Can you live without Dual Monitors?

[rbV5]

I much prefer multi-monitors, my main PC is triple monitor at home and at work, 6 display console.

 

[SynthDude2001]

Well, considering that I've never owned/used two monitors at once...yes, I can live without dual monitors.

 

[zagood]

My wife and I just moved from a 2br to a 1br, so I lost my office and my big desk. Had to get rid of one of the monitors, and lemme tell ya...it sucks.

Getting laid off is not all it's cracked up to be.

-z

 

[Lonyo]

Going from 1600x1200 single to 1280x1024 single was awful, so I ordered a 2nd monitor to get my damned desktop space back.
Will report back tomorrow when it arrives

 

[M0RPH]

I have a question for you guys about dual monitors. If I was running dual monitors, would I also be able to play a movie on the tv-out? Because if it came down to a choice between monitor+monitor and monitor+tv-out, I'd choose the latter because I'm frequently playing DIVX movies while I work on the computer.

 

[Nirach]

I used to have two 21" CRT's, but then I decided I needed my desk space more than screen space

At the moment I have a 15" Sony flat screen thing, it's okay, does what I want it to do, but I plan to grab me an Apple 20"

Dual moniters would be nice, and if someone offered me dual 20" apple moniters, I'd take it. But..

Use is.. Well down the pan for me

 

[Fadey]

Can any1 answer my question? i got a 7800gtx, i was to get another monitor how would i tell it to type in msn , then go back to the game on the other monitor?

 

[Yuriman]

I run 2048x1536 on a single monitor, I can't imagine ever needing any MORE desktop space.

 

[edmundoab]

I can live with it, if I get a 21 inch monitor, well , even better

 

[JRW]

Tried the Dual Monitor thing (2001FP & Sony 21" G520P) but it just didnt float my boat, I ended up going with a single 24" Sony GDM-FW900 Widescreen CRT Best monitor ive ever witnessed.

 

[xtknight]

I'll kick your butt in Battlefield 2 happily on a single 17" LCD. I have no need for dual monitors. I find no use for them when I'm programming or gaming, unless I'm looking up the parameters for a function, but alt-tab isn't that bad. It certainly doesn't warrant the extra couple hundred dollars for me.

They might come in handy when I'm reading 50 news articles or have 50 forum threads open like I frequently do (right now) in Opera using tabs. The tabs are less than a centimeter in width so its a hard to find what I want.

Originally posted by: BFG10K
Nah, give me a big single monitor and I'm happy. Actually what I would like is Windows to support virtual desktops like Linux does. I really do like that feature.

Use the XP Powertoys or ATI Hydravision for ATI cards. Both are free and work with Windows.

 

[rbV5]

Originally posted by: M0RPH
I have a question for you guys about dual monitors. If I was running dual monitors, would I also be able to play a movie on the tv-out? Because if it came down to a choice between monitor+monitor and monitor+tv-out, I'd choose the latter because I'm frequently playing DIVX movies while I work on the computer.

Typically with a single card driving dual monitors, when TV out is enabled, it becomes the secondary display and the other monitor will be disabled....2 RAMDAC = 2 concurrent displays, some setups allow a cloned third display. NV's newest IGP chipset allows for the onboard to still function with additional graphics cards for 3 display support as have the last couple ATI IGP chipsets. Its the multimonitor setup I use (IGP + dual head card for 3 concurrent analog displays)

 

[CP5670]

I tried it out once when I had two monitors during an RMA process and it wasn't very useful. Spanning a single window across both is useless since it gets cut up right in the middle. I can think of some cases where it might be handy to have different programs on each monitor, but nothing I do really benefits from it.

 

[ITPaladin]

Originally posted by: Fadey
Can any1 answer my question? i got a 7800gtx, i was to get another monitor how would i tell it to type in msn , then go back to the game on the other monitor?

You just place one on each screen.

 

[theMan]

i dont like dual monitors. its just annoying. i love my sweet 21" CRT.

 

[HardWarrior]

Originally posted by: Amplifier
Dual monitors are the greatest thing ever.

Been a while since I upgraded to two 17" CRT monitors. Now I'm running two 19" flat panel monitors. Only thing that would make my life more complete would be two 2405fpws.

Anyway, if you haven't already, get dual monitors.

That is all,
Amp

I've ran 2x19" CRT's for a while now, and yeah, I've gotten used to them. What I'd like to see is more ways to use them both, like in games.

 

[Maluno]

For work productivity, Dual monitor setups are great. I know this from experience, but for general internet browsing/gaming I really never seem to use the second monitor very much.

 

[xtknight]

Originally posted by: ITPaladin

Originally posted by: Fadey
Can any1 answer my question? i got a 7800gtx, i was to get another monitor how would i tell it to type in msn , then go back to the game on the other monitor?

You just place one on each screen.

He means...what would you press to change the focus from one monitor to the other? Alt-tab? That doesn't work in all games.

 

[mset]

Originally posted by: jiffylube1024
mset - any dual output video card from Nvidia or ATI, GeForce4MX or ATI Radeon 8500 class or above should work just fine for you. IMO ATI's dual display support is just a bit better than Nvidia's, but both work well enough. You can get a good dual display video card for under $100 these days, as long as you don't plan on doing heavy gaming .

hey jiff

Ok, thanks for the response. One interesting thing is that at the BB where I usually hang out, which is mostly traders, they all talk about the Matrox cards, but here at AT I see almost no reference to them at all, either here or in the sticky devoted to building your own computer, which has a section for video cards and mentions all the ones you do but not Matrox!

Is there something I'm missing, I wonder?

 

[xtknight]

Originally posted by: mset

Originally posted by: jiffylube1024
mset - any dual output video card from Nvidia or ATI, GeForce4MX or ATI Radeon 8500 class or above should work just fine for you. IMO ATI's dual display support is just a bit better than Nvidia's, but both work well enough. You can get a good dual display video card for under $100 these days, as long as you don't plan on doing heavy gaming .

hey jiff

Ok, thanks for the response. One interesting thing is that at the BB where I usually hang out, which is mostly traders, they all talk about the Matrox cards, but here at AT I see almost no reference to them at all, either here or in the sticky devoted to building your own computer, which has a section for video cards and mentions all the ones you do but not Matrox!

Is there something I'm missing, I wonder?

It's mentioned quite often for 2D purposes here.

 

[jotosuds]

never used it, so don't know what i'm missing.

 

[Corporate Thug]

never used dual, dont plan on in the near future

 

[ProviaFan]

I tried dual monitors once, and loved it. Unfortunately, being in college means that many compromises must be made, both in the desk space and budget areas. For me, that means that I get "stuck" with a single 21 inch LCD instead of the dual monitors that I'd like, but in reality it isn't that bad 99% of the time.

 

[pkme2]

Dual Dell 1800FPs + 21" Rasterops CRT for video work. Wouldn't be without. ATI Radeon 9700 Pro runs the duals and Jeronimo, the Rasterops.

 

[Falloutboy]

had tripple monitors for awhile (18" LCD with 2 15" LCDs on ethier side). ended up selling the LCDs when I was hard up for money and using a 19" CRT. missed the extra space and ended up picking up a cheap 15" lcd and it makes a ton of difference.