Monitor Questions

[aalryn]

I really hate asking these types of questions, but I am really at an impasse.

Question 1:
I really want to get a larger monitor. I am using 2 21" monitors now and just want something big. I don't want to get a TV because, quite frankly, the resolution sucks hard on a TV and I'd rather claw my eyes out than use one of those as a monitor.


So. I'm looking at around a 27" to add to my mix. I saw this 28" I-Inc monitor online and it's cheap as shit: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...8&Sku=H94-2804
However I don't want to buy crap, if it is crap. I don't really want to deal with dead pixels etc although I understand that can be a concern with any monitor.

I went to fry's today and was playing around with this 27" HP monitor http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16824176125 normally I'm not normally a fan of glossy screens but the picture on this thing was absolutely beautiful. It was far nicer than other brands that were there on display (LG, Samsung). glare is not an issue for where my desk is located. I was really on the verge with walking out with it today, but was able to restrain myself.

Do you guys think I should take a chance on an un-proven brand and order online at $270 or go with one that I know looks good and buy locally for $399?



Question 2:

Does anyone know anything about eyefinity setups? Would there be issues in doing this with a 21" 27" 21" setup? Would I be able to put one of the 21" monitors in portrait setting and still have it work? I'd love to have a setup of [landscape 21"] [landscape 27"] [portrait 21"]

If i can't also do the eyefinity, then I guess i'll just set them up as separate displays...

[Mesiah]

Question 2:

Does anyone know anything about eyefinity setups? Would there be issues in doing this with a 21" 27" 21" setup? Would I be able to put one of the 21" monitors in portrait setting and still have it work? I'd love to have a setup of [landscape 21"] [landscape 27"] [portrait 21"]

If i can't also do the eyefinity, then I guess i'll just set them up as separate displays...

I'm not sure what the purpose would be for using eyefinity and putting only one of the monitors in portrait mode. Unfortunately it will not work. If you have monitors with different resolutions, eyefinity will default to the resolution of your lowest monitor and set that resolution for all 3 of your monitors. By using 21" and 27" monitors together you will already be limiting yourself to the resolution of your 21" monitors.

Also when setting display groups you can have all of your monitors in portrait or in landscape, but eyefinity won't work properly using a combination.

If your only desire is to have a 3 monitor setup, you don't have to enable eyefinity. Really, the only time eyefinity has a purpose is for gaming, and having the game span 3 monitors for an ultra widescreen view. Personally, if I am not playing a game in eyefinity I change my desktop back to being 3 separate monitors (in eyefinity mode windows sees your monitors as one large display instead of an extended desktop)

Unfortunately, if you have hopes of playing ffxi in eyefinity, its not possible. Most games use a dynamic aspect ratio that changes with the resolution. But FFXI has hard coded aspect ratios and doesn't support the ultra wide 16:3 and 24:5 aspect ratios of most eyefinity setups. I only hope SE had enough foresight to account for this for ffxiv.

[aalryn]

Great info. Question 2 answered

if I decide to go the eyefinity route maybe I'll pick up a pair of 24" monitors that also have the 1920x1080 res to do it with. Get them with a swivel stand to be able to switch it in and out of portrait.

That is only if ff14 supports it. If not there is no need.

[Artemicon]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16824005142

The one im getting. Well either that one or this one...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16824116441

[Amastacia]

One thing to keep in mind if you're looking at big monitors... viewing distance matters.

I have a 26" Planar as my primary panel, and I have to scoot it as far back as the desk allows, bring my keyboard & mouse to the very front edge, and sit back as far as I can while still comfortably reaching to not get problems with field of view or eyestrain.

After living with one for a year & change, I'd probably steer you towards a 24" panel. It's plenty big for most applications, while being a bit easier to live with.

26" and larger have a ton of screen real estate, which can be both good and bad. For more fast-paced gaming it's hard to keep your eye on everything that's happening, since there's just so much physical space to have to watch. For slower-paced gaming, you can get a more immersive experience since your window into the game world is bigger. For productivity, it is generally pretty excellent, though for applications other than Photoshop etc. I still prefer multiple monitors over a single hueg one.

As for specific model recommendations, I'm a horrible person to ask because I'm an elitist twat and turn my nose up at TN panels. There is a pretty excellent 24" HP IPS panel (LP2475W) that isn't outrageously expensive, but I honestly haven't gone looking to see what's come out in the last year or so, so I don't know if anything better (read: reasonably priced LED-backlit IPS panel) has come along.

[Mesiah]

I use 3 23" 16:9 displays. It really is stunning when it all works like it should. The distance thing still applies, but not as much as on a regular display. Since this is super widescreen, you aren't necessarily supposed be trying to monitor every inch of the screen at once. The outer monitors are your peripheral vision. Most of the time its just there for emmersion and you don't focus on them. But every once in a while you catch something moving out of the corner of your eye and glance over there to see a mob coming at you.

Its really pretty cool... when it works as intended. I only say that because some games (like ffxi) don't work at all with the technology due to set aspect ratios. And alot of games have fixed camera distances (dragon age: origins) that cause a fish eye effect the further you get from the center.

The good news is, both ATI and Nvidia have adopted this technology (although you need 2 cards for nvidia) so you should see more and more games correcting for super widescreen. FFXIV was actually displayed in super widescreen 3d at e3 this year, so I am psyched. From the frew screen shots it looks like the fish eye effect either doesn't exist or isn't pronounced.