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
Unfortunately, that really isn't an option for me since I have a Mac Book Pro. I wish I could go that route.
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
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
No such problem with the 24" model though.
Lionel, Dell 30" + Dell 20"
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
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
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
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.
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.
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.
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
