How's the text quality on those Dells? Have you been able to compare them to other monitors? Are they 1600x1200? I imagine they have to be pretty decent if so many people use them.
You might want to check out the 20" widescreen models from various manufacturers, prices sure have been plunging.
If you look at chart a lot, especially in candlestick, it's better to have a WS lcd than a standard. Give you a lot more room. Of course, it's great to seeing movies. But as far as for other usage, like gaming or browsing the web, it's better to stick with stardard 4:3.
if hes going to have the widescreen in portrait style if he were to get it, it'd lose the charting room.
with my current setup I run out of verticle room on my charts, the horizontal room is fine. I figure with the 20.3 inch monitors the horizontal room in portrait mode should be about the same as my current setup so it shouldn't be a problem, hopefully.