A single Dell 24" wide LCD or 2 x 20.1 wide LCDs?

[Anonymous]

I need to upgrade a workstation and was wondering what would work best. I 've always used a dual screen set up but I see those Dell 24" wides are pretty nice. I can also get 2 x 20.1 wide LCDs for about the same price as a single 24" wide LCD.
Not sure how Archicad works on a single wide screen.

Any takers?

[Dwight]

You really need the larger area rather than the single screen. I have never been happy with ArchiCAD on a single screen. Two years ago, I went for the 30" cinema display and it is a nightmare managing all of ArchiCAD's little boxes. Somehow, with two smaller displays like I had before, it was easier.

I know that this is not rational, perhaps I need counselling.

[Anonymous]

Your 30" display is a nightmare?

[Anonymous]

I have a 24" monitor that works well. I always imagine that just a bit more real estate would be better though. A 19" on the side... A 30"...

Two 20" dells are equal to one 30" dell so maybe the two 20" monitors would work best. I have never worked much with 2 monitors. Having all pallettes on one seems ideal but I don't like looking at the double bezels in the center. Maybe centering monitor w/ workspace and secondary pallette monitor somewhat to the side...

Mmmm, decisions.

[Dwight]

Not the display - managing ArchiCAD on a single display has been a nightmare for me.

It is a matter of laziness.

For instance, with two displays, you put the floor plan view on one display and mess about with the other.

When you confime your floor plan to one-half of a 30" display, you always feel short changed. And palettes cover the rest of it.

I am a palette junkie. So I put up too many palettes.

Even though the 30" has plenty of pixels, things expand to fill it. I want another one. But that introduces bouncy-doggy-in-the-back-window syndrome. Like carpool tunnel syndrome in the neck.

The display is fantastic for movies and such - especially photo editing. Can't beat it.

I have concluded that the best choice for ArchiCAD is really two 23" cinema displays. I would do it this way next time.

[Chazz]

g.h.design wrote:
I have never worked much with 2 monitors. Having all pallettes on one seems ideal but I don't like looking at the double bezels in the center....

I've been a multiple monitor guy since the mid 90's. Support for monitor arrays was an early (and to my mind, huge) Mac OS advantage. And, I have to say, you get very used to the bezels -in fact they disappear after a while. Fortunately, the screens are getting bigger and the bezels smaller.

But I'm surprised this conversation seems to have settled on a discussion of "one big screen or two smaller screens". Why not 3 or 5 screens? More is always better and I think multiple monitors is the cheapest productivity boost after RAM. I posted this to another related topic but here is a look at the ultimate in this approach.

[Dwight]

If you have the graphics cards and connections to do it, that is cool.

How would it be wired?

[Chazz]

Dwight wrote:
If you have the graphics cards and connections to do it, that is cool.

How would it be wired?

Most AGPish cards support 2 DVI connections (or one DVI and one VGA) but my understanding is that going this route effectively cuts the VRAM available to each screen in half. Thus, more cards is better. I use the AGP for one screen and a PCI card for the the second screen.

Used to be that you needed all these extra PCI cards for various things (faster network, drive controllers, etc) but these days, for most people (and maybe Mac people most of all --almost everything is on the motherboard), the slots just sit empty. I say fill' 'em with graphics cards.

[Dwight]

I know what you mean. However, my G5 has three slots, and when you put the 256 Mb card in there, its fan housing interferes with the second slot. This card can drive 2 - 30" displays. You could find a second, smaller card for the third slot. But that's it on a Mac.

[KeesW]

I've just bought a 24" Dell and it is stupendously good. Had to upgrade from a trusty (6 year old) 21" trinitron type monitor because I am getting a straight desk, rather than a corner type workstation, and the 21" won't fit.

What is so good about it? It is extremely clear and sharp. It can show a full sized (100%) A3 sheet - and have space around the top and sides for palettes. I've checked dual screens and larger ones but was always loosing my curser in the real-estate! I think that this new one is big enough to have a plan plus a number of views, all at a useful scale, open at the same time. In any case, a large 30" screen wouldn't fit on my new desk.

I also understand that PC's don't handle the scrolling between multiple screens as well as Macs. Maybe multiple screens are something that one has to get used to - Dwight obviously has - and some of us might not do so.

KeesW