Maximum PC

What do y'all think of the new crop of super-wide-screen monitors popping up, like the Dell U2913WM 29" (2560 x 1080) and the LG EA93 (2560x1080). The aspect ratio is: 21:9! I gotta' say, I'm intrigued...

Considering you can get a 2560x1440 screen for about $100 more than the asking price of the U2913M, they're not worth it. And you can find two 1080p monitors with reasonable color quality for the same price, giving you more space.

It's cool and all in theory, but in practice, not so much.

Yeah, that's kind of how was leaning.

Yeah, I suppose you're right. And truth be told, I have a thing for buying monitors. I see a good deal, and cant pass it up. Hence, I'm currently running 3; a 24" Dell @ 1920x1200, a 27" Catleap @ 2560x1440 and a 30" HP @ 2560x1600... Not much of an upgrade plan from there I'm afraid. Kinda painted myself into a corner when I got the 30".

Well, not currently... I just got assigned overseas, and my property is still in transit. I do have the 30" as I used a deal on Black Friday to get it. I'll post a picture when everything is set up and running.

I hear all these wonderful things about 2560x1600... but to be honest, I feel like I'm wasting real estate if only one program is taking it and I don't really need half a dozen windows up. At this point, I'd rather take that resolution if it can fit in my current 24" offerings and all it's doing is making the vectors look prettier.

But this is just me.

Well, to be honest. If I had it to do over again I'd probably go for three matching monitors of the same size... Most likely 24" (lets face it, anything bigger gets pretty cost prohibative quikly).

Most people are missing the point of these monitors.... 2560x1080 monitors are being made with two primary purposes in mind... 1> to replace the dual-monitor setups that gamers are using, thus removing the dividing blank space in the middle that the bezels on the dual monitor setup creates. 2> Viewing movies with aspect ratios above 1.77:1 which normally adds black bars on the top & bottom of a 1920x1080 display. Many current movies are shot at 1.85:1 but some go wider... 2560x1080 = 2.37:1 which nearly matches the 2.40:1 aspect ratio used in the widest movies & would allow the virtual removal of black bars above & below the frame of the film. Actually, the bars are still there, but with the display at 2.37:1 they would be tiny slivers that would be barely noticeable.

Except that's not what Dell is advertising the U2913WM for. They're advertising it as a display for the multitasking professional, not an entertainment display. Miss marketed? Sure. But it still stands that this is what this monitor is being sold as, and that's how I'm going to take it, even if it has other uses.

Sorry, I didn't go to the Dell site to see how they were marketing it, & yes that's miss-marketed big-time IMO. Many businesses are looking for ways to save money, & they're not going to do it with one of these displays... not when you can buy two 24" 1080p LCD's for less than half the cost & have a larger overall screen size (albeit at the same resolution) and far more flexibility with how you use them.

But even being a gamer, I wouldn't buy it because it's too small compared to what I already have, & for the reason mentioned above, for 2560x1080 it would need to be at least a 36" screen before I'd jump, and only if it were under $750 @ 36". Unless I had the money to buy 6 of those 29"... then I could remove the bezels & make a custom display holder to hold the 6 of them in portrait mode as close together as possible in a slight curve... & be totally immersed within the gaming environment!

Here's a rough visualization of my concept

Where each stack of two sticky notes represents one 2560x1080 display...

Of course the big drawback besides cost & space... at 6480x2560 it would definitely require some high-end Tri or Quad-SLI/Crossfire. But if I could afford the displays, alone then I would be able to afford everything else needed!

I think if you're doing gaming, a curved display is best because the point is that your entire FOV is covered, and I would think looking at a flat surface would seem kind of jarring.

Oh and even though the Dell is aimed at the professional market, they also missed one more thing: two monitors is still better. Why? What if I want to show something to a coworker? Less space needed on a 16:9/16:10 monitor to swing it around.

It's been a while since I promised you a picture, but here it is (please ignore the crappy loaner furniture):



And here's a shot of the 2nd GTX 670:



And the results of one card versus two in SLI:

Oh no, you DO NOT want to see the back side. It is a hot mess of tangeled PSU cabels. But, thanks for the complient regardless.