The Dual Monitor Debate
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About a year ago I bought a second monitor for my main PC. I bought it without knowing if my video card would actually support two monitors. To my surprise the second monitor worked flawlessly, and was easier to setup than anything I have ever done computer wise.
One year later and I cannot imagine my life without a second monitor. My second monitor (on the right) has my Vista side bar (which contains two clocks, a calendar, weather and hard drive info), video games and mIRC. Being a Services Operator for the Wyldryde IRC Network it is very helpful to be able to keep an eye on IRC all day long. My primary monitor (on the left) gets my Windows Vista start bar, Firefox, Miranda IM and just about anything else I open up.
The only flaw in my plan is that my monitors are made by different brands. They are both 17″ non-widescreen monitors, however one is about an inch taller than the other. This is something I have gotten used to, but it bugs the crap out of anyone who uses my computer. If I was to do one thing different, it would be to get two of the *exact* same monitors.
So for the actual debate. Is two monitors necessary? Well no, it is not any more necessary than a super nice sports car, however it is 100% worth it. It makes computing life so much easier. However, once you start you will never be able to go back to the world of the single monitor.
Do you have dual monitors? If so, what do you think? If not, why?
-Justin
[tags]Computers, Monitor, Screen Size, Upgrades, jfcapasso[/tags]
9 Comments
Aryeh Goretsky
October 13th, 2007
at 11:35pm
Hello,
Dual-monitor systems are the norm at most most places I have worked for the last ten years or so. The ability to code on one monitor and debug on another is a major productivity increase for developers, QA engineers can test and write up reports on another, graphic artists can edit a zoomed area on one and see the results on another, help desk staff can run a line-of-business application or troubleshoot a customer remotely on one screen while accessing the help desk database application on another and so forth.
As you noted, though, it is a good idea to purchase the same brand and model of monitor in order to avoid optical stress from having re-focus on differently-sized and -colored text on a screen running at a different resolution and, possibly, refresh rate.
Regards,
Aryeh Goretsky
Jack Bremer, 3BWeb Design, London UK's most dedicated crew of web and graphic designers
October 14th, 2007
at 1:18am
I completely agree - at one point I had three screens… Most graphics cards these days have DVI and VGA output, and with or without an adaptor, you can usually use both simultaneously for multiple screen pleasure.
I threw an ANCIENT PCI card in, which won’t go above 15″ LCD (at native resolution), so I have maximum flexibility.
Do bear in mind that if you are planning to build up your rig slowly, they phase monitors out quickly (often just to get more money for newer models it seems), so think hard before only buying one.
IMHO, the screen, keyboard and mouse are the most important part of your setup - they are what you use to interact with the computer 100% of the time!
butler
October 14th, 2007
at 5:12am
2 is good three with a matrox triple head t2go is better. I use three off the triplehead and another widescreen on the other card output for sidbar iwant a mount bracket for another triplehead to raise three more over the top for six displays. this is why SLI gtx 8800’s were invented!!!
David
October 14th, 2007
at 6:29am
The Dual Monitor Debate? ………What`s to debate? No question about it in my mind. More than one monitor is a must. I would have three, if I had the hardware to support them. When I have to revert to a laptop, I get withdrawal symptoms and cold sweats, wondering how I`m going to cope with that teeny, weeny screen! I agree whole-heartedly that that once anyone tries a multi-monitor set-up they would say exactly the same and never go back. It just makes life so much more easier. Incidentally, I use a freeware task bar for the second monitor called (strangely enough) MultiMonitor TaskBar http://tinyurl.com/douxs
This is pretty self-explanatory, I reckon. A great simple tool.
NeZDoctor
October 14th, 2007
at 11:14am
I also believe that two differnt monitors, with size, resolution, brightness differeences are distracting. But using a Diual VIdeo card and sending a video single to my Widescreen T.V. to also the family to watch a movie or fun youtube video from the computer, allowing me to still do my “computer stuff” very handy.
Brandon Eldridge
October 24th, 2007
at 8:31am
I have dual monitors - and I really enjoy it. It makes doing homework or comparing spreadsheets much easier than repeatedly striking Alt + F2. My GPU is a Nvidia 8600GT — It has two monitor outputs, and easily supports my completely different monitors. I have a Samsung Widescreen LCD, which I love, running at 1280 and a 4 year old Dell CRT running at 1028. The card manages the different resolutions with zero problems. It even comprehends that the CRT is VGA and the LCD is DVI (need more acronyms?
Daneen
October 25th, 2007
at 6:53am
I use my dual screen capability as well. It is highly supported at our company, as we have many products for mounting displays and laptops. I use an Ergotron Neo-Flex Notebook Stand for my laptop, then an Ergotron LX Arm for my 19” LCD. My productivity definitely has increased since I’ve been doing this…now, I’d like to add a third monitor!! I usually have my email always open on my laptop screen so I can see anything urgent coming in, then a web browser and applications open on the LCD screen. Here are a couple of links to the studies on multi-monitor solutions:
http://www.necus.com/necus/media/press_releases/template.cfm?DID=1947
http://www.hp.com/sbso/solutions/finance/expert-insights/nec-multi-monitor-study.pdf
[BLOCKED BY STBV] how to use mirc to download windows vista
February 6th, 2008
at 2:32pm
how to use mirc to download windows vista…
no kidding!…
Matt
November 30th, 2008
at 12:58am
I love having multiple monitors, the only problem I have is that by running 2 9800GTX+ cards in SLi multimonitors isn’t possible without and additional signal splitter like a TripleHead2Go, so to bypass this very costly solution and enabling me to leave SLi on permanently, I have a PCI ATI 9200 card installed to run a secondary and possibly third monitor. I love having the extra desktop area to work with, atm I have a 22″ widescreen as my primary screen for gaming and most of my online activities, on the left is an ordinary 17″ CRT that is basically dedicated to eBay/iTunes/msn usage, especially whilst gaming. It’s great to be able to have a walkthrough open and readable while playing a game, without having to Alt+Tab or print it out, a big time saver. Dual monitors has endless possibilities for multi tasking and anything that requires more than one window at a time. Also future proofing to an extent I anticipated the need to have multiple monitors to make coding life that much easier during my university degree.
When Nvidia develops SLi with dual monitor capability, all my problems will be solved and I will be able to get a second 22″ widescreen for a more intense gaming experience, or when eBay has a TripleHead2Go cheap XD