Dual Monitor Setup

[ayman]

Got a monitor question for you guys....

with my friend's new computer build, he's going to have the 7800GT and this card supports dual monitor...

my friend also has 3 17" flatscreen dells laying around lol...

what exactly does dual monitor mean? does it mean you see the screen twice or the whole screen is streched over 2 monitors? Also if he get's a splitter and plugs in 3 monitors at once, what's to expect from that kind of setup?

I'm not exactly sure how any of these 2 setups would come out to look like because I dont have any experience with this...

Thanks,

Ayman

 

[TankGuys]

Dual monitor means that he essentially has two seperate screens: He can have one program open in one, and another in the other one. Or, you can open a program and "Stretch" it between both (for most programs anyway).

Using a video splitter will just make it so he sees the same thing on both/all 3 monitors, which isn't particularly useful.

 

[ayman]

Originally posted by: TankGuys
Dual monitor means that he essentially has two seperate screens: He can have one program open in one, and another in the other one. Or, you can open a program and "Stretch" it between both (for most programs anyway).

Using a video splitter will just make it so he sees the same thing on both/all 3 monitors, which isn't particularly useful.

ok, so scratch the splitter idea... but as far as dual monitor ... let me get this straight... would it be so that the start menu is on the left monitor and the clock is on the right monitor lol?

i just can't picture how he can run 2 different programs on the setup if the monitors are connected ... how does 1 half know which program to run? eh still a little confused, i guess i should just google this when i come back home...


thank you for your help TankGuys

 

[TankGuys]

The start menu stays on one screen.

In my office, I run 3 monitors. My start menu and main desktop icons run on the left monitor. I typically run my "main" programs (whatever I'm working on most) in the center monitor. My E-mail program I have running on the right monitor.

You can freely drag any window from one monitor to the next. It is basically like you have one wide desktop; but when you maximize a program, it maximizes in whichever monitor it's shown in (it won't maximize and cover all 2 or 3 monitors).

It's a little hard to explain, you'll understand more when you try it!

 

[LxMxFxD3]

No, the entire taskbar is on monitor #1, at least in my setup. If theres a way to extend the taskbar to both monitors, someone please let me know.

You can test how it would look if you want man!

Just go into your video setup (right click desktop, advanced, etc) and make your current monitor #2.

Basically all you get is an extended desktop. Its quite useful if you photoshop, or like to multitask like crazy like me (watch a seinfeld episode, video encode and play HL2 and monitor my icq/AIM clients at the same time)

GL.

 

[RT]

I run two 21" monitors, with a 3200x1200 desktop and I can safely say I would never willingly go back to a single monitor setup for my main machine

And for getting the most from a multi display setup, I'd have to heartily recommend using ultramon. You can find it at http://www.realtimesoft.com/ultramon/

Just one of the many things it does, is allow you to have independent taskbars on each monitor