Activity Feed › Discussion Forums › Software, CAD & Mapping › Ideal Monitor Size for duals
Ideal Monitor Size for duals
Posted by rotatenorth on May 9, 2020 at 2:34 amwe are in major upgrade mode. New version of Carlsons. New topcon field equipment and now new drafting computers. Looking at going to 2 monitors for our 3 drafting computers. We have 27? now. Anyone using 2 monitors at that size or smaller. Or I guess bigger and have any input? I like the idea of 2 Monitors for the sake of keeping cad open while cutting and pasting data, reading emails etc. I would think 2 24? would be best. 2 27? or bigger seems like a lot wasted space
WA-IDSurveyor replied 1 year, 10 months ago 34 Members · 41 Replies- 41 Replies
I have 2×27″. In fact, I have a pair at the office and a pair at home. Others in our office have a pair of 24’s. They seem tiny to me. I wouldn’t want anything smaller than the 27’s. No reason to, they are cheap enough. I do not think a pair of 32’s would be too big.
I use a laptop to drive these monitors and by opening up the laptop’s lid I get a third monitor. I use that 3rd screen to keep my email up.
I’m running 2 27″ screens at the moment. One is full screen CAD and the other is typically split in halves left to right so I can have email, web browser, or even Netflix going at the same time. With the 16:9 monitors you lose height so I see some 29’s or larger in my future.
This is my command center at home. The right 2 are 27’s and after having 3 I couldn’t go back. 27’s are good and at home I don’t have space for bigger but if we ever get back to some kind of normal I’ll probably jump to 32’s at the office. I’m C3D and I really like being able to have my Tool Space and Properties windows up and open while still having enough real estate to draft. I couldn’t do that with 24’s. Really decent Asus 27’s are like $150 so that’s an easy decision.
My god man, 24-incher?! I have 2 43-inchers and while I do think this is a little overkill for most people I absolutely love it and would never go back. 2 24-inchers is insulting and I would dream of slapping you if I was one of your draftsmen. The absolute MINIMUM I would consider is a pair of 32s. Don’t cheap out on equipment that someone uses for 8-hours a day and that can make their life miserable if it’s not done right.
pics or it didn’t happen…
I bought one of my guys a 32 and he HATED it cause he said it was too big…*insert face slap emoji*
@bstrand no cheaping out here. I prefer the dual 27s on a mount stand for me. But 2 cad guys prefer the smaller screens I.E 24” for whatever reason. We had 2 31.5” on the stand and it just didn’t work for them. Too much head turning was the term. I like the idea of a movie theater screen but I also understand the smaller screen for cad, colors and lines. I tried curved monitors and I was the only one that liked it. New tricks. Old dogs. But that’s why I posted….wanted to see if anyone had some input.
Why don’t you get the employees who are going to be using the equipment together and brainstorm what they would like since they will be the ones using it. ????
I currently use one 24? with one 16? to the side. My desk will not allow any bigger.
I dream of a future with enough desk real estate to support two or three @ 24?x36?.
I don’t understand the focus only on screen size. What about pixels?
.Right now at home I am running a 40″ and a 27″. It works great for me but I wish the 27″ was a little bigger. I’m not drafting, but reviewing maps so I need to see a lot of reference maps at one time.
Heading turning? That doesn’t make sense… are their faces 18 inches from the screen or something?
I’ll post a picture on my setup hopefully a little later today, need to clean up some things first.
- @bill93 I totally agree with you. I switched to 4K monitors a couple of years back at my home office and stayed with 27” dual monitor setup. It was a huge upgrade over 27” 1080p monitors. For drafting you can’t see pixels along a curve, and for old maps you can see a lot more of the map in much clearer detail. Anyone remember having an older phone and being able to tell that text was actually made of pixels!!! Resolution should be a huge consideration in my opinion.
The distance from user to screen is an all important ratio to consider for vision safety and user satisfaction.
Also is the aspect ratio of the screen settings that are appropriate for any specific monitor.
I have one 29in ultrawide and three 24 in monitors going now.
They are the minimum sized screens that I would suggest.
I agree with Bill. Pixels should be considered. I personally like a pair of 24″ monitors at 4k with the resolution 3840×2160 for each monitor. This is very sharp. Works great for CAD and Drone Mapping. When I go back to 1920 x1080, the pixels are so large the text appears as if they were printed on a dot matrix. Seems like the pixels would be even worse on a +30″ monitor unless your sat 6ft away.
Is anyone else using 4k graphics?
One caveat with 4k, older software may not be formatted for this high resolution.
So I am still happily using a 19″, but am ready for a 27″. Once the screen is bigger you cannot view it as a whole without eye shifting. I am nearsighted and learned 30 years ago to have computer focused reading glasses. I can easily read a book (let me know if I have explain book to you newbies) without glasses but the distance to the computer screen focus point is about double book distance. I have two pair one at my home office computer and one packed in my lunch bag for out of office use. I have used two screens on and off over those years, but still believe my fastest productivity was with a 16 button puck on a 24″x36″ digitizer. Scanning into tiffs sure changed that in a hurry.
Paul in PA
For eye fatigue, resolution and other performance factors really does matter. It isn’t just getting the shape bigger that helps. If you just want huge, grab a couple of 50 inch 1080 tvs from Walmart…but you wont like it 2 feet from your face.
Overall, I figure that given a good quality screen, bigger is better. But better is also better…if you get my meaning.
-All thoughts my own, except my typos and when I am wrong.@bstrand I have 2 – 32″‘s and was thinking that the next time I buy they will be 43″‘s. Not overkill at all, old eyes like big stuff, besides it blocks those that are trying to talk to you, LOL
I have a 32″ curved (landscape) and a 17″ portrait next to it. Throughout the office, most CAD users have dual 21″.
T. Nelson – SAM, LLCI’m quite pleased with my 34″ ultrawide (3440 x 1440 px) attached to my 4K laptop screen and an older 19″ 4:3 monitor. The only thing missing is a stand for the laptop to line it up with the others.
Your friendly, virtual neighborhood Webmaster
Log in to reply.