Just bought a new LCD monitor today with a 27.5in viewing area! (Christmas Present to myself) You can see 4-5 pages of the full scores without having to squint... :) It's the Hanns-G LCD monitor with 3ms response time. . . Best Buy had'em for 599.00. It's a STEAL! Most monitors this size are in the 1000.00's so I couldn't pass this up. If you are looking to upgrade. . . Check into this monitor. It Rocks and it has other component video inputs so it can also double as a HDTV monitor in 1080p! Merry Christmas to all and be safe!

Yep....this guy right here is now experiencing monitor envy!  You DOG!

I prefer multiple monitors- 2 24";s :)

I thought about the 2 24's but figured when I wanted to upgrade again I could use this as a 2nd TV.

J- What are the pluses with the two monitors? What are you using it for other than composing stuff?

I could never get over the the black space in the middle. . .

If all else is the same -- i.e. you have the same ";area";, the two monitor system has a few advantages, but so does one monitor.  First, 1 monitor means you don't have a big black bar between your viewfield.  1 monitor also allows your taskbar all the way across (not in vista at all or xp without driver emulation) and also you see full screen as full screen.

Two monitors are usually cheaper, allow you to ";dedicate"; one monitor to a task, and keep your other stuff on the other.  Full screen is just one screen, sometimes helpful for video editing and such.  I've been using two monitors for about 5 years now.  Back when, I'd have said I'd never go back.  That said, 2560 * 1600 is more space than I have now.  I may be opting for two 1920 * 1200's instead though...  when they come down a little bit.  I've had some Dell workhorses for about 4 years, paying $1200 for them, and they have been awesome.  1280*1024 x 2.  Those are dirt cheap now, and to me, they're still much better than just one 19x12.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824116100

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824009108

Two of these would be my way to go.  That said, I'm used to two monitors.  If you're not, no two monitor system will make you as happy as one big'un.

I'm a dual monitor man myself. Tool palettes and secondary windows can be on one screen, with main workspace on the main one. Although the allure of one of them big daddies is pretty appealing. Hmm...maybe two of those is the way to go. ;)

Could you add a second monitor to an imac setup?  Just curious...

Depends on the video card's capabilities, solely.

Where do I need to look on my iMac to know if it would work or not?  thanks in advance!

[quote author=Dave Ratliff link=topic=2188.msg11344#msg11344 date=1198643811]
Where do I need to look on my iMac to know if it would work or not?  thanks in advance!
[/quote]

Well, let's start with your video card.  Which one is it?  Is there two video plugs on it?

I don't know.  It is an iMac so the display and cpu are all built into the same housing.  I looked on the system Profiler and found this information.  Does any of it help?

ATI Radeon X600 XT:

  Chipset Model: ATY,RV380
  Type: Display
  Bus: PCI
  Slot: PCI-E
  VRAM (Total): 128 MB
  Vendor: ATI (0x1002)
  Device ID: 0x3e50
  Revision ID: 0x0000
  ROM Revision: 113-xxxxx-113
  Displays:
iMac:
  Display Type: LCD
  Resolution: 1680 x 1050
  Depth: 32-bit Color
  Built-In: Yes
  Core Image: Supported
  Main Display: Yes
  Mirror: Off
  Online: Yes
  Quartz Extreme: Supported
Display:
  Status: No display connected

Thanks man in advance for your help and I apologize for my ignorance!  I do have an old 17 monitor that would rock if I could connect it to this iMac as it is just sitting in the closet collecting dust...

http://www.macworld.com/article/39969/2004/10/imacscreenspanning.html

See if this helps...

Hey man - I read and re-read through the article.  thanks for that.  I was pretty excited thinking it was going to work and then I had the thought run through my mind - there is not a plug-in port on the back of my iMac anywhere for a second screen.  I looked and looked and couldn't find anything on the supporting pages of the article to address that.  From what I read in your signature, I take it you don't mess with Macs much.  I wonder if you might know (or anyone else reading this for that matter) how to go about [i]connecting[/i] the second monitor to the iMac.

thanks again for all your help so far.  I am not giving up on this - just keep on digging around...

No, I'm not a mac-head.  I do know that those things often have ";mini-vga"; connectors.  Check your mac manual for the port listing, and see if yours does.  I think that would be the best place to start... and indeed the extent of my abilities.

For us people running normal computers, you just put a video card in with two out ports, and away you go...