Monitors

[Randy]

I curently use a dell 22 and a dell 19. Neither support adobe rgb.

I am considering:

1. the new dell 27" paired with my current 19". I'd use the 27" for
CS5/LR3/NX2. The 19" would be used for tool bars and a place to drag clutter.

2. two of dell's new 24 monitors

or

3. just the 27"


What are you thoughts on 1 big monitor vs 2 monitors

 

[Kingfisher]

I would go with option #1. Having the second monitor is always great for your editing tools. Plus you can always use the second one for streaming the market, videos, or CCTV if you have it. Never enough real estate.

 

[TonyW]

Option #1 would be my choice - but why not the 22" rather than the 19" for the second monitor?

One big monitor I am sure is very workable but for editing work I would still want to maximise screen real estate by moving toolbars out of the way but have them constantly at hand therefore my ideal of a second screen regardless of monitor size.

 

[Randy]

Option #1 would be my choice - but why not the 22" rather than the 19" for the second monitor?

One big monitor I am sure is very workable but for editing work I would still want to maximise screen real estate by moving toolbars out of the way but have them constantly at hand therefore my ideal of a second screen regardless of monitor size.

the 19 is an ultrasharp model and the 22 is an entry level that was included in a previous pc and desktop real estate

 

[vinman]

Randy, I'd love to swap my 19 for another 24! You can pick up really good Dell 2408WFPs on eBay for pretty decent money. The 2407WFPs are a little less (that's what I have). The 2407 lacks an hdmi or display port interface. I don't know about the 2408. They'll both work in adobe rgb and srgb. You'd be able to pick up two 2408s for a little more than one U2711.

I also finally found a good deal on a dual monitor arm. I paid 45 bucks for it from a vendor in FL and it's perfect! Mine has a clamp, but you can also get a model with a base for just a few bucks more. PM me if you want the contact info.

 

[Russ_]

1 then 2 then 3.
My 24" doesn't seem as big as it used to. Being able to have another to put clutter on would be very nice.

 

[56 Chevy]

A good friend of mine has the Dell 27" and loves it -- a very nice monitor indeed

 

[fabulas]

I am running option #2 and love it. Was a bit overwhelming at first.

 

[Randy]

i have leaned back towards #1
i have recently moved my pp to lr3 and i like looking at the image in front of me so 27 would be great
as soon as the 27 goes on sale i'll prob get one

 

[soxOZ]

Hey Randy, just got the Dell U2711 earlier this week and all I can say is WOW, love the colour and detail from it. Get it if you can, I'm sure you're gonna like it...

My original monitors used was a dual monitor setup, using a 24" Dell S2409W (16:9) & a Phillips 22" (16:10) that worked really well.
I retired the 22" Phillips and now use the 24" Dell S2409W as my second monitor.

The only thing I wished that the stupid monitor manufactures hadn't standardized on this letterbox 16:9 ratio and kept the 16:10 aspect ratio that was originally used.
I'm guessing they did this as a 16:9 ratio panel is smaller in sq inches than the equivalent sized monitor in a 16:10 ratio, so the cost is lower for them not to mention a higher profit... Go figure hey..!!!
My 16:10 Phillips 22" was only about 5mm lower in high than the 16:9 Dell 24", thats why I think 16:9 sucks......
This is one of the reasons I got a 27" monitor was to get the extra hight, and not so much the width, but it is nice having it though...

Also I get sick of hearing people say 16:9 is great for watching movies on their computer monitors...
Heck, these people need to get off their butts and go into the lounge room and watch their movies on a large TV for goodness sake... ...

 

[Growltiger]

Wally, you are correct about the reason there are so many 16:9 monitors. People need that to watch HDTV images, whether TV or their own video. The huge volumes for 16:9 panels push down the prices.

As you say 16:10 is much better for photographers, because we take portrait orientation as well as landscape. (Although many P&S users only ever hold the camera in landscape position).

I had to pay a lot more to get a 16:10 (1920*1200 pixels). NEC LCD2490WUXi2.

 

[Randy]

Hey Randy, just got the Dell U2711 earlier this week and all I can say is WOW, love the colour and detail from it. Get it if you can, I'm sure you're gonna like it...

My original monitors used was a dual monitor setup, using a 24" Dell S2409W (16:9) & a Phillips 22" (16:10) that worked really well.
I retired the 22" Phillips and now use the 24" Dell S2409W as my second monitor.

The only thing I wished that the stupid monitor manufactures hadn't standardized on this letterbox 16:9 ratio and kept the 16:10 aspect ratio that was originally used.
I'm guessing they did this as a 16:9 ratio panel is smaller in sq inches than the equivalent sized monitor in a 16:10 ratio, so the cost is lower for them not to mention a higher profit... Go figure hey..!!!
My 16:10 Phillips 22" was only about 5mm lower in high than the 16:9 Dell 24", thats why I think 16:9 sucks......
This is one of the reasons I got a 27" monitor was to get the extra hight, and not so much the width, but it is nice having it though...

Also I get sick of hearing people say 16:9 is great for watching movies on their computer monitors...
Heck, these people need to get off their butts and go into the lounge room and watch their movies on a large TV for goodness sake... ...

I haven't done anything yet for 2 reasons....

my current graphics card won't drive the 27 and an even bigger concern is text size on the 27 with that small pitch and amazing resolution. On my current 22", which is 1680x1050 i have dpi set to 120 and still sometimes I have to bump the magnification in IE8 to 125%. How do you like the text size on the 27 ? I assume you are running it at the native resolution

 

[soxOZ]

I haven't done anything yet for 2 reasons....

my current graphics card won't drive the 27 and an even bigger concern is text size on the 27 with that small pitch and amazing resolution. On my current 22", which is 1680x1050 i have dpi set to 120 and still sometimes I have to bump the magnification in IE8 to 125%. How do you like the text size on the 27 ? I assume you are running it at the native resolution

When I first started it up on native resolution of 2560 x 1440, man the text was small, I thought that I was going to need a pair of 400mmf/2.8 as reading glasses , but fortunately there are two areas within Windows 7 that you can adjust all the text size only and then the text / icons sizes etc, plus you can also set the minimum text size in web browsers as well.

The only bad part of this is when I got the text size just right on the 27" (2560 x 1440) monitor, it was pretty big on my 24" (1920 x 1080).
So I made a bit of a compromise, just a tad smaller on the 27" and this made the 24" an acceptable size.
I also set the min text in web browsers a little larger which I usually look at on the 27".
Was a little messing around doing all this setting the first night as I had to do them three times as mine is a multi-boot system (WinXP x64, Win7 x32 & Win7 x64), but it's really good now. :smile:

So if that's your only concern, personally I won't worry too much as it can be overcome...
As for graphic cards, personally I don't think you need a mega dollar card to work them right. All I'm using is an Asus Geforce 8600GT (512Mb GDDR3) card that drives both my monitors and give me very good performance PP photos...
Like you, I thought that I would have to update the video card when I got the U2711 monitor, but the 8600GT video card just automatically change to the native resolution of 2560 x 1440 when I first started the computer...
But you can get cards for between $50 - $100 that'll work just great with this monitor plus another in a twin setup...

 

[Randy]

When I first started it up on native resolution of 2560 x 1440, man the text was small, I thought that I was going to need a pair of 400mmf/2.8 as reading glasses , but fortunately there are two areas within Windows 7 that you can adjust all the text size only and then the text / icons sizes etc, plus you can also set the minimum text size in web browsers as well.

The only bad part of this is when I got the text size just right on the 27" (2560 x 1440) monitor, it was pretty big on my 24" (1920 x 1080).
So I made a bit of a compromise, just a tad smaller on the 27" and this made the 24" an acceptable size.
I also set the min text in web browsers a little larger which I usually look at on the 27".
Was a little messing around doing all this setting the first night as I had to do them three times as mine is a multi-boot system (WinXP x64, Win7 x32 & Win7 x64), but it's really good now. :smile:

So if that's your only concern, personally I won't worry too much as it can be overcome...
As for graphic cards, personally I don't think you need a mega dollar card to work them right. All I'm using is an Asus Geforce 8600GT (512Mb GDDR3) card that drives both my monitors and give me very good performance PP photos...
Like you, I thought that I would have to update the video card when I got the U2711 monitor, but the 8600GT video card just automatically change to the native resolution of 2560 x 1440 when I first started the computer...
But you can get cards for between $50 - $100 that'll work just great with this monitor plus another in a twin setup...

good news on the text size, thx
i'm close to ordering a new pc anyway, i am anxious to move to 64bit

why do u boot to 3 OS-s ?

i assume lr3,nx2, and cs5 run 64 bit but i better chk


my pc is 3 yrs old, it's a quad core w/ 4gb ram but the graphics card is only 256mb and doesn't have the dual dvi output the 27" needs....i may get a
u2711 and a u2410 when i order the new pc....i hate new pc-s though, the seting up of everything is a pia

 

[Randy]

i finally did....ordered an xps 8300 and the u2711 lcd

thx for all the help

i'm gonna try my dell 22" as a 2nd lcd before i order a u2410

 

[soxOZ]

good news on the text size, thx i'm close to ordering a new pc anyway, i am anxious to move to 64bit why do u boot to 3 OS-s ?
i assume lr3,nx2, and cs5 run 64 bit but i better chk my pc is 3 yrs old, it's a quad core w/ 4gb ram but the graphics card is only 256mb and doesn't have the dual dvi output the 27" needs....i may get a
u2711 and a u2410 when i order the new pc....i hate new pc-s though, the seting up of everything is a pia

It is a PIA doing the initial setup, but once done, your cruzin’…

The 3 operating systems, well I had Windows XP x64 to run my CAD software (Catia v5 / UG-NX) when I was working (now retired) as it wasn’t supported by Windows 7, but then made the mistake of loading Windows 7 x32 as my 2nd operating system instead of Win7 x64.
Win7 x32 didn’t access the 8Gb of RAM I had, but ended up using it for office work etc, and did my graphic work (PS-CS5, LR3, NX2 etc) on Windows XP x64 so it could access all of the 8Gb of memory.

But then decided to load Windows 7 x64, and it was just as easy to do a fresh install onto a new HDD and leave the other two in place. I will probably remove Windows XP shortly as the software I needed XP for now is working on Win7 x32 & x64…
With only my graphics software loaded up onto Win7 x64, it really fly’s and I still use Win7 x32 for general computer work…

i finally did....ordered an xps 8300 and the u2711 lcd
thx for all the help
i'm gonna try my dell 22" as a 2nd lcd before i order a u2410

Congrats on ordering your new gear, and glad I could help… Once you run the twin monitor setup, there’s no going back you know…
I’ve been using a twin setup for about 6 years and now if I use a single monitor, it doesn’t feel right… :biggrin: LOL…

The only thing I would suggest is when you use your 22” as the 2nd monitor, align the top edge of the screen as close as you can with new the 27” or at the most 5-10mm [FONT=&quot](¼" to ½" max)[/FONT] below as it will feel more even and you don’t tend to notice the discrepancy in monitor heights as much.

 

[Randy]

It is a PIA doing the initial setup, but once done, your cruzin’…

The 3 operating systems, well I had Windows XP x64 to run my CAD software (Catia v5 / UG-NX) when I was working (now retired) as it wasn’t supported by Windows 7, but then made the mistake of loading Windows 7 x32 as my 2nd operating system instead of Win7 x64.
Win7 x32 didn’t access the 8Gb of RAM I had, but ended up using it for office work etc, and did my graphic work (PS-CS5, LR3, NX2 etc) on Windows XP x64 so it could access all of the 8Gb of memory.

But then decided to load Windows 7 x64, and it was just as easy to do a fresh install onto a new HDD and leave the other two in place. I will probably remove Windows XP shortly as the software I needed XP for now is working on Win7 x32 & x64…
With only my graphics software loaded up onto Win7 x64, it really fly’s and I still use Win7 x32 for general computer work…



Congrats on ordering your new gear, and glad I could help… Once you run the twin monitor setup, there’s no going back you know…
I’ve been using a twin setup for about 6 years and now if I use a single monitor, it doesn’t feel right… :biggrin: LOL…

The only thing I would suggest is when you use your 22” as the 2nd monitor, align the top edge of the screen as close as you can with new the 27” or at the most 5-10mm [FONT=&quot](¼" to ½" max)[/FONT] below as it will feel more even and you don’t tend to notice the discrepancy in monitor heights as much.

i think if the 27 text size works out i'll just order a 2nd 27....
with discounts and coupons and another 3% for using dell's credit the price ends up under 800 and 2 27's would be awesome

i agree on 2 monitors, it's addictive....i wouldn't mind a 3rd one either:smile:

 

[soxOZ]

i think if the 27 text size works out i'll just order a 2nd 27.... with discounts and coupons and another 3% for using dell's credit the price ends up under 800 and 2 27's would be awesome
i agree on 2 monitors, it's addictive....i wouldn't mind a 3rd one either:smile:

Oh wow, I just looked on Dells US site and the U2711 retails at $1099, yet here in Oz it retails for $799 and with a discount coupon I got it for $675 inc delivery, plus a 3 year on site (Next Business Day Replacement) Warranty ...
Maybe I just should've got two of them, or maybe three..!!! Hmmm.. .. :smile:...

But if you do get two 27" U2711's it would be easy to set up both for the correct text size as both would be the same...

 

[Randy]

Oh wow, I just looked on Dells US site and the U2711 retails at $1099, yet here in Oz it retails for $799 and with a discount coupon I got it for $675 inc delivery, plus a 3 year on site (Next Business Day Replacement) Warranty ...
Maybe I just should've got two of them, or maybe three..!!! Hmmm.. .. :smile:...

But if you do get two 27" U2711's it would be easy to set up both for the correct text size as both would be the same...

what a great price you guys get....i was happy to get under 800

 

[Randy]

I connected the 27 to a new dell xps running win7 yesterday
the 27 is amazing and text size is very easily adjusted....

wow does the new i7 smoke (and i haven't even upgraded the RAM yet)

thanks Wally !