4x 20 inch monitors or a 40 inch display?

[zanthor]

doesn't the 40" monitor have the same 19200x1080 pixels that the 20" monitor has?
the only difference is that the pixels are larger on the 40" monitor.

two 20" monitors is actually more overall pixels ( and may need more GPU to do twice the work ).

This is 100% accurate (Except the 19,200 number which is 1,920). The end result is a 5" tall window using 1/4th the screen vs a 10" tall window. The text still needs to be the same size to display properly. Basically if you can read it on the screen getting really close it will be easier to see on a 40", but if you can't read it, because it's garbled, it will still be garbled on a bigger display.

I've heard a deal, and have some experience with, the whole resolution thing making the graphics blurry and text unreadable. But that was a good while ago...was wondering how things are nowadays with improved technology?

What factor in particular should I look for to help make text and all readable on a 40 inch? And is it the video card or the game that determines max resolution?

TV's have come a long ways in the past few years, 1080p tv's (1920x1080 or 1920x1200) actually make decent monitors, but keep in mind a single 30" LCD has a LOT higher resolution and costs a lot more.

Gateways cheap ass 30" (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16824113013) is $999, 2560x1600, which while a smaller LCD than a 40" TV provides the room to quite reasonably display 4 clients (1280x800) similar to individual 19" monitors (commonly 1280x720).

Compare that to a 40" TV running 1920x1080 and you have clients running smaller, 960x540, still livable by many peoples standards...

Personally I've got a 28" LCD I'm using as a TV right now, runs 1920x1080... since I'm so used to 1680x1050 I would happily switch to using that machine and tiling all the clients on it down the side...