I wear and my girlfriend also pakai17 "4:3 monitor and it was fine, but I upgraded to a 19" widescreen HD and I think it is the perfect size. 24 "is good for TV up close but might strain your eyes if you sit in front all day so more family cool for us all ....
Think like shawn and get a 32" LCD like him. And you can do almost all things on it and also there will be facility of double windows.