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I've noticed some coders taking a 24" monitor and rotating it 90 degrees like this:

enter image description here

This definitely makes reading and writing code easier in certain circumstances. However I've found that most LCD monitors look bad in this mode. The color is off, pixels aren't as sharp, and it's generally harder to read code.

Do any of you recommend a good make/model LCD monitor which alleviates these issues in 90 degree mode? Preferably 24", HDMI, and 1920x1200. Or is this an issue among all monitors, possibly derived from the way LCD screens are manufactured?

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I've worked with two 19" IIyama monitors for years, not sure if IIyama's current ones are still as good. One is rotated, one is straight, no color problems or unsharpness whatsoever. I've had less success with Samsung and Dell (internally Sony?), but I can't recall the exact types. – Abel Oct 27 '09 at 16:27
Dave, this question will be migrated to superuser.com soon, so you might want to register your OpenID there in advance and link your accounts (go to the 'accounts' tab in your user preferences). – Ether Oct 27 '09 at 16:35
Thanks for the heads-up Ether. I've gone and done that. I'll be sure to put questions like this in the right place going forward. :) – Dave Gallagher Oct 27 '09 at 16:58
This is my "question of the year". Thanks for asking! – Greg Aug 31 '11 at 12:24

migrated from stackoverflow.com Oct 27 '09 at 17:01

5 Answers

up vote 7 down vote accepted

You need an IPS or PVA panel instead of any kind of TN.

If the panel advertises 178 degree viewing, you are generally OK.

A searchable panel index at tftcentral.co.uk. Be sure to select that wide viewing angles are important to you.

Here is another way to list IPS panels at tftcentral.

I highly suggest HP LP2475W with an IPS panel.

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up vote 4 down vote

don't use TN based monitors, Any S-IPS or SPVA monitor should give you good results (Samsung 971P used to do the work for my developers) I'm using dell 2209WA which is also good...

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up vote 3 down vote

I've attempted this with a few TN panels and they all looked like crap. I sent back 2 Samsungs for terrible color shift. Worst case scenario was the red in a diff turned to pink on the right side of the screen, blending with the white. It was awful.

S-IPS, H-IPS, or S-PVA panels are going to do the trick for you. I like the HP 2475W since it's a wide color gamut H-IPS display. Everything I do looks great, but even when I turn it on its side, the colors are as I'd expect. Here it is on NewEgg http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824176104&Tpk=hp%202475w

...I believe it uses the same panel as Apple's new 24" Cinema which has been said to have great viewing angels and color reproduction. Hope that helps.

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up vote 0 down vote

@St.Shadow ...erm what about viewing more than one method?!?!? Plus you spend the same money for a rotating and non rotating montior.

Personally I have a 24" dell in vertical (similar to the 2407WFP) (Im not on it now and can't remember the model #) and would like another next to it in horizontal position; but actually have a 21" instead. This way - best of both worlds.

I find that the vertial 24" does wonders for my productivity and would highly recomend to any developer who does more that just the most basic coding / markup.

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up vote -1 down vote

By the way, Steven C. McConnell don't like methods, which need 24" vertical monitor. Keep method lehgth ~50 lines and you can spend your money more еffectively.

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