode? :confused:
 
I haven't tried portrait mode with any of my applications, but I think Apple
has it covered now with the 10.4.1 update.

I ran pixel tester on my Dell 24" and it showed absolutely ZERO faults or dead pixels.

I ran the Dell 24" specs by one of my good friends who works in a large pro
photo/print shop and she agreed that the Dell exceeds the Apple 23" in both price and quality.

The Dell also offers picture in picture and picture by picture as well as additional RCA and S video inputs.

You should be able to get one for $899 either through Dell education or small business.

I don't know much about the one vs two issue, but if one Dell doesn't cut it, you can always run a 2nd one as long as your CPU has dual DVI support.

Your only other option is the Apple 30" display which is absolutely beautiful
if you can afford it.
 
FFTT said:
I haven't tried portrait mode with any of my applications, but I think Apple
has it covered now with the 10.4.1 update.

I ran pixel tester on my Dell 24" and it showed absolutely ZERO faults or dead pixels.

I ran the Dell 24" specs by one of my good friends who works in a large pro
photo/print shop and she agreed that the Dell exceeds the Apple 23" in both price and quality.

The Dell also offers picture in picture and picture by picture as well as additional RCA and S video inputs.

You should be able to get one for $899 either through Dell education or small business.

I don't know much about the one vs two issue, but if one Dell doesn't cut it, you can always run a 2nd one as long as your CPU has dual DVI support.

Your only other option is the Apple 30" display which is absolutely beautiful
if you can afford it.
Click to expand...

Thanks FFTT I am certianly leaning towards the Dell 24 inch, I wish I could afford the 30 inch but its just too much. Interesting the hear your friends point that the Dell 24 is better then the Apple 23.

I will have to look into the small business or edu pricing to see what final price I can get it for. I think the 24 Dell is the way to go and put the savings towards a second one sometime in the distant future.
 
eXan said:
Apple 23 inch and Dell 24 inch have different DPI, who stuff will look bigger on Dell. I recomment dual 20-inch.

By the way what is Portrait Mode? :confused:
Click to expand...


eXan portrait Mode means you can turn the screen on its side, eg long ways

you can see a picture here : http://www.jaded-gamer.com/content.php?review.55

its one of the last shots in the review, believe me you will know it when you see it.

it is rather impressive and useful for pictures and certian mame 32 games
 
be warned about the portrait mode for the dell displays.

OSX is not what will prevent you from using this useful feature. it all depends on your graphics card, so check with your GPU cards manufacturer to see if the card in your mac will support portrait mode. if it doesn't regardless of OS you absolutely will not be able to run it.
 
I believe this has been discussed before...I will say what I said before...get 2 20's...then you can say u roll on dubs...or you could get the 24's....everybody loves 24's....or get a couple of 17's and keep 'em real clean...alright, maybe I went a little overboard... :rolleyes:
 
It's really a matter of personal preference. Some people who use dual displays really actively use both, and would much rather have two small displays than one big display. I, on the other hand, have dual displays but mostly focus on my main display, and I try to fit as much stuff as possible on my main display. A larger screen is especially useful if you are going to be using a really high res camera.

I would get one 23'' rather than two 20''s.
 
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