Multi-LCDs: 2xBig or 3xMedium? #1stworldproblems

[imported_Septimus]

Hi there,

I have what I appreciate is a subjective question but am hoping some of your anecdotal experiences will help me decide on a solution. The question is: 2 big monitors (27-30") or 3 smaller ones?

I do about 70/30 web development programming/gaming on my system. For the past several years I've used 2 27" screens - one an IPS and the other TN or MVA. I don't do much graphic work but it's been useful to have one "reliable" screen for color matching on the rare occasion it does come up. Right now I have a 5 year old Samsung 275T IPS that is great, and a refurb Dell 2709W that is mostly great (has a vertical yellow line for a few minutes after you turn it on that then goes away). These are both 16:10 screens and I love 16:10.

I'm setting up a new workspace and have an opportunity to get all new hardware, or else I can keep either or both of the screens I have.

3 screens would be great for productivity but I'm not super concerned about 'surround gaming' on 3 monitors -- it'd be a nice perk but hardly a requirement. Probably I'd go for 3x of Dell's U2412M.

OR

Upgrade to something like 2x HP ZR30ws, more single-screen productivity, less bezel.

Cost difference is not a huge factor - 3 screens and I'd probably get a desk mount which would eat up some of the price difference between door #1 and door #2 (anybody recommend a good 3-monitor mount for 24" screens?).

GPU driving it will be either a GTX 670, 680, or 7970. Probably the 670 for 2 screens and the 680 or 7970 for 3.

What would you (or did you) pick, and why?

 

[imported_Septimus]

OR (option 3) - 1 30" landscape and 2 portraits, maybe 20"? Any good combinations out there?

 

[blastingcap]

3 x 30" and you will not have to second-guess yourself, except as to price, but just eat more ramen noodles for dinner. /sarc

Imho you would be better off with the larger panels for programming. You can always add more panels later if you want. I would not go for the PLP setup because it'll be harder and harder in the future to match up resolutions and panel sizes. PPP might be okay for your purposes, though I use LLL myself (5760x1080).

 

[imported_Septimus]

I could possibly do 3x27 but not 3x30...that's just a bit much!

What makes you think matching up panels and resolutions will be more difficult in the future? Seems like 1600x1200 goes with the 30" you can get from Dell or HP. I was leaning toward that because it seemed like the "best of both worlds" even if you don't get actual surround or eyefinity support.

The FOV on 3x27 is just too wide for my taste. I like having a big central one and two "auxiliary" panels since that most matches what I'm doing - I feel like the only reason there's any difficulty getting panels that match at all is because neither NVIDIA nor AMD properly support it and it's still a pretty niche market (even in the already niche enthusiast market).

Do you do 1-over-3 with your LLL?

 

[blastingcap]

I could possibly do 3x27 but not 3x30...that's just a bit much!

What makes you think matching up panels and resolutions will be more difficult in the future? Seems like 1600x1200 goes with the 30" you can get from Dell or HP. I was leaning toward that because it seemed like the "best of both worlds" even if you don't get actual surround or eyefinity support.

The FOV on 3x27 is just too wide for my taste. I like having a big central one and two "auxiliary" panels since that most matches what I'm doing - I feel like the only reason there's any difficulty getting panels that match at all is because neither NVIDIA nor AMD properly support it and it's still a pretty niche market (even in the already niche enthusiast market).

Do you do 1-over-3 with your LLL?

I have a single 7970 powering LLL if that is what you mean.

Certainly there are plenty of people who are very happy with their PLP setups with a 30" center monitor and flanking 16x12's, but what I meant by my statement was this: What happens if one of your 1600x1200 panels malfunctions? It's going to be harder and harder to replace in the future, and maybe costlier too since it'll be niche. I'd rather just get twin 27" or 30" panels and call it a day. It also gives you the expandability option should you ever decide to go Surround/Eyefinity. Yes the FOV can be ridiculous, but you could also just work on half of the screen or something, or arrange everything in PPP which should give you a relatively normal FOV.

 

[borisvodofsky]

Definitely get a SINGLE 30"

I used to have 3x 24, and realized I never ever used the flanking panels. It was just too much trouble to turn my head back and forth.. I'd rather alt tab.

and the gaming part is just a novelty, once that wears off, you'll really regret wasting time getting all this stuff together.

I am now just dandy with my single 30"

 

[blastingcap]

Definitely get a SINGLE 30"

I used to have 3x 24, and realized I never ever used the flanking panels. It was just too much trouble to turn my head back and forth.. I'd rather alt tab.

and the gaming part is just a novelty, once that wears off, you'll really regret wasting time getting all this stuff together.

I am now just dandy with my single 30"

Interesting how we arrived at the same recommendation via different paths. I think that depending on your usage pattern, multi-monitor can be very useful. Comparing two things to each other in landscape mode is easier on multi-monitor, for instance.

I do not find it difficult to slightly turn my head, but then again my monitors are over two feet away from my eyes, so I don't have to turn my head much. That said, I often disable my side monitors for energy saving reasons, but with hotkeys, I can switch very quickly from one mode to another.

P.S. Back in 2006 or earlier, even Bill Gates hopped on the three-screen train: http://money.cnn.com/2006/03/30/news/newsmakers/gates_howiwork_fortune/ And apparently he's been joined by a lot of other people: http://www.hanselman.com/blog/TheSweetSpotOfMultipleMonitorProductivityThatMagicalThirdMonitor.aspx

 

[destrekor]

I personally will never look back from my decision to go 3x23 (1080p)

Of course, a higher resolution single monitor, and higher resolutions, will definitely change things up.

But it's also of an express usage: with three monitors, surround gaming is great - make sure you have the GPUs to drive it though. BF3 looks beautiful at Ultra settings, but unless you pay high end, you probably won't be seeing Ultra or even all High settings with 5760x1080 or similar. Then again, it still looks great at my mix of Medium and Low settings. Newer cards, even a single one, might be able to drive that better than two 560 Ti's, so you might get more.
Some games don't even work with triple monitors, so there's that to consider as well.

For non-gaming purposes, triple monitors is nice, but if I didn't game at all, I'd stick with two monitors most likely. Two larger high-resolution monitors would be awesome.

For a mix of gaming and other stuff, triple is definitely worthwhile. Positioning of monitors and your seating position is important, and you might change things up a bit as you adjust or work toward the "most optimal" solution.

Personally, I love having three windows full-screened on my monitors. It's great for multi-tasking and just having control of everything and seeing a lot of information. And often I' might only have one window even opened and just see the background/desktop on the other monitors.

Only thing I'd do differently is NOT get 16:9, and instead get 16:10 monitors. A little more vertical space would definitely benefit surround-gaming.

Since I get the most use of my triple-wide for racing and gaming, I have my monitors fairly close. One, even higher resolutions would demand more GPU power (I didn't want to spend $1000 in GPUs) to keep decent visuals, and two, larger monitors for my setup would probably be a little more unruly. As I have it, my visual field feels quite comfortable looking upon 3x23" monitors. 24" would be great too, but 27s in my case would probably be a little nuts (not to mention probably wouldn't fit where I have them).

 

[KingFatty]

For work, I'll often put a Word document on the center monitor, my Visio drawing on the left monitor, and a PDF/notes/website on the right monitor. It's really nice if you are editing the Word and drawings and can flick your eyes over to the notes etc.

Also nice using triple monitor when managing/syncing your pictures from multiple cameras/phones/hard drives.