Double Monitors or Widescreen?

[tom slick]

Recently I have been doing a bit of AutoCad work and realized that my 17" screen leaves a lot to be desired. I have seen quite a few people using a double screen setup for drawing. I used a widescreen 19" monitor awhile back and it worked very well for drawing.
I assume the double screen setup requires a new video card and obviously 2 screens.
what do you guys recommend? 2 monitors or widescreen? any recommendations on hardware?

 

[XS650]

Check to see if your video card has two outputs on it. That's more common than you might think.

 

[tom slick]

It has one VGA and DVI each. can I connect to both at the same time?

 

[XS650]

Most likely. The DVI would be good for a nice digital monitor for your main work and the VGA for peripheral info/menus etc if you can split it that way.

 

[tom slick]

I just found the dual monitor settings in the video card software.

 

[WishIhadatruck]

I would leave your current monitor hooked up to your VGA connection and get a new wide screen hooked up to your DVI connection. Check, but almost for sure it will support 2 monitors. I have 2 monitors at work and I love it.

 

[OriginHacker21]

I used 2 19 inch samsung monitors for over a year. For my new dell I decided to dump the money into a Ultasharp 24 inch widescreen. I can honestly say I like the widescreen better by far.

Why? Well, the new monitor is a whole lot sharper than my old 19s and a whole lot brighter (easier on eyes).

Mainly because I hated two separate screens (having the monitors meet and divide down the middle). One big screen is a lot cleaner/clearer and I have more space on my desk. If you haven't upgraded your LCD in a few years, the new ones are a whole lot sharper/brighter = easier on the eyes. The Dell Ultrasharps are pricey but a beauty to read text/watch movies on.

 

[ToyotaNSaturn]

The Samsung 24" model is really bright, even brighter than the Dell model. They're both winners though as they are FAR better than the flat screens from just 3 years ago.

If you want a LOT of screen space, Samsung makes a 30" screen. We purchased one for our graphics person at work. Simply, an amazing screen! You'll need a good video board to use the thing though.

 

[bdcardinal]

i have a 24" Samsung widescreen 2493HM i think is the part number. im gonna buy a second one soon. i have 2 BFG 8800GTX OC Water cooled video cards. each have 2 DVI outputs.

the only difficult thing is finding backgrounds that look good on a 1920x1200 resolution.