A powerful CPU or tons of RAM can certainly improve your computing power, but few things help you feel more productive than a big, wide-screen LCD. A large monitor lets you spread your work out, open several windows, and multitask like the best of them.

And big monitors keep growing even bigger. Just a year ago, a 24-inch display might have been considered luxurious. But the biggest size yet to hit the market--30-inch LCDs--are the new rage. They offer so much screen real estate, you can't help but feel like you've hit the big time when you're using one.

We took a look at a crop of 30-inch wide-screen LCDs to see what the new displays have to offer. The three monitors we tested--Dell's UltraSharp 3007WFP-HC, HP's LP3065, and Samsung's SyncMaster 305T--all delivered excellent image quality in our tests, with incredibly sharp text and vibrant colors. In addition, each offers features such as built-in media card slots or multiple DVI ports.

See our chart on these three monitors.

(We also looked at an interesting hybrid--a huge monitor that can handle text display but also has a built-in TV tuner. For more, see "A Big Monitor That Includes TV Capability.")

HP's LP3065 earned our Best Buy, thanks to its outstanding image quality and various extras, such as multiple USB and DVI ports. The Dell and Samsung came close on its heels, as they also delivered notable image quality and other appealing features.

Are They Worth the Price?

Although using a massive wide-screen monitor can provide definite advantages over using a small display, you must be willing to fork out quite a lot to purchase one: The HP carried a $1699 price tag, while the Dell cost $1700 and the Samsung was a stiff $1800. (Current pricing: Dell UltraSharp 3007WFP; HP LP3065; Samsung SyncMaster 305T.)

According to Tom Mainelli, a senior analyst who covers the monitor market for research firm IDC, graphics designers and CAD users will appreciate 30-inchers, with their ability to show fine detail and accurate color, thanks to their incredibly high resolution of 2560 by 1600.

Beyond that, "there still are a handful of people that can afford the best of the best," Mainelli says, adding that such big LCDs probably won't hit the mainstream because of their prohibitive prices. "I've not seen a dramatic uptick in the category," he notes.

We put the Dell, HP, and Samsung units through our series of screen tests, displaying a total of 11 text and graphics images to a group of jurors. We evaluated each monitor on its demonstrated sharpness, accuracy, and vibrancy. Overall, they scored closely with one another--we rated their image quality Very Good across the board.

All three monitors earned similar scores for their text display, but we saw some subtle nuances in photos and graphics. The HP LP3065 edged out the others with its accurate color and first-rate representation of detail in photographs. It also rendered text that was very easy to read, even at 6-point size.

The Dell showed excellent text quality and nice graphics, though a few photos looked slightly darker than they did on the HP. The effect was barely noticeable, and not enough to be a turnoff.

The Samsung also put up impressive text, but, like the Dell, some of its photos took on just a slightly darker cast.

For text, the high resolution of these monitors can be an issue, especially at small font sizes--when you're trying to read, say, a Microsoft Word document written in 10-point text, you may have to increase the font size display setting in Windows. But the high resolution certainly makes photographs look better: The visible detail is quite remarkable, especially when compared with what you see on a smaller monitor showing the same picture.

Making Sacrifices

With their strong image quality, the 30-inch LCDs we tested are indeed tempting. You should consider other important points before you decide to buy one, however.

For starters, because of their high 2560 by 1600 resolution, these 30-inchers require a high-bandwidth dual-link DVI cable, as well as a graphics card that drives dual DVI-out. (DVI stands for Digital Visual Interface.) All three of the monitors here include this cable in the box, but you'll have to supply the graphics card, which can add at least $150 to the cost if you don't already have a card that's compatible.

Also, these displays lack controls accessible through an on-screen display (OSD), such as you'd find on monitors of other sizes, even 27-inchers. The only controls these three have are buttons on the front to increase or decrease brightness.

According to Dell, HP, and Samsung, the monitors lack an OSD because no components exist that support the high resolution. If you want to make adjustments, you'll have to calibrate the display by using the graphics card. Even so, each monitor is limited by whatever parameters were placed on it at the time that it was manufactured.

And though some graphics cards can offer limited adjustments--namely, red, green, and blue controls and gamma (for setting accurate color representation)--not all cards have them. (The monitor companies state that the components should be available soon, so on-screen controls will likely be found in future versions of these LCDs.)

Finally, as you might expect with monitors of this size, they cannot pivot (that is, change their orientation from landscape to portrait)--their big dimensions prohibit such movement. All of the models do tilt and swivel with ease, however, and they are also height-adjustable.

Nice Extras

In addition to their generous size, these 30-inchers provide some useful extras. For instance, the HP LP3065 has four USB ports on the left of the bezel, as well as four more in the back. It also supplies three DVI ports, which is quite unusual (the other displays we tested have only one). Having more DVI ports allows you to connect the display to two PCs at once via DVI cables, instead of via an analog VGA port (which the three units we reviewed do not have).

The Samsung unit comes with a power-saver feature that switches the monitor to a low-power mode when the monitor has not been in use for some time. It includes just two USB ports, however.

Dell's 3007WFP-HC has two media card slots on the left of the bezel (one of which is a four-in-one; the other accommodates just CF cards). Two USB ports are also located on the left, and two more are situated in the back of the unit.

So is it worth shelling out the big bucks for one of these big displays? If you work on highly detailed documents or graphics applications, then a 30-incher's high resolution and sharp rendering of both text and graphics will likely be a worthwhile investment. Just remember that the high resolution will make all of your icons and text appear rather small; if you decide to wall-mount your new monitor (all three models we tested have this capability), you must be sure that you don't sit too far away from the display.

If you decide to keep the display on your desk, you'll have to clear plenty of space--these big LCDs demand acreage. But it just might be worth the effort if it means you'll have more room to spread out all your open windows.

A Big Monitor That Includes TV Capability

If you'd like a side serving of entertainment with your big display, then NEC's MultiSync 3735WXM LCD may be just what you're after. This 37-inch LCD includes a built-in analog TV tuner, which lets you hook it up to a cable connection and view television while you're getting your work done. The 3735WXM is geared for use as an informational display, but we think that it could be easily connected to a media center PC, as well.

The 3735WXM shows pleasing images when displaying television. I also hooked this monitor up to a PlayStation 3 and watched a Blu-ray DVD--the high-def movie looked crisp and lively, even though the display does not have 1080p resolution. The monitor's picture-in-picture capability enables you to work on a document side by side with a TV show, though you can minimize either window, too.

The display has a 1366 by 768 resolution, a common resolution for 37-inch TVs. While that's fine when you use the LCD's TV capability, it can be distracting if you have the monitor hooked up to a PC. Documents and spreadsheets lack the definitive sharpness and detail visible on the 30-inch LCDs we reviewed, which have four times more pixels. In addition, it's advisable to sit 8 to 10 feet from the display, as you would from a similar-size TV--not an ideal distance for viewing documents.

Nevertheless, the lower resolution should suffice if your emphasis is on entertainment. An LCD of this type is a logical fit for a media center PC. But the 3735WXM lacks an HDMI port (which some media center PCs include, and more will have in the future); that can pose a problem if you want to view high-definition content. You'll have to settle for using the unit's component connections.

And then there's the price: This unit costs a steep $2300, or a little more than what you would pay for a standard 37-inch television. Its hybrid capability is a nice benefit. But purists might prefer having the more usual arrangement--that is, a TV in the living room and, in another room, a big monitor attached to the computer.