Well given the huge response, I figured I'd just go ahead and warn all the vendors that they could have their stuff back promptly if it didn't work as advertised.
I bought a dead cheap 2-for at OfficeWorks. 2 Philips 160EI TFT 40cm monitors, only A$186 for both. I also got an Apple mini-DVI to VGA adaptor which has dropped in price from Apple's previous rip-off rate to A$25.
Installation was quite straight forward although the monitor looks like a dwarf next to the 24" iMac.
I installed under OSX 10.5.8 and then switched to OSX 10.6.3. Under both it was recognised immediately but defaulted for some reason to a non-native resolution, easily fixed.
I didn't need to color manage, that's not what it's for, but both Apple's color calibration and the on monitor controls only screwed it up so I went back to the default settings just playing a little bit with the on monitor contrast and color to try and crisp up the Finder text which still seems too soft. Apple's color calibration lead it to be way too dark. The monitor controls way too light, so factory settings is where it stays.
Visually the monitor is a tad unsharp with a visible vertical banding a little like thin corrugation. Colors are pale, about max 70-80% tint to my eye.
I was able to set separate screen backgrounds, so that I could have a pleasing black & white background to my palettes.
I tested several applications running simultaneously along with movies on both monitors. All work flawlessly so far.
I can now run tutorial DVDs on the 2nd monitor whilst keeping the application to which it refers open on the main monitor. Nice!!
Testing palettes with Adobe CS4: They cleverly snap to whichever of the 2nd monitors edges they are dragged to and work perfectly even sensing the real estate available on the monitor. I have set them to snap to the inside (left edge of the 2nd monitor, which is to my right). This means that for the first time the optional sub-palettes pop out to the right in reading order.
All remember their position between re-startups. No sign of flickering or any of the problems reported in the forums. That is in both Leopard and Snow Leopard.
Flicking between fullscreen view using the tab keyboard shortcut and the toolbar options has different results. Sometimes the palettes stay with the main screen in full screen view, sometimes they disappear, I'm trying to work out what combination of actions sets off what.
Testing palettes with iWork: They have none of Adobe's smarts but can be stacked a little awkwardly to fit. Awkward because Apple hasn't worked out how to sensibly do this and made them different sizes. However they do remember their sizes (sort of) and positions between restarts.
Pages' Outline/Fullscreen view unfortunately blacks out both monitors. I was hoping I could keep my palettes visible on the 2nd.
Overall I am very happy. I worked with 2 monitors for almost 2 decades until Apple made it both expensive and extremely awkward on several occasions. It feels very liberating to have my full workspace clear again.
OSX is one clumsy design for handling windows, despite/because of all Apple's efforts.
There is no substitute for more/separate screen real estate. So far I am one happy camper.
