Widescreen Mania

This summer, among many summers at camp, I will be officially working for the first time (unlike the fake work I did last summer that some of my friends may remember), which means I will come home with some cash (hopefully). Anyone who knows me also knows that I don’t hold on to money for very long without spending it on something. Since I have to keep up the tradition, my latest addition to my tech wish list is (drum roll please):
Dell’s E228WFP 22-inch Widescreen LCD monitor. Why did I choose that of all things?

It probably began with my visit to the Apple store. Looking at an Apple 30 inch Cinema HD Display really wows you (and warms you too – that things was giving off heat like the steam pipe in my bathroom, although it might have been the Mac Pro sitting next to it that made me sweat). But who on earth can afford something like that? The previous revision of the wish list included the 20 inch Apple Cinema Display, but once I saw the Dell, my jaw dropped, at – you guessed it – the price tag.

This gorgeous display gives you a comfortable 1680 by 1050 pixel resolution, which is plenty of space to do all sorts of things at once. Coincidentally, this monitor costs less (at this point, about $60 less) than its 20 inch brother, but also omits its USB hub and additional video inputs (the E228WFP only supports D-sub VGA and DVI-D, while the 2007WFP also has S-Video and Composite inputs).

But the fun doesn’t end there. If I still have a reasonable chunk of change left over, the next item on the list is a new graphics card. With that, I’ll have a really nice dual monitor setup, with both the current HP 17 inch LCD and the new Dell giving an unimaginable view of my desktop. I’m eyeing Newegg.com’s selection of PCI-interfacing graphics cards, since there isn’t an AGP slot for the purpose (or at least one that is available for use, because it seems that there are contacts on the motherboard for an AGP slot with no connector on them; BTW this is the one trouble with my computer). The plan is to have the Dell hooked up with the DVI-I port, and the HP with the D-sub VGA. It all sounds far fetched, but this idea should work.

Do you have any dual-monitor setups you’d like to share? If so, sound off in the comments below.