Well, I have 2 of the Samsung 213Ts. Two are on backorder.
These are very impressive displays. Whatever misgivings I had about spending the money on these is erased. It's such a joy to have edge-to-edge sharpness with no fuzzies, no geometric distortion, no misconvergence, etc. I don't play games, and the performance when playing videos is acceptable - no noticible ghosting, at least to me. I was concerned about possible ghosting and uneven illumination. I don't see any problem with the illumination, except in lower resolutions, which I would never use, except for OS setup. MUCH better than my notebook in this regard. Guess it's REALLY tough to get even illumination with the minimal depth of a notebook display. The only negative I have seen is some ghosting of solid blocks of color when scrolling. The only place I have particularly noticed this is on slashdot.com. The green headlines ghost noticibly.
I am only using one of them (I am still on my notebook) but have them set-up next to each other. For just two, they are fine with the stands they came with.
I can now see that the quad configuration would not be great. I've done a bit of reading-up on display ergonomics now, and the recommendation is that the top of the display be at about eye-level.
Actually, it might not be bad for one intended use - I sometimes trade and program at the same time. It's very distracting to constantly flip back and forth between Visual Studio and eSignal. :) I really need two whole screens for either task (heck, I could use all 4 for eSignal - but certainly could live with 2 for keeping track of what is going on out of the corner of my eye.) Whether I use Matrox Multidesk (desktop-switching software) or just minimize and maximize programs, it's very distracting.
So, for programming on the bottom two while watching the market on the top two, the quad setup would be ideal. (It would be nice to have some software that would quickly swap the two sets of screens.)
I have found a "panoramic" stand for 4 monitors that looks like it will work for me:
ergotron.com
I don't particularly like having the two bases, but I guess it's necessary - particularly in an earthquake-prone area! :)
I do think I will need the stand - both because without it, two of the stands would be in a bad place (over the seam of my desk returns, or, worse still, hanging off the back...) and because I would be constantly fiddling with them to get them in the right place. Of course, with this stand, I will have to trust that the company chose the ideal curve.
I still have some misgivings about this setup. I think it is ideal when you are focused on one task. I can easily see using all 4 screens for either trading or programming.
(I almost always have two different copies of Visual Studio open, and I often have one of them spread across two screens - even at 1600x1200, there really isn't much room for two different files in Visual Studio, which is still an old-fashioned MDI application that does NOT have pop-out windows. And it is REALLY common to need to work with 2 files at once (source file and header file) or 4, or more... I then have no space available for viewing Visual Studio Help or other documentation in a web browser. Ack! Two screens, and I am still doing a shuffle with windows to cut and paste...)
But I think it is going to take some getting used to to have the market on the two left screens (or right ones) and Visual Studio on the right two screens (or left ones). It means I am always off-center when I am focused on a task. Maybe it won't be as distracting as I think, since I have it set-up in a corner, though. I think this would be much more distracting with the desk set up along a single wall.
Maybe put Visual Studio in the center two, and eSignal on the sides, and double-up on the sides for documentation when I am programming. I would have to use pop-out windows to do that. Thank God for eSignal pop-out windows - I always wondered what they were for! :) Then, if I could instantly shuffle them so that eSignal is in the center two...
The workstation parts are slowly trickling-in. I don't expect to have everything until late next week. There may be an issue with the heatsinks (Swiftech MCX603 Release 2) I ordered for the Xeons - if I don't get them by the end of next week, I will make another choice. (They are very popular, out of stock, and waiting for a new version. Somehow I missed the "preorder" warning...). |
