Help needed. do i want to go widescreen or not!?

[elitetrick]

Ok, currently have dual 17" Samsung 730bf 4ms gaming monitors. there ace i love them, but when playing games and watching films its not brilliant to have it only on 1 screen, although it does mean i can monitor stuff on the second such as whos in vent etc.(no pun intended)

i use monitors for these things
-Uni work
-games (CS1.6, GuildWars + C&C mainly)
-watching films

Now i like having dual screens for work as it means i can have word on 1 screen excel on another and look at lots of stuff at once rather than having to minimise maximise each time.
Question is:
Will a widescreen monitor be a drastic difference to duals? can i have half the screen per program (ultramon or summat?) and still look at lots of things and edit them easily??
if i do go widescreen i reckon its either this http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MO-054-SA whilst its on offer so i need to decide tomorrow
or http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=17777906 this when its on offer next week.
unless this http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MO-050-SA is drastically better than the other 22" just for better response time?
and ill be selling both old monitors to recover some of the costs cos budget isnt tht high, could stretch to the 24" if you think its worth it though.

will there be a big difference between 21.6" and 24"?? will multitasking splitscreen stylee look too squashed and rubbish on a 21.6"? small enough to warrant the extra £100? seems a lot for 2 inches

also another thing, will my 256mb sapphire ATi X1900XT power a 22 or 24" screen easily enough??

if you can answer all my questions (soon too as itll need ordering 2moro if its the 24) ill be very appreciative

thanks.

 

[toxic]

yes Widescreen is the only option IMO. 4:3 LCD's look stupid now!

Dont get over a 22" if you want to game with the 1900 card. It should do the 1600 rez in most games...but it takes a bit more beef to run at 1900. The 22" monitors are a good go between.
If you are using the LCD for mainly desktop applications...the you could go to 24". I would say a 22" would be beter than 2 17" ones.

 

[fish99]

1680*1050 is significantly less pixels than your dual 1280*1024 screens has. You'd be losing about 33% of your current workspace. So that suggests you should go for 24" rather than 22". Even with 24" you are still losing workspace though (about 12%)

On my 1680*1050 screen I find if you have 2 windows open side-by-side they look too small and cramped to really use properly.

You could get a single 22" and use it with one of your current screens. They wouldn't really pair up well being different heights, but it's a cheap option. Or get a 24".