Topic Title

I purchased a 24" Acer that arrived last night. It worked for about two hours and then died. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824009125 I've been authorized for a refund by Newegg and want to consider possibly a better monitor.

For the short time it worked it seemed fantastic and BRIGHT. Next to my Samsung 504T it makes the sammy appear very dim and whites become gray on the sammy in comparison.

Drawbacks on the Acer: no height adjustment.

I'm considering:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824001234
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824113012

Any recommendations?

I'd go SAMSUNG 245BW Black 24" for myself.

I just ordered it.

Also noticed that I had posted the Sammy twice instead of this one:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824002378

Hi Dick,

I think the Gateway has the glossy black surface (boo, hiss!) -- the Samsung has 1000:1 contrast ratio (or 3000:1 if you count the dynamic backlight). I'd go for the Samsung. (You posted the link twice, btw?)

Yawl,

For my DC pc, I bought a 28" LCD Hannspree @ BestBuy a few weeks ago. Lots of DataCad real estate. $628 TT&L Surely you can get it cheaper somewhere, but I avoided freight & a wait.

1920 X 1200 is really nice. It's Model #HF289HJB, if anyone wants to look into it. It also comes w/ an audio cable & 2 HDMI ports w/ one DVI-D/HDMI cable. I'm trying to figure out how to get it to run HDMI instead of VGA. The Quick Start Guide shows both VGA (D-SUB) & HDMI cables connected between the pc & monitor. I'll have to dig into the User's Manual. I'm also supposed to be able to watch hi-def cable TV on it. That's not important, yet.

I hope to wow clients someday with it. For now, it's my drawing board.

Divided on 22" vs 24"...I understand that the higher resolution of 1920x1200 (?) is good for two-spage .pdf-spreads without needing a rotating screen?? It's reached the point that so many catalogs and codes availble in .pdf-format.

For new PC, better to have more DRAM memory or more video-memory?

Hi Ted,

Higher resolution is almost always better in all situations.

System RAM is more critical -- I'd get 2GB minimum for a WinXP system, and 3GB for a Vista system. Unless you are using a 64bit version, then 3GB is the maximum, as well.

Any video card worth it's salt will have at least 256MB, which is fine for what we need. I'm only worry about having more than that if you are doing a lot of heavy SketchUp work.

Hiya,

What kind of monitor is it? If it is a CRT, then it is probably not worthwhile to try and repair it. You should get an LCD to replace it.

I just saw the Hannspree 28" at BestBuy for $269, vs the Dell 26" for $279. My question, I looked at all the video cards in the office and none (but my laptop) go higher than 1600 x 1200. Will I have to install new video cards to take advantage of the 1920 x 1200 native resolution in the Hannspree?

Most likely

Hello Dwight,

I think there is a new .INF file for the new monitor (if it doesn't come on a CD-ROM, then you'll need to download it) and this will "allow" for a higher resolution than you have now. LCD's are "static" displays in that the pixels that don't change just sit there, and maybe this is the reason? I think that you'll be fine.

FWIW, my 24" iMac has a 256MB ATi video card (of no particular distinction) and it has no problems driving the 1920x1200 main monitor AND the 1600x1200 20" Samsung. I even can run these in OSX and WinXP at the same time!

So Dwight,

Did you get the Hannspree 28"? I'm now in the market and am looking at several monitors and might consider this one. If not, what did you end up with?

Hi Tico,

Do you already run dual monitors? If not, I would encourage you to try this: add a 22-24" LCD to your current monitor, or get two 20-22" units. They are available for ~$150-175 and so they would be similar in cost to a single 24-28" monitor; and they would provide a much larger desktop.

Neil,

Thanks for the feedback. I know that having 2 monitors is the current trend, but what I really want right now is one very large drawing/working area. If I decide that I want to have another monitor, I would probably add a 22"-24" next to that.

So, anyone have any experience with either the Hannspree/Hanns G 28"? Or any other one about this size with at least 1920x1200 in the sub $400 current price range?

TIA

[quote="ticomccr"]what I really want right now is one very large drawing/working area.
the Hannspree/Hanns G 28"? Or any other one about this size with at least 1920x1200
[/quote

I can't comment on the Hannspree other than that, if it comes with 1920 and is 28", the pixels are propbably too big and the screen is intended for entartainment purposes rather than professional use. This may also go some way to explain the low price for a lot of real estate.

It depends a bit on the way you work but you may find that if you really want the working area, you should read Neil's posts again, count the pixels, and do the maths.

With the exception of the abovementioned entertainment monitors, one pixel is much the same size as another.
So, in considering only the width: if you work with just the menu at one side in the classic manner, and nothing else, you are better off with a single monitor 1920 wide. If you add the symbol browser, your total loss is about 280 pixels and are better off with a 1680 monitor plus a second. If you use any view windows with a single monitor, you are just kidding yourself.

All this without giving any consideration to the space taken by swothlud, status panel etc.

In the matter of the view windows, two screens totalling 3360 pixels make them a real proposition, where they were never practical with one.

I think it fair to say the, when using DataCad 11 on, any monitor is only half a monitor if it doesn't have another monitor beside it.