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Two 20 inch or One 23 inch Display

go with the Dual 20-inchers. I'm a graphic designer who used two CRT monitors for a short period of time and had to switch from that to my boss's 22-inch ACD. To be honest the 22-inch widescreen was nice, but not as nice as both of my 19-inch LaCie CRTs. We don't have those anymore, we all have 22-inch LaCie CRTs except my boss who still has the ACD, and i miss the dual set up a lot. Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator, it all is so easy to use with two screens. Hell i would have 4 if i could. Have two 22-inch LaCie CRT monitors (i know everyone wants LCDs, but i deal with color, and CRTs are still the best for it) and two small like 10-inch LCD touchscreens for palettes and apps like iTunes and ****. That would be Awesome.
 
I just got a 23incher, & I love it. It seems to be just the right size for me. I would rather have this than 2 20" I get annoyed by the split with two screens.
 
Portrait mode in Tiger works with Dell FP2001!

punkbass25 said:
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.
Click to expand...

I will have to try booting from my 10.3 backup drive, but Tiger does allow for portrait mode on the iMac G5 20". So the truth is some where in the middle on this. In this case Apple my have enabled portrait mode in Tiger, but not under other versions of the OS.
 
Rotation is built in as standard on Tiger.
 

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I'm running Tiger and the rotation option is not available
with the stock 64MB Nvidia 5200 graphics card.

Apparently when you "detect displays", the color sync utility also detects
your GPU
 
FFTT said:
I'm running Tiger and the rotation option is not available
with the stock 64MB Nvidia 5200 graphics card.

Apparently when you "detect displays", the color sync utility also detects
your GPU
Click to expand...

Bummer to hear. Maybe it is tied to having 128mb VRAM? I don't have a real answer. All I know is that on my iMac 20" and the spanning hack I can now use the full capabilities of my FP2001.
 
two displays is a real pleasure. i used two for music and having the timeline on one screen and the mixer on another is super useful. same goes for video and graphics, in which case i would recommend a 20" LCD coupled with a high quality CRT. not as sexy, but if color accuracy is important CRT is still where it's at. the Apple LCDs and the LaCie's do a mighty fine job though. but getting true color on a generic LCD is tough, sometimes impossible.
 
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...
If you can get it, show off to everyone with a dual screen! However, some people, including myself, find it hard to use dual screens efficiently when I have been playing around at the Regent Street Apple store, so I deeply suggest that you try out a dual screen first if you havn't already.

::20ROGERSC::
 
tjwett said:
two displays is a real pleasure. i used two for music and having the timeline on one screen and the mixer on another is super useful. same goes for video and graphics, in which case i would recommend a 20" LCD coupled with a high quality CRT. not as sexy, but if color accuracy is important CRT is still where it's at. the Apple LCDs and the LaCie's do a mighty fine job though. but getting true color on a generic LCD is tough, sometimes impossible.
Click to expand...

I agree that two displays are sweet. I have my Dell 2001FP currently connected to my new iMac G5 20" with the spanning hack. The Dell is setup in a vertical orientation primarily for Safari and Mail viewing, with the iMac screen for the other apps running.
 
Part of the misconception may be that you'll never edit those 6 MP files in 1:1 pixel mode, so whether they fit on one screen is immaterial. You will be working on whole photos at 25 - 50% size, and then zooming in for fine edits.

The virtue of two monitors is to put your tool palettes and other software off to one side to leave you with a clean canvas for your work.

Here's an off the wall thought: One 23/24" LCD plus one Trinitron/Diamondtron CRT 19"-21". Why? The Trinitron CRT is still the colour standard for on-screen proofing, and it may be useful to be able to pull your work over onto the CRT to see what the colour looks like in comparison with the LCD.
Otherwise, the CRT is used as the tool palette monitor.
 
FFTT said:
I just wanted to confirm that the portrait mode for the Dells does require an ATI 128 MB GPU or higher.
Click to expand...

So the thought I had of getting a 1gb Mac mini from Micro Center and rotating the display is a non-starter? Runs counter to some posts that Tiger supports rotating on only system. Not mention logic, for if it can support landscape, the monitor should be able to support portrait.
 
CanadaRAM said:
Part of the misconception may be that you'll never edit those 6 MP files in 1:1 pixel mode, so whether they fit on one screen is immaterial. You will be working on whole photos at 25 - 50% size, and then zooming in for fine edits.

The virtue of two monitors is to put your tool palettes and other software off to one side to leave you with a clean canvas for your work.

Here's an off the wall thought: One 23/24" LCD plus one Trinitron/Diamondtron CRT 19"-21". Why? The Trinitron CRT is still the colour standard for on-screen proofing, and it may be useful to be able to pull your work over onto the CRT to see what the colour looks like in comparison with the LCD.
Otherwise, the CRT is used as the tool palette monitor.
Click to expand...


I can see your point. For with the dual setup I have with my iMac, I can see the tools being on the second screen (along with maybe Mail and a Safari window in portrait mode. Makes the desire for a 23" iMac even sweeter.
 
I guess Apple might support portrait mode eventually
across the line with Tiger, but for now it seems to be
actually an ATI driver option rather than an OS option.
The OS just recognises the ATI driver preferences.

The printer settings for landscape is completely different from actually having your desktop controls
running in portrait mode/
 
Hey there, I had the same dillema at one point, I did what someone earlier recommended and got one 23" followed by another 23" when I had the money. The problem is, the 23" monitors seem to have a lot more issues than the 20" monitors. For instance the pink tint, the warm yellow coloring on the sides of the screen, and problems getting exact calibration.

I have run around in circles with Apple about my monitors, at one point I shipped back one of my 23" 4 times until finally they sent out a brand new one. Currently, no matter how hard I try to calibrate the displays I can't get them the same. One is always slightly more pink than the other. These problems are replicated all over apple ACD support forums.

I love my setup, and I love the screen real-estate. My monitors are amazing and very very nice, but for the price I paid for the 23", I honestly expect better than I got. If I could go back and do it again I would get dual 20" ACD's or a single 30". Neither of these seem to have the problems the 23" ACD's do.

That's my take on it, from someone that actually uses dual 23"'s every day.
 
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