As a prelude to our professional display solution roundup, we want to offer you a chance to learn about DoubleSight and its dual 17 inch LCD monitor, the DS1700. If you are a designer looking for more screen real estate, or a CAD professional seeking an affordable resolution upgrade, the dual monitor option might be the right answer for you. But is the DoubleSight solution viable compared to two separate LCD panels? That's what we're going to figure out.

Design

The DS1700 is clearly oriented towards professional use, with all the advantages and drawbacks that implies as far as design is concerned. The finish is really nice, having a build quality rarely seen on consumer LCD panels. The plastics are good looking and tough, and the stand is a real masterpiece with fine mechanics and robust steel arms.

The panels themselves, however, show nothing special. As professionals are the real targets, the buttons are not placed in some funky location just to enhance the design. They stand straight below the panels, clearly labeled, easy to find.

While the overall quality is impressive, the most obvious drawbacks from a design perspective are due to the professional intended use of this dual monitor. Plastics are robust, but the device looks bulky. Buttons are easy to find, but not really integrated into the device layout. All small things professionals are used to living with anyway.

One thing that surprised me - well, annoyed me, to be honest - is the bezel width. The manufacturer gave this unit big, bulky panel edges, for no obvious reason I could ascertain. While this is not a big deal in the case of a single monitor, it becomes quite noticeable on a dual one. Indeed, a thin bezel (like Samsung, ViewSonic or NEC have) would be preferable, to get a smooth field of view transition from one screen to the other.