Need suggestion for monitor

[Matt Marciala 1049230]

Well, I'm very very confused and pulling my hair out. I don't know what to do. I'll try to be short and to the point. I want to upgrade my monitor(s). I just bought the TRACK IR 4 PRO and I want to have a dual monitor set up.

 

Currently I have:

 

a) Samsung 20.1" LCD 1600 x 1200 (1.5 years old).

b) Samsung 24" LCD 1920 x 1200 (8 months old).

 

My options:

 

a) Sell 20.1" LCD, buy (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824001234) which is what I have right now for 24".

b) Sell 20.1" LCD, buy (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824001263) which is the newer model of mine. It is not that different, the panels are same, only difference is it has HDMI and 10,000 dynamic contrast vs 3,000 of the other one.

c) Sell 20.1" LCD, buy (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824001264) which is the 26" version of b.

d) Sell 20.1" LCD and 24" and buy (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824001098).

 

Here are my dilemmas:

 

1) I want the two monitors to match (if I go dualview). So I know #b is the thing to do, but its model won't match and I don't really want to have 2 unmatching monitors.

2) If I go with #a i m gonna be spending $429 for a monitor that is out dated (I had bought mine in Dec 2007).

3) If I go with #c (which was initial idea), The two monitors won't match for both size and model. I will probably have to sell the 24" too in the future and buy another 26".

4) If I go with #d, its so good and all, but it won't be dual monitor (I mean come on 3800 x 1200 resolution > 2500 x 1600 lol) and it has slower response time and it's huge and i can't have dual view.

 

I really don't know what to do. I know the first thing you guys will say is "do you need HDMI", answer is both yes/no. I have a 40" Samsung 650 HDTV that I run my XBOX with, but i always argue with my wife for the tv so it doesn't hurt to have a monitor with HDMI so I can connect my xbox.

 

Anyways, bottom line is:

 

1) If I get a 26", doesn't that have worse quality? It has 0.287 dots per inch compared to 0.27 in 24". Of course, both are 1920 x 1200, one is bigger, so it has wider pixels and it will look worse. But does anyone have experience?

2) Will I really do the stupid thing if I buy a 24" (old/new) where I could buy a 26" for 50$ more?

 

Does anyone have a comment/experience in this? I am very lost.

 

Here is my PC:

 

Q6600 @ 3.6 Ghz

8800 GTX OC 621/1011

4 GB DDR2 1033 Mhz

Raptor RAID 0 150 GB X

850 W PSU

 

Thanks!

 

Matt.

[Matt Davies]

Just buy 2 of exactly the same monitors - Depending on how many gfx cards you have, either use a VGA to VGA connector on each screen going to each gfx card, or if you only have 1 use a split VGADVI connector, which allows you to connect 1 monitor to the VGA slot and 1 monitor to the DVI slot on your gfx card. OR, if you gfx card has 2 VGA slots... then use common sense