First post, by xjas
- Rank
- l33t
I'm thinking of biting the bullet & replacing my EUC EP19AV + Dell 2001FP setup with a single wide panel, for a few different reasons but mainly so I won't have the gap between monitors directly in front of my face, or have to turn my head to look at one or the other when I'm gaming. The 2001FP also has some "old age" issues (noisy PSU, dim, needs warm-up time) that make me think it's time to consider a replacement.
There are a few on my local used site I'm looking at. I'm not married the idea of a Dell panel, but these seem to offer all the features I want. What I'd especially like to know, if any of you have one, is how well they handle retro PCs through the VGA port. I have a couple Win98 boxes on my KVM that output 1280x1024, and some DOS PCs as well. The Dell 2001FP is great for these, but so is the EP19AV which has some magic DSP that just handles every hackmode & tweakmode I've thrown at it. (I'll be keeping the EUC and selling off the 2001FP if I do upgrade.)
The contenders are:
2407WFP ($100)
+ 16x10 display (1920x1200)
+ 1600x1200 fills the height of the screen without scaling. I tend to use 1280x1024 more though.
- a bit small for the space - I'm width-limited and my current dual-head setup is ~91cm which is actually a bit too wide. This model is only 55cm so I'll lose a fair bit of screen real-estate.
- this one's at a shop that's kind of pissed me off in the past. Not so much that I wouldn't buy from them though.
u2711b ($100)
- 16x9 display but higher res (2560x1440)
+ probably the best overall size for my space
3008WFP ($200, might be able to haggle)
+ 16x10, 2560x1600. I do prefer 16x10, although at this size & resolution I think it wouldn't matter as much.
+ tons of inputs - this has two DVI ports, HDMI, and displayport which means I woudn't have to route any of my modern PCs through the VGA KVM, which causes some issues because it doesn't pass EDID. It also means I don't have to buy a separate DVI switch. In other words, this would solve a lot of my problems at once.
- twice as expensive as the others. I'm on a budget right now & that extra hundred is a big deal.
- possibly a little large for my space. If they made a 27" version of this with all the same inputs I'd be all over that, but it doesn't look like they did. Also getting a bit large to display 1280x1024 without scaling.
All of these have composite, S-Video & component, which I also need in this spot.
Honestly I was about to contact the seller of the U2711b, until I spotted the 3008WFP. Seriously thinking the extra inputs & resolution might actually be worth twice the price. If any of you guys own one of the above, I'd appreciate any feedback you have!
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