I've got a decent 19" monitor I'm using with my AMD desktop, but I'm looking to replace it with something at least 21", maybe even a 23 or 24. It seems that most gamers I read on forums like 17 and 19" monitors best. Thing is, I do a ton of imaging work and I'd like to get the best compromise possible. Has anyone tried gaming on the Apple 23"? How about the Dell 24"?

Another thing, I've used two and four-monitor setups before at work, but was thinking about setting up a three-monitor rig, placing the 21 to 24" monitor I hope to buy in the center, then frame it with a couple of smaller monitors (one each side, if possible flipped to portrait aspect). Has anyone set up anything like this? Any advice would be appreciated.

Apple screens are pin-sharp and look great (in both senses) but for gaming, I'm not sure. It sure would go great for your photo work, though.

Dell monitors have an increadibly good rep, so that looks like a good option. I think the Apple displays probably come at a premium, but they are awesome!!

For a 3 monitor rig the easiest thing would be the Matrox TripleHead2Go box they had on THG a few months back. If you didn't see it, it basically takes one VGA input and has 3 VGA outputs. You plug in 3 monitors to the box and it makes the PC see them as one monitor, with a resolution of something like 3600x1024. It got a pretty good review, so thats definitely worth a look. Other than that you'd have to get something like a Matrox card (that was their 'thing') or a Crossfire/SLi setup.

Hope that helps!

not sure about the multi-monitor setup but the dell 24" is great. dont get the apple unless your buying a new stand for it as well. theirs is a joke. AFAIK from reviews the dell is also superior in most ways.

what sort of stuff you doing on it. must be something for you to need the space of 3 screens. the dell is a widescreen and high res so you can fit alot one it.

you mentioned portrait. the dell can rotate 90* and then if you use the rotate function of your gfx card you can work in portait mode. that would give you a res of 1200 x 1920.

Hi,
I've got a Dell 24" monitor and I find it very good for games. Great brightness, good contrast and color, fantastic peripheral viewing angles and plenty of extra inputs for your other AV equipment, as well as a USB hub for your gaming joysticks and things if you have them.

The only issue with gaming is that my GPU isn't really powerful enough to drive newer games smoothly at the native and maximum resolution of 1920x1200. Older games run fine at this resolution (such as UT2004, and Morrowind at 1600x1200). But the newer games still look alright at low resolution on this monitor. I run Half-Life 2 and Oblivion at 1280x720 so my video card can cope and onscreen the image looks just a little "softened", but it's still really good. If your game has any fun factor, you won't be bothered by image softness at lower than native resolution (this would happen on any LCD).

I'm not a graphics artist myself, but my understanding is that no LCD reproduces colours onscreen as accurately as a good CRT monitor.

Three monitors?! If you've got that kind of funds to spend - get a 24" monitor first, or even get a 30". From what I've heard, I wouldn't bother going for Apple over Dell. The Apple 30" has inferior brightness, inferior contrast, an ergonomically MUCH LESS functional stand, the same response time, fewer extras (fewer USB ports and no card reader), and SUPERIOR aesthetics (though this is debatable) compared to Dell's 30" monitor.

Given all that, there's really little reason to pay a 25% premium for Apple's monitor unless you're a real fashionista. But if you are going to do graphics work, I would consider stand ergonomics (but if Apple's colour reproduction is better that might be a factor too) - actually I believe the actual LCD panel in both Apple and Dell's 30" monitors are made by the same manufacturer (Samsung I think, not sure) - so colour reproduction is possibly similar.

One other thing about the 30" monitor from Dell, is that most reviewers agree that though it's good, and a heap bigger than the 24" model, the image quality of the 24" Dell is a lot superior (brightness, contrast, response and all that again.)

Another other thing is the price premium of the 30" over the 24" - but that's a personal decision. My personal thoughts are that I wish I could have a 30" monitor, but not at the cost of sacrificing the image quality of my 24" monitor ... and not at the price premium either - 30" Dell costs almost twice the 24" Dell before you even think about Apple.

I used to want dual monitors just for überness, but now I think one big monitor - definitely all the way.

Yet another thing with the gaming. With Dell's 24" (NOT with the 30" ) if you game at a lower resolution and you don't like the stretched picture, you can set it to display the resolution at 1:1, so only the pixels in the middle of the screen get used with a wide black letterbox effect on both sides and top and bottom. Waste of a big monitor! I'd rather the image fill the screen, but the option is there if you want the sharpness at lower res.

No I don't work for Dell.

Have a look at the Samsung SyncMaster 244T

Trusted Reviews gave it a 10/10 and said "If you're looking for a high resolution, widescreen LCD monitor, this one should be top of your list."

Here is the link

http://www.trustedreviews.com/article.aspx?art=2662

At the time of the review this monitor was actually chaper than Dell. I hope Toms Hardware managers to review this soon as I have it on my wish list

mablon why don't you ask. they had a thread in the general discussions of CE which ask what you want to see reviewed. never know they might just do it. i know they have done 19/20 inch 4:3 monitors so it's only a matter of time before a review of the widescreens at 32/24" is done.

"Three monitors?! If you've got that kind of funds to spend - get a 24" monitor first, or even get a 30". "

The 30" Dell, although impressive with it's 2560x1600 resolution and it's $2300 cost, costs roughly the same as THREE of their 24" widescreen monitors on sale!

Probably the best "bang for buck" and huge overall viewing space will be with 3 ea. 19" LCDs at only $300 each...although a 24" WS in the middle would indeed be nice!

I'll recieve my 3rd LCD on tuesday . I have 2 Samsung 19" 940b's now and have ordered a Samsung 21.3" 214t for the third . As for multi monitor you can see at the bottom I have it ready with two 6800's for now . I will use the primary card for the 21" and the secondary for the two 19" that way if I game in SLI it will drop the 2 19" and game on the 21". I've been running duals for well over 2 yrs. and going to three will help with my multitasking, at this time I use UltraMon 2.6 for multi monitor setup and thats just to stretch 1 background across both monitors and give each monitor its own taskbar to make it easier to use. I'll have the third one done on tuesday and will have done a three monitor setup but I don't think it will be any different then a 2 monitor setup except the number of screens .