27inch or 24inch monitor?

[Nick F]

Need a bit of help. I'm selling my old 24inch iMac as I've just been given a new MacBook Air at work. Plan is to use the new MB Air with an external monitor. I was looking at 27inch screens but thought it might be a bit overkill as I'm close to the screen and I hear the image quality isn't as good unless you get a top spec one. Will only be used for office use.

Am I right in thinking I should instead get a very decent 24inch monitor? Budget is around £250, currently looking at the following screens:

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/236-a...50m1-5ms-black

[Phage]

Yep. You can get a very nice 1920x1200 IPS Dell with their excellent warranty at that price.
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/24-de...s-4xusb-hub-ro

[Nick F]

Yep. You can get a very nice 1920x1200 IPS Dell with their excellent warranty at that price.
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/24-de...s-4xusb-hub-ro

Looks slick, no HDMI port though which is a bit annoying. Are the extra pixels worth it the extra £50?

[Lee H]

I've just got a new 27" screen recently, the Asus MX279H IPS screen. Its that good I've actually made my 24" Acer 120 Hz screen as the secondary screen for when 3D is being played and the Asus IPS is now the default monitor because the colours and brightness are awesome for image editing and also making games look even more better.

[Nick F]

Looks beautiful Is it overkill for your desk though?

[Bonebreaker777]

That ASUS monitor looks very nice. My manager recently paid for a LG 29EA93-P IPS UltraWide, still waiting for a delivery but I will report back as soon it arrives.

I tried to explain the situation with the support for ultrawide monitors but he is a impulsive buyer

[abaxas]

Providing you can cope with the DPI a smaller monitor will allow for longer working sessions.

[Nick F]

Providing you can cope with the DPI a smaller monitor will allow for longer working sessions.

Looks like the Dell wins the race - http://www.scan.co.uk/products/24-de...s-4xusb-hub-ro

Only £200 on Amazon also

[Lee H]

Looks beautiful Is it overkill for your desk though?

It fits in the gap perfectly - less than 1/2 a inch clearance on both sides. I've put an image on facebook of it so I'll link to it later when home.

As for overkill - nah its fine and you actually get used to the size of the screen. Borderlands 2 looks stunning on this as does skyrim and I've even started using it for watching all the catch up stuff online now and my TV is getting some serious neglect!

Xbox is also connected to it now as of last night and SSX looked awesome!

[dacads]

Lee what distance do you sit from the monitor? I thought 1440p is the norm for 27" monitors because 1080p is apparently blocky for close distances?

[jim]

I have a pair of 21.5" 1080p monitors, would absolutely love to trade them for 2560*1400, or even better 2560*1660, but cost is prohibitive at the moment.

All I really want is a bit more height - this screen could be double the height it is and it'd still be pretty comfortable to use. 5:4 would be lovely right now, weirdly enough.

I guess it depends what you're used to. I went from 1280*1024 to 1440*900, and then the step up to 1080p felt fantastic, so much space across the screen to use. But I've tended to find that as soon as I get a bigger screen, I'll find something that doesn't fit on it, and then I start to get fed up and want something with more pixels.

[Lee H]

Lee what distance do you sit from the monitor? I thought 1440p is the norm for 27" monitors because 1080p is apparently blocky for close distances?

About 30-40cm away from the screen - no blockiness in view, I can't even see any pixels

[Nick F]

Good Amazon are quick. Ordered a few hours ago and it'll be with me tomorrow for only £4 delivery. Fantastic!

[Lee H]

I think I've found a problem with using 2 of the Asus IPS side by side.

I was going to get another screen soon for dual IPS goodness, but the thick bezel at the bottom is looking problematic now and will force a bit of a gap between the 2 screens.