My second concern to that is when and if I need to reduce to what would have been a 22" inch dispaly anway (and the reason I went for 24") at 1680x1050, will it distract from the gaming experience?
You shouldn't have to worry about it. You'll be able to have your video upscale any 16:10 resolution to 1920x1200, be it 1680x1050, 1280x800, or even 320x200. Using resolution obviously means decreased sharpness, but the picture will be just as big. And don't get too hung up on the "decreased sharpness" part. 1680x1050 upscaled should have just as much detail as 1680x1050 on a 22", so it's not as if you'll ever be worse off than you would if you bought a 22"er.
And if the time comes where your video card absolutely can't handle 1920x1200 on the latest games, upgrading to one that can will cost less than the monitor did.