To Dual Monitor or not to Dual Monitor....

Erik

I recently aquired a few more monitors than computers, and bought a new video card so that I could have the uber-nerdo setup of 2 monitors. So far I am not sold. Here are the pros and cons as I see it:

Pros:
-It is sort of cool to be able to have lots of applications running at one time. I can see this as being useful at work because as a Web developer I often have 20 windows open at a time... No lie.
- Nice to be able to have a game like counterstrike running, with a Web browser open in the other window for down-time after you get killed etc.

Cons:
-Ugly as sin. It looks like a scene from star trek in my home office right now. And the pocket protector factor increases by 4x every time a person adds another monitor to their office - a proven fact!

-Windows supports it, but little else of any use does. I cant even seem to get flight simulator to work with 2 monitors. And other games are slow to support it as well. Photoshop should, and dosent...

-Desk space - gone. 2x21 inch monitors, even on a huge drafting table, leaves very little desk space to pay bills etc.

Anyone else gotten past the novelty and just decided that it isn't for them?
Or went the other way around and decided it is awesome?

Thanks,
Erik

jzwake · Addict Joined: 12 Dec 2003 Posts: 801

You already posses the required equipment. Try it for a while and decide for yourself. I love working with two monitors, but only when one is not enough.
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FERRARI 312 HISTORY

Wakebrad · Ladies Man Joined: 11 Dec 2003 Posts: 12257 City: Dallas

I would love to have more desktop space. I would do it if I had the setup. I don't need the extra space on my desk though so I'm not really giving anything up. Who cares about dork factor. Function over appearance.

jvanick · Posted: Jan 13, 2005 12:58 pm Post subject:

I've had dual monitors on my desk for about 2 years now... and I can't go back.

I love it.

Right now, I have wb.com on one screen, and outlook + yahoo messenger running on the other screen.

It makes it real nice to have everything up and visible just by moving your eyes across the screen.

BTW, to solve the 2 21" monitor problem, get yourself 2 17" flat panels... they cost about the same as a decent 21" monitor, are smaller and take up less desk space, and with being able to use 2 monitors at the same time, you'll never notice the decreased size.

At home, I have a 21" tube monitor and a 17" flat panel, I use the 21" for photoshop and the 17 for most other things.

-J

DC · Soul Rider Joined: 11 Mar 2003 Posts: 456

Dual monitors is the way to go...! You can find a decent 19" flat panel for $500-550 these days! The ViewSonic VP191B comes to mind..

Next it will be dual procs... Very Happy

Zach M · Posted: Jan 13, 2005 1:24 pm Post subject:

Get a tiered (sp?) desk. I have my monitor's raised up and open desk space in front of them. I love the setup, couldn't go back.

Josh R · Posted: Jan 13, 2005 5:54 pm Post subject:

I've got the same setup as Zach, with the tiered desk. I will NEVER go back to a single monitor setup. It makes so much difference, at least to me. Having all my pallettes and my file browser open in one screen when I use photoshop/final cut/etc is so much more efficient.

aceyx · Addict Joined: 30 Mar 2004 Posts: 770 City: dirty

what video card are you running? mine (ATI radeon) has a setting where i can use it as one big desktop or two isolated ones.

also, maybe not a tiered desk but a bookshelf or something behind the desk just for the displays and all the other crap i have on my desk is something i've been thinking about. that way i have a clear workspace for whatever, rather than having to adjust everything around the footprint.

i use mine mainly for research, so i have acrobat on one screen, westlaw (firefox) on the other, and typing from my notebook in the middle.

bluefish86 · Posted: Jan 13, 2005 9:22 pm Post subject:

If the question is 1 or 2 monitors of the same size, than it's up to you as wether it's useful or not. If you already have the monitors and video card, I'd say go for it. I'd love to have two monitors.

But, if the question is one big monitor or two smaller ones, than 2 is the way to go. You'll get a lot more useable area for a similar cost out of two smaller monitors than one big one.

PimpinD · Addict Joined: 17 Feb 2003 Posts: 785 City: Orlando, FL

uhm 19 inch Philips 190S. $389
12ms response time .... cant beat that, no ghosting ever Smile

Kento911 · Addict Joined: 07 Dec 2004 Posts: 958 City: Devore

Erik Jernberg, I used to do GIS data aquisition and conversion for Cal Trans, and at first I was opposed to dual 21's for the same reasons, but I gotta tell you after I used for 3 days I didn't go back......... until I quit LOL.
Especially with GIS, where you have usually have to have a raster map, a vector map, and often times a DB sheet of some form, plus a window with that same DB sheet in raw code form,(not to mention I was usually running audiogalaxy, which at that time was my mp3 source of choice) it really helped me and I usually only had 5 to 6 windows open at once.

89comp · Posted: Jan 17, 2005 11:56 am Post subject:

Dual monitors are very cool, even if you don't use them. I use my dual 20" flat panels for editing as I can have all my clips on one screen, and the sequence and edits on the other screen. Its nice to have two monitors for web work as well as you can have your HTML on one screen and your FTP on the other.

And even if all you do is email/chat/play music, then it blows people minds away when you have two monitors and you can move your mouse across them.

pyrocasto · Posted: Jan 17, 2005 7:04 pm Post subject:

I am thinking about going dual soon.

Erik Jernberg, I was told you could use photoshop in dual mode. Someone told me they had all their brushes and such in one screen, and the other screen was only the picture, which would make it much better for editing.

Erik · Posted: Jan 18, 2005 10:28 am Post subject:

I just packed everything up and took the extra video card out and put the other monitor away. I tried Flight Simulator on 2 monitors and it looked like crap, played slow, and basically did not work as I had hoped. So the extra monitor will be for another project at a later time. Thanks for the info! I can see that it would be great for work, but I work on a laptop and thus don't have the option for another monitor (without a pcmcia video card, which I have no interest in trying to get).

Thanks for the input though. Helped a lot.
Erik

bradb · Outlaw Joined: 09 Jan 2004 Posts: 204 City: Parksville

Erik,
Most laptops will work with dual monitors if you run windows xp. It will let you run with your desktop split between your laptop and your external monitor.
B

matt1808 · Wakeboarder.Commie Joined: 05 Feb 2004 Posts: 1981

what kind of videocard would I need to do this? I have been thinking about doing this for a long time, but I don't know where to start or what I need to do.

edit: also do I need to get another monitor port or how do I hook up the second monitor?

Thor_717 · Posted: Feb 01, 2005 5:20 am Post subject:

I was thinking the same thing for a long time. I had a 1901FP and have been saving for the last year to purchase another one to use with my 980XGL video card. But I said to heck with that. Dell was running a deal at the time. 2000.00 for a 26" LCD TV. I had a 25% off coupon and it came with a 400.00 MIR. Brings it down to 1100.00 I managed to finagel my way into a 630.00 credit from Dell (long storey) and I sold my 1901fp for 500.00

soooo.... I was Paid to upgrade from a 19" LCD to a 26" 70.00

Smile

slick deal!!! And wow is it great. I have my TV, DVD, Xbox, PC all hooked up to it in my office and man does it look sweet