Being facetious............... WIDESCREEN monitors are great for range (consolidation) traders. REGULAR sized monitors in "PORTRAIT" mode are great for trend followers. Have fun, good trading for everyone, especially me.
I'm getting close to 1000, just you wait Good luck with the monitors. You only trade forex right Kastro?
I use multiple 19" and 24" wide screen. As one member posted already, it's mostly a matter of real-estate vs. price. Since you could by 3 to 4 19" monitors for the price of 24", the multiple 19" are preferable. There are 2 reasons to go for widescreen: First, if you want to view a wide window (i.e. chart or spreadsheet) I find it hard to eyeball a chart that spreads on 2 monitors. Second, for wide screen movies. Regarding "special video card". Your card must be able to support wide screen and the highest resolution of your monitor.
Good point - in order to drive a 20" widescreen at 1680 x 1050 via DVI out, you need a dual-link connector. So some video cards you would need to use analogue out to drive a monitor at this res.
You do not need a dual link DVI for 1680x1050, even 1920x1200 does not need it. You only need dual link DVI for the Dell 30" monster at 2560x1600. Two 24" panels at 1920x1200 will give you 4.6 million pixels, one 30" at 2560x1600 will give you 4.096 million pixels, so they're very close. However in multiwindow usage separate monitors can actually be preferred to one huge. Or go monitor mad and get 30" in the center and with a second dualDVI video card drive two 24" panels on both sides of it vertically.
Along the same thoughts as the OP - has anyone alternatively checked into using a 50" plasma TV, or several LCD projectors? The 50" would get rid of all the extra equipment (video cards, stands and CABLES...) but it's not cheap. The LCD projectors are certainly cheaper, and you wouldn't have to worry about the monitor edges interfering with a chart. Plus, they are fairly portable. Anthony
I'm glad to hear that if it's true, I've certainly been having a fair bit of difficulty locating info on this online because 1680 x 1050 is a relatively non-standard resolution.
Video cards with 1680x1050 might become more common in the future. Apparently those dimensions allow for less waste, as the panels are cut from larger stock.