So, what size is YOUR monitor?

Rails
1

I’m debating whether to get a 24" or a 30" Dell Display. I previously
used a 20" iMac, but I quickly got used to the 15" Mac Book Pro that I
just recently picked up (after selling my iMac). So I think either the
24" or 30" will be huge, but I’m not sure on the practicality, maybe
someone can give some feedback and I can judge on the comments.

Thanks,
Daniel

2

Daniel F. wrote:

I’m debating whether to get a 24" or a 30" Dell Display. I previously
used a 20" iMac, but I quickly got used to the 15" Mac Book Pro that I
just recently picked up (after selling my iMac). So I think either the
24" or 30" will be huge, but I’m not sure on the practicality, maybe
someone can give some feedback and I can judge on the comments.

Thanks,
Daniel

I have two 24" Dell monitors which work very well for me.

3

Unfortunately, that really isn’t an option for me since I have a Mac
Book Pro. I wish I could go that route.

On Apr 14, 2:44 am, Giant C. [email protected]

4

I have a Power Mac G5. I used three 17" CRTs on it
for a few years, but I got tired of the wide aspect
ratio of the resulting desktop. So, last Fall I got
three Dell 2405’s. I have these set up in portrait
mode, looking a bit like a shoji screen.

To show off their capabilities, I:

  • drag a browser window to 1200x1920 and bring up
    a copy of (say) Google News

  • start up the screen saver (three copies of
    Electric Sheep)

However, the practical benefits of having this much
real estate are that I can have several windows open
at the same time and that windows can have LOTS of
text in them. The former helps me to keep track of
large editing or development projects; the latter is
very handy when I want to get the overall context of
a large file.

For Rails development, I use a TextMate Project window
(and perhaps a file window or two), a copy of Firefox,
and a few Terminal windows. No overlapping of active
windows, but I do use window-shading and application
hiding to keep inactive windows out of the way.

The built-in graphics card (ATI Radeon 9650) on the
Mac supports two DVI monitors, so I had to get another
card (ATI Radeon 9200) to support the third one. It
isn’t as fast, so I use it for less dynamic activity.

-r

http://www.cfcl.com/rdm Rich M.
http://www.cfcl.com/rdm/resume [email protected]
http://www.cfcl.com/rdm/weblog +1 650-873-7841

Technical editing and writing, programming, and web development

5

Lionel B. wrote:

DanielFischer.com wrote the following on 14.04.2007 13:00 :

Unfortunately, that really isn’t an option for me since I have a Mac
Book Pro. I wish I could go that route.

For the 30" you’ll need a card with dual-link DVI. I’d be pleasantly
surprised if one notebook came with such a card :slight_smile:

No such problem with the 24" model though.

Lionel, Dell 30" + Dell 20"

The MacBook Pro can handle dual-DVI-Monitors like the 30" Apple Cinema
Display. I see no reason, why this should not apply to Dells.
Please note that the need for a Dual-Link card doesn’t imply that you
need to DVI ports. As far as I know, it is also possible to split the
signal and use 2x 23" with an MBP.

Displays - Apple (see ‘MacBook Pro’)

I long to have such a setup, but settled for a single 23" Cinema
Display, which is just great and works perfectly with Windows and OSX.

6

Args… is it possible to edit my posts? “two DVI ports”… and some
other typos.

7

DanielFischer.com wrote the following on 14.04.2007 13:00 :

Unfortunately, that really isn’t an option for me since I have a Mac
Book Pro. I wish I could go that route.

For the 30" you’ll need a card with dual-link DVI. I’d be pleasantly
surprised if one notebook came with such a card :slight_smile:

No such problem with the 24" model though.

Lionel, Dell 30" + Dell 20"

8

i got me a 17" macbook pro with the 30" dell. im happy and i hope one
day, my sites can make some $$$ to get a g5 + 2 30’s. =)

9

I also use a 17" MBP and a 30". I really want more real estate. I
can have textmate and 2 or 3 terminal sessions open on the 30" which
is great. But I really want another monitor for reference material,
mail, web research, and a browser to test my work. I do not like
overlapping windows. But, unless I move to a desktop the 30" will
have to do.

Michael

10

Well, I am sitting here proud of the the fact that I have a Mac Pro
with a 30" Apple, 24" Dell, and a 20" Apple cinema. The screen real
estate is amazing but there are some downsides you should be aware of.

If you like to dual boot linux or use Parallels or VMware getting
the native 2560x1600 resolution is a major pain. Although, I have done
it with VMware and Fedora 7 I still can’t seem to get Ubuntu6/7 to
work, even with vmware tools installed ( Forget about parallels: won’t
happen and they have never answered my support emails about it, they
are a “take the money and run company” ).

More importantly… You think a big screen will give you more
productivity but for me it doesn’t. The screen is so big that I find
it blinding me a lot of the time, even with dark backgrounds. I have
it wall mounted and still it effects my eyes horridbley.

So in short, I prefer my 24" Dell and decided to sell my 30" Apple on
craigslist.

hope that helps you…

-Mike

On 4/14/07, MichaelLatta [email protected] wrote:

On Apr 14, 6:30 am, mixplate [email protected] wrote:

i got me a 17" macbook pro with the 30" dell. im happy and i hope one
day, my sites can make some $$$ to get a g5 + 2 30’s. =)

–
Posted viahttp://www.ruby-forum.com/.

–
-mike

11

For those who aren’t quite so economically well endowed, I would suggest
the
24" Acer AL2423W (though I think there are some newer and better similar
offerings from Acer). I got mine on Newegg about 8 months back based on
the
excellent reviews others had posted. I’ve had absolutely no problems
with it
(still no dead pixels), and I think it’s a perfect size – big but not
too
big.

12

Folks with laptops (or Mac minis, or …) may want to
keep an eye on USB or FireWire connectivity options, as:

http://blogs.pcworld.com/digitalworld/archives/2007/02/samsung_goodbye.html

-r

http://www.cfcl.com/rdm Rich M.
http://www.cfcl.com/rdm/resume [email protected]
http://www.cfcl.com/rdm/weblog +1 650-873-7841

Technical editing and writing, programming, and web development

13

the Dell 24" is roughly the same price as the acer maybe 50.00 more.
But also has a PIP where I can watch TV via S-Video as well. Not sure
about the Acer quality, never used it.

On 4/14/07, Jake H. [email protected] wrote:

–
-mike

14

I run a 30" Apple Cinema Display with my MacBook Pro (15.4") and love
it. One of the best purchases I have ever made.

15

you should get the virtual desktop by http://desktopmanager.berlios.de.
with just a key pressed, you can switch between 3 different desktop
views. so for me, i have textmate and a terminal, in another view ill
have my db program, more terminals, and a browser thats running my
program, and then my thrid window i have reference material, email,
youtube, etc… the program is free btw.

MichaelLatta wrote:

I also use a 17" MBP and a 30". I really want more real estate. I
can have textmate and 2 or 3 terminal sessions open on the 30" which
is great. But I really want another monitor for reference material,
mail, web research, and a browser to test my work. I do not like
overlapping windows. But, unless I move to a desktop the 30" will
have to do.

Michael

16

On Apr 14, 2:57 am, “DanielFischer.com” [email protected] wrote:

I’m debating whether to get a 24" or a 30" Dell Display. I previously
used a 20" iMac, but I quickly got used to the 15" Mac Book Pro that I
just recently picked up (after selling my iMac). So I think either the
24" or 30" will be huge, but I’m not sure on the practicality, maybe
someone can give some feedback and I can judge on the comments.

Thanks,
Daniel

FWIW - You may have seen this report on productivity gains from 30"
monitors. Supposedly independent report posted on the apple monitor
site.

http://images.apple.com/displays/pdf/cinemadisplay30report.pdf
from