I wanted to get some opinions on whether to get one nice 27" monitor or 2 x 20" monitors side-by-side? I think I can keep either choice under $200 USD. What do people prefer?
Personally, I'd go for something more in the range of 24" simply because I feel the pixel density is too low on a 27" 1080p screen.
It really depends on what you're doing with your rig. Personally I'd go for the two smaller monitors, but I like to watch twitch/ watch my recording program/ what ever while playing a game. If you're real big on getting into the game and that being the only thing you concentrate on you may not get much use out of two monitors.
I went for a dual monitor 23" set up rather than a single 27" set up, but this is due to the fact I do a lot of video and photo editing, and I find that having 2 monitors to be beneficial in my case.
Most people will say that 24" is the ultimate size monitor, i've even heard linus/lucas say that, as well as the people at newegg. If you're doing 1080p i'd definitely go for around 23-24" display. if you're doing 1440p then 27" and so forth They're even making 4k displays with 24" which IMO is really small considering how the view will be with text and all. Though it is the prefered size. If your budget is around $200..you won't find any really good monitors for 27", just upscaled 1080p monitors which aren't worth it IMO.
Though it does really depend on what you are doing. If what you do doesn't require a second monitor, then i'd say opt for the 27" because at the end it's better if you're comfortable. If what you do does benefit from a second monitor then i'd do that.
Once you go multimonitor, you never go back. Good reasons for that. LOL Stop and consider how you do things. Are you a multitasker? Do you prefer focusing on one thing at a time? The answer will be obvious.
Well, with a 20 inch screen you're looking at roughly 170 square inches of screen per monitor, or 340 square inches across both. With a single 27 inch monitor you're looking at roughly 310 square inches of screen, or about 9% less screen than two 20 inch monitors.
To my tastes a pair of 24 inch monitors 1080 is a reasonably good work space.
Wow, Thanks every body! I am getting a better picture of what I should do.
Sounds like I may want to go with one good 24" monitor for now, save some money upfront, than maybe buy a second when I've saved up enough for it. I would us this for gaming and watching netflix/ Hulu at the same time.
ps also video editing in the future.