Monitor or Monitors?

[Mike Mills]

I have a relatively new, blazingly fast PC. The thing is, I have a single 22" LCD monitor that is not HDCP compliant. I want to watch Bluray disks on my PC but without an HDCP-compliant monitor they will not play at all. I also like to play the Lord of the Rings Online game.

Facing these desires, I struck out to find the biggest, baddest LCD monitor I could find. The best so far is a 30" but it comes with a $1k price tag. I noticed I could buy three additional 22" LCD's (making a total of four) for less money and have more pixels in front of me.

What's the right thing to do, a single fairly large monitor or four smaller monitors ganged together?



PC specs include - i7 2600K, 2 - HD 6870 1GB video cards in Crossfire mode. The cards can source the four monitors if needed via "Hydravision".

 

[PhilFrisbie]

If your favorite games support three monitors then go for it! I have been using dual monitors for five years and will never go back to just one 😉

 

[Mike Mills]

Ah!, but the question remains, are two or even four monitors better than one HUGE (but slightly smaller) monitor?

It's one 30" versus two or four 22" monitors.

Any trouble navigating across the inevitable black border between monitor screens?

 

[psyxix]

I vote 30 inch I just can't stand the lines between the screens but that's me...

 

[Mike Mills]

I did a few simple calculations.

If I buy a second 22" monitor, I have as many pixels in front of me as I would get if I bought a 30" monitor but that second monitor costs only $250, instead of the $1k for a 30" monitor.

If I buy three more 22" monitors (a total of four), I have twice as many pixels in front of me as I would have if I bought a 30" and it $250 costs less than the 30".

 

[tomate2]

some people say that after they get a second monitor they never go back
but ive heard of people ditching multi monitor setup for a larger screen usually 27'' or 30''
for movies i suggest you go with one big screen

 

[Mike Mills]

some people say that after they get a second monitor they never go back
but ive heard of people ditching multi monitor setup for a larger screen usually 27'' or 30''
for movies i suggest you go with one big screen

Agreed, when I watch a movie it would be on a single screen. Blurays only have 1080p resolution anyway, so going bigger would not add anything.

It's when I do large spreadsheets and gaming that the larger screen format would come in handy.

 

[collinfacks]

I was thinking aren't you gonna be confused when you use 2 monitors? or by doin' such might affect the PC's speed?

 

[Ubrales]

Go with one large one and one small monitor in a dual monitor setup. The large one need not be a 30" beast but something more affordable.

I have a 22" and a 24" in a dual setup. Works for me.

 

[best-gaming-monitor]

Hey man. If you could afford it, absolutely go with the 30". Just having that nice big, clean image in front of you is a big plus.

The other option that I would personally pick is to go with an LCD TV, if you don't mind the 1920 x 1080 resolution. You get a bigger screen size (32" - 47" for under $1000), multiple HDMI ports (for PC, console, Cable, DVD player, etc.), usually speakers and a remote as well.

However, if you really want to go with the dual setup (most people should because it's much cheaper) then you can't go wrong with two 27" inch monitors for around $300. Heck you have $400 left over for an extra video card. 😀

ASUS VE276Q

ViewSonic VX2753MH-LED

These are just two examples. There are many more out there. We haven't reviewed these but we should get to them in the coming weeks.

Hope this has helped.

Andy H.

P.S. Links are not affiliated, we would never affiliate outside of our own site.

 

[psyxix]

A 27" monitor is not worth it in my opinion simply because it has the same resolution as the 24"... just stretched across the screen. My advice is to sit closer to a 24" and you'll get the same result 😉.

The 30" can be nice, but is really expensive, especially if you buy one with premium specs. For the price/performance a 24" is much more preferable. , it will leave you room to ameliorate your sound system which is as important as your visual apparels.