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Ugh... So many decisions (apple display question)

Which would you prefer?

  • Total voters
    36
N

NRose8989

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Feb 6, 2008
629
0
I know that this is completely personal preference but which would you rather have? two 23 in. ACD's OR one 30 in. ACD? two 23 in. ACD's would give you more pixels of work space but the 30 in. is sooooo uber big and cool.
 
Practically, I find that the 30" would probably be better than 2 23" ACDs. With two displays, you tend to use one much more than the other, so with a 30" you'll have more room on one display that you'll be using opposed to less room on the more frequently used display. Is anything you'll be doing on the displays going to require all this space, or is it just for looks?
 
NRose8989 said:
I know that this is completely personal preference but which would you rather have? two 23 in. ACD's OR one 30 in. ACD? two 23 in. ACD's would give you more pixels of work space but the 30 in. is sooooo uber big and cool.
Click to expand...
If you want to look cool you have to go for the two 23"monitors (although I personally voted for the one 30").

I have worked in tech for years and for some reason I have never been able to understand, it's not only a badge of pride to have more than one monitor, but your "coolness" or tech-ability is directly related to how many monitors you use. If you have multiple monitors, you are a cool manly geek, if you have only one, you are (apparently) a n00b.

Considering the existence of virtual desktops (available since the early 90's), and application switching, IMO there is really no need for such an ugly solution as using multiple screens and the edges in the middle always bother me anyway. As you say however, it's a personal preference thing.

I like to focus on only one big screen that's placed in the best part of my field of view and use Spaces and task switching to keep everything in order.

I have been told over the years (and you may be too), that this is:

  • the way a girl uses a computer :rolleyes:
  • "gay" :mad:
  • indicates I am not a "real" computer tech :confused:
All of which is incomprehensible macho bullsh*t to me, but whatever.

;)
 
It depends on your application. I'm a motion graphics professional and I can tell you that if you go to any post production house where people work with timeline-based applications, you're going to see multiple monitors. Now, they usually use much nicer monitors than ACDs (think thin black bezels, etc.), but horizontal space is much more important than vertical. Most Apple and Adobe apps stack up just fine vertically on a 23", but it's in the vertical space that you tend to come up short. That being said, I contract with many industries; MAJOR computer manufacturers (industrial designers/concept artists/photographers), MAJOR game companies (3D artists/marketing designers), MAJOR motion graphics boutiques (motion designers/editors/VFX artists) and MAJOR audio recording studio (post/editing/ADR) and they all use a wide horizontal space. The few that use 30" monitors use two side by side as one just isn't enough. So, my finding is that for pro audio/graphic applications, wider is better.

That being said, maybe IT work, coding and some video games and stuff are neat on a 30". I have no idea.

Also, I see no correlation between coolness and monitor configuration. I knocked out a portion of an opening title sequence on a Hollywood movie coming out this year on a single 23" ACD, so whatever.

EDIT: I Googled the term "edit suite" in Google Images. That should answer your question for you if A/V is your interest.
 
Why not 2 x 30' then??
This would be a SWeeeTT setup.. Trust me..:)

M-StreetNEWworkspace2.jpg
 
I have a 30" (Dell) and used with Vista before switching to the Pro Mac last week. Went from a 24" to the 30" and have always had some ambivalence to the move. It is a lot of area and you must move over or turn your head to see things. Also with OSX I have a new caveat. The menu is always in the upper left so if working on a program in the lower right I have to go forever to reach the menu. I wish there was a snap the POINTER command (I know about snapping the cursor) to help with logistics.
 
Two 23" will give you more space to work with.
I usually go for fullscreen edit space on one screen and tools/toolbars on other screen. It's awesome e if you work with big/detailed objects/photos as nothing gets in your way.
Also it's nice to have for example one app running on screen one and then having a video tutorial running on screen #2. Way more efficient than jumping back and forth window to window.

I would never switch 2 monitors for one no matter how big and cool would it be.
 
I've had 2x19" LCDs for the longest time and really loved the extra space yet when I purchased a 24" monitor, real estate some how felt more roomy but I had less pixels. I'm loving the 30" now but I see another in the near future.
 
Really depends on what you do with it. Personally, I'd prefer the single 30" over two separate displays as I don't like the seam down the middle. However, if you're doing video editing or Aperture work, two separate displays is better as each can be used independently to show different parts of your work.
 
I agree with TallestSkil. With 2 monitors, you usually use one as your main monitor, and offload secondary tasks to the 2nd display. So, 90% of the time you'll find yourself using just the one monitor. With the 30", you use all of it, all the time. I also found that vertical screen real estate is more valuable than horizontal real estate. Go for the one 30". That's what I have, and oh man is it amazing!
 
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