You should go take a look at them at a store that has some set up. I have had several Dell flat panels here, and they look fine. I've also had HP, but the ones I buy from the store tend to be View Sonic. They make a very good monitor and used to have the best warranty in the field. I think they've dropped it down to the same 1 year warranty the others offer now. (Used to be 3 years). The resolution is pretty standard on the flat panel monitors now (if you go to CRT then you have a real desk hog but you can get much more detailed resolution. I donated one of those to the Goodwill recently--as good as it was, it weighed a ton and killed the space on the desktop).

Are you going to watch movies? Then the wider screen is a good idea. I used two monitors side by side and have a video card that allows for that (can manage up to four, if I chose to hook up that many). I don't let a movie span the monitors, though. If I view something while I work I park it on one screen.

SRS