A good monitor as the main one of a two-monitor setup

Question

I'm searching for a good monitor for my PC. I currently own a 21,5" ASUS monitor, which is fine; I'm planning on using the one I currently own as a second monitor and get a new one as my main monitor. I'm willing to pay up to 200 €. I want something that's a little bigger than my current one, maybe 23 - 27" tops. It will be used for gaming and all kinds of office applications as well as graphic design (I'm a heavy user). Because of the latter, it should offer adjustable color modes (or at least some reasonable presets) and be energy-efficient. Full HD resolution (1920x1080), not more and not less. 16/9 aspect ratio is a requirement, I don't want 16/10. Must be available to buy in Germany, no imports. Needs to accept HDMI input, DVI is optional. Edit: I don't need internal speakers!

Two questions:

• Which monitors that fit these parameters can you recommend?
• To everyone who has worked with multiple monitors before: Do you think it is important that both monitors are the same size? Is it confusing if one is bigger than the other one (or bad for the eyes or something like that)?

Feel free to point out if I missed some important parameter. Thanks!

Answer 1

I personally have the BenQ GL2440 since december 2010 and a GL2450 since august 2014. They are really good monitors, with a good price-performance ratio. I really like them, because they are not too expensive and show the collors pretty good.

Now BenQ has a newer version, the GL2460 which costs only 160€ currently on amazon Germany. Thus I would recomend buying the newer one. For 200€ you could also get the GL2760, which is basically the 27 inch version of the 2460.

I worked before with different sized monitors, and I think it's not really necessary to have same sized ones. The only plus of same size monitors is, that you can change the position of the windows, without thinking about window size.

I wouldn't recommend buying 2 monitors in your case (if you don't want to spend more then 200€), because for gaming across multiple monitors you need at least 3. In that case you would need same size monitors for the best experience.

Answer 2

Note/Update: thanks to comments I now realize that I missed the 16:9 requirement - the below basically applies to a 16:10 monitor. If that is not an issue for you (I have used both and do not really notice a difference), then read on....

When time came to replace my venerable Iiyama E511S in 2013 (after ~9 years of service) I did a lot of research - I wanted something in the 24" range, widescreen, with crisp text and a decent response rate and I didn't want to get ripped off in terms of price, but wanted an IPS panel. In the end, after reading a lot of reviews I went with the Dell Ultrasharp U2412M, and the best price I found was on Amazon (not Dell direct).

At the time it cost me ~€300 but it can be had for around the €250 mark now. I know that is a little above your stated price target but that's largely thanks to the crappy Euro exchange rates. It is sub 200 pound sterling on Amazon UK at the moment and less than $250 in the states, so you may be able to source it a bit cheaper than €250.

I have this right next to a BenQ G2400W as a second screen and the difference is noticeable, particularly when reading text (much crisper, less tiring on the eyes) or playing something hi-res. For SD or DVD quality video the BenQ is fine, but 1080P or hi-res games are much, much better on the Dell.

I have been so happy with it that I even wrote a review of my purchase on Amazon, something I rarely do.

One note where this misses your stated requirements: this has DisplayPort and DVI rather than HDMI - was not a concern for me (did not need sound, already had an adapter)

Answer 3

Which monitors that fit these parameters can you recommend?

Unfortunately I cannot answer this to your satisfaction, as I was going to recommend the Asus PA248Q which is a 24" 16:10 monitor. Personally, I like the additional vertical real estate but you have your own preference. Still, you might look for a 16:9 variant from Asus since this model has a lot of nice features such as a built-in USB 3.0 hub, IPS panel, and some graphic design overlays via the control panel (e.g., grid overlays in inches or cm, and various photo sizes like 4"x6", IIRC).

To everyone who has worked with multiple monitors before: Do you think it is important that both monitors are the same size? Is it confusing if one is bigger than the other one (or bad for the eyes or something like that)?

Yes, absolutely--in fact, I'd even go further and recommend that you have 2 monitors of the same exact model. Having 2 different models all but guarantees that you will have color shifts as you move a window from one monitor to the other. Yes, it is possible to do some calibration of different models, but if they are not using the same panels you won't get them to match.

Another issue is that, in my experience, it does cause some eye strain to switch between two monitors with different ppi and/or different resolution. It's also slightly annoying when dragging a window from one screen to the other and the mouse cursor gets snagged on a "corner" when you're moving from the larger monitor to the smaller monitor.

Answer 4

I recommend the IPS ASUS VX239H, €179 at Amazon.de. It has an IPS panel, which has better colour accuracy and viewing angles. It's quite slim, and consumes less than 22 W, according to ASUS. The brightness is 250 nits, not stellar, but it should be sufficient indoors. It does have internal speakers though. The 5 ms response time is good for IPS monitors, and you shouldn't notice nay ghosting when gaming

Here's the ASUS's product page, if you want to know anything else. I'm fairly sure it meets all your requirements. Different sized monitors could be confusing, but you should get used to it after a while, if you use your computer a lot.