Single large monitor or 3 multi's?

[paperfist]

Just wondering what everyone's opinion is on these 2 setups?

I personally have 3 multis. I do a little gaming, but more or less use it to remote into 1 computer and have Word/Excel on another while the 3rd has a browser or email.

I've been thinking of picking up 1 large one though. I'm not sure if I'll like having 1 without defined areas, but the 3 I have are almost too much space to navigate and I lose the pointer sometimes

 

[Rayniac]

I've never had a multi monitor setup but I've been thinking about having one big monitor and one small one on the side. Big monitor for games and movies and other media and the small one for desktop stuff and browsing when I want to do or check something quickly on the side without having to tab out from anything.

I don't know if that's a good idea but it could be cost efficient

Personally I find the idea of 3 monitors off putting.

 

[XavierMace]

If it's for productivity, I couldn't go back to a single monitor. If it's for gaming, I generally prefer one larger screen.

 

[Viper GTS]

Single large. Every. Single. Time.

I did triple monitors for nearly a decade - 3x24" Trinitrons, a 4960x1600 20/30/20 setup, then a 4320x2560 3x27" in portrait. I switched to a 49" 4K 2.5 years ago and will never, ever go back. I lost some size and some resolution dropping from the 4320x2560 setup but I hated that one by the end so I never missed it. Way too much hassle.

Split it up with DisplayFusion, you lose absolutely nothing vs a multi display setup. Go big enough and you can run 100% scaling even with far less than perfect vision. I use a 43" at work as well so I'm 100% 4K on everything I spend substantial time with. It's superior in every way to a multi display setup unless you absolutely cannot survive with just 3840x2160. Then go multiple 4K.

Viper GTS

 

[herm0016]

I have 3 at work and love it. 2x 23 hp elite and my 16 in laptop. one for neffing and messenger and lists of things I have to do, and the other 2 for productivity.

 

[Malogeek]

I couldn't do without my 3 monitors for work. All 24" 16:10 panels. Left and right landscape with middle portrait for coding application. For gaming, went from 3 down to a 21:9 single and will never go back.

 

[aigomorla]

I dont think i can go back to a single monitor setup ever.
Infact its hard getting off tri monitors even.

But i do have 1 single large monitor 37inch LG Ultrawide 1440p which i use as a main display, and 2 x 4k's which i use for productively. One of them is in portrait mode which helps me with excel pages, and forums as its far more productive having a longer monitor then a wider one.

 

[VirtualLarry]

My computer desks don't really have room for multi-monitor setups, but I did finally upgrade from 24" 1080P HDTV monitors, to some 40" 4K UHD TVs, and I like them a lot! Plenty of screen real-estate. Like having quad 1080P monitors, but no bezels! I wouldn't trade them for multi-monitor setups. 4K is where it's at.

 

[paperfist]

My computer desks don't really have room for multi-monitor setups, but I did finally upgrade from 24" 1080P HDTV monitors, to some 40" 4K UHD TVs, and I like them a lot! Plenty of screen real-estate. Like having quad 1080P monitors, but no bezels! I wouldn't trade them for multi-monitor setups. 4K is where it's at.

Damn that's a big display How far away from it are you?

There's no programs that will let you split the screens on a large display is there?

 

[VirtualLarry]

3 feet, maybe a little more, away.

I've heard someone mention a program called "DisplayFusion" in that context.

 

[mizzou]

i used 3 monitors for a long time. its more of a pain then a benefit. spend money on a large single screen

(Spam removed)

 

[whm1974]

3 feet, maybe a little more, away.

I've heard someone mention a program called "DisplayFusion" in that context.

Anything for Linux?

 

[Red Squirrel]

Size is not really what matters but resolution (well size too sorta). 1 single big HD is not going to be any better than a smaller HD. But a single large 4k will be better than 3 HD.

I currently have 3x HD at home, problem is I hate how applications open wherever the hell they want and every app is different, drives me up the wall. Ex: you open something on your middle, which is primary but it opens to the left. Or you open something on the left and it goes to the right etc. This is an issue in Windows and in Linux. So I got fed up and went with 1 monitor + two raspberry PI running Synergy. So it's like a 3 monitor setup but each monitor is it's own separate computer. Problem is Synergy crashes all the time so I'm always fighting with restarting it. When it crashes the process stays stuck and I have to do kill -9.

So what I've been thinking of doing is going with a single large 4k display, like 32". I think around Christmas time when stuff goes on sale I'll probably get one.

I work in a NOC and pixel real estate is everything. We have 5-6 monitors and it's still not enough and there's only so many you can put on a single computer. We recently got some 4K displays to test out how it would work out but they went with 27". It's kinda small as far as text goes, but it's actually doable. But I think to use for any extended time I would want to go bigger so for at home I'll probably go with 32".

 

[paperfist]

Think I found the holy grail: https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824005700&cm_re=ips-_-24-005-700-_-Product

4-Screen Split

"With a 21:9 wide screen ratio, now you can multitask with as many as four programs on one screen at the same time. This 4-Screen Split feature conveniently divides your screen from 2 to 4 customizable subscreens of your preferred size, without any overlapping of windows. Compatible with Mac®, it provides 8 different screen ratios, changeable by a single click, and increases not only ease of use but also productivity."

 

[Viper GTS]

That sounds like software, there's no way for a monitor to do that over a single input without something running on the machine driving it.

DiisplayFusion will do that with any monitor (for PC) and there are similar apps already for Mac users.

I split my 4k displays into three virtual displays (1280x2160) with CTRL-ALT + numpad hotkeys to send windows to the top, bottom, or quadrants of those three displays. It works very, very well and is completely customizable.

Viper GTS

 

[Malogeek]

Think I found the holy grail: https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824005700&cm_re=ips-_-24-005-700-_-Product

I own that monitor. You don't want to do 4 screen split as each "monitor" will be very small portraits. It's frequently in 2-screen split for my simply by virtue of snapping my apps to left or right and it automatically fills half the screen, a natural function of windows. I don't use any specific monitor software or functions.

 

[paperfist]

I own that monitor. You don't want to do 4 screen split as each "monitor" will be very small portraits. It's frequently in 2-screen split for my simply by virtue of snapping my apps to left or right and it automatically fills half the screen, a natural function of windows. I don't use any specific monitor software or functions.

How is the monitor overall? I don't really need more than 2 aps open at once, at least not that often.

 

[Malogeek]

How is the monitor overall? I don't really need more than 2 aps open at once, at least not that often.

I love it, no complaints at all. Excellent IPS panel and just the right size for my desk. Many prefer the higher resolution version but I'm fine with the 2560 version. I don't have a high end GPU to drive more pixels so I opted for better pixels, being able to have higher quality settings. I'm sure I'd prefer the higher resolution but the cost difference was too much and I think the resolution/size ratio is perfect for me.

I often have 3-4 apps going, swapping between whichever one I need on either side of the screen. For work I love my 3 separate monitors but I multi-task a lot more and the ultra-wide is the perfect balance of gaming goodness and productivity.

 

[paperfist]

I love it, no complaints at all. Excellent IPS panel and just the right size for my desk. Many prefer the higher resolution version but I'm fine with the 2560 version. I don't have a high end GPU to drive more pixels so I opted for better pixels, being able to have higher quality settings. I'm sure I'd prefer the higher resolution but the cost difference was too much and I think the resolution/size ratio is perfect for me.

I often have 3-4 apps going, swapping between whichever one I need on either side of the screen. For work I love my 3 separate monitors but I multi-task a lot more and the ultra-wide is the perfect balance of gaming goodness and productivity.

Thanks. I didn't know there was a higher resolution one, I'll have to look into that for gaming.

I have 3 - 23" widescreens I think and for productivity it's actually a bit of a pain moving my head all around to focus on an ap. That's why I thought 1 large display would be better even though it would be less screen size to work with.

 

[paperfist]

That sounds like software, there's no way for a monitor to do that over a single input without something running on the machine driving it.

DiisplayFusion will do that with any monitor (for PC) and there are similar apps already for Mac users.

I split my 4k displays into three virtual displays (1280x2160) with CTRL-ALT + numpad hotkeys to send windows to the top, bottom, or quadrants of those three displays. It works very, very well and is completely customizable.

Viper GTS

Thanks.

It doesn't get in the way at all? What I mean as it works as if you had an actual sets of multiple displays?

EDIT: Actually do you know if I could use one of the virtual displays for a Remote Desktop connection?

 

[Viper GTS]

Thanks.

It doesn't get in the way at all? What I mean as it works as if you had an actual sets of multiple displays?

EDIT: Actually do you know if I could use one of the virtual displays for a Remote Desktop connection?

It's not virtual displays at the OS level, it's for use within DisplayFusion:

https://betanews.com/2013/09/03/dis...plit-monitors-into-multiple-virtual-displays/

It's basically containers so that your keyboard shortcuts of (for example) "Move and size this window to the top right 25% of this display" act on the virtual display rather than the entire physical display. So I have a saved preset that I take with me from machine to machine that sets the following numpad shortcuts (with control + alt):

7, 9, 3, 1 = Size and move to the 25% of the display/virtual display (7 = top left, 9 = top right, etc)
8, 6, 2, 4 = Size and move to the 50% of the display/virtual display (8 = top, 6 = right, etc)
5 = Maximize

It's completely seamless at the OS level, I also use virtual taskbars so that application taskbar icons only appear on the 1/3 of the screen where the application actually is.

As for RDP, remember that RDP uses a completely separate graphics stack, RDP sessions do not at all reflect the physical monitor setup. It would presumably work fine through something that uses the regular graphics driver (VNC, etc).

[EDIT]Or do you mean the other direction, making a full screen RDP session to another PC full 'screen' on one of the virtual displays? Just tried that and RDP connect set to full screen does not see the virtual displays and instead goes full screen across the entire physical display. I have been using big monitors for so long that I never use full screen mode, instead I choose a size that correlates to the area I want the window to live. Unfortunately mstsc doesn't seem to allow custom resolutions through the GUI, other solutions might. You can, however, modify saved RDP sessions for custom resolutions (just make sure screen mode id:i:1). I much prefer windowed RDP on a big screen, so sticking to common resolutions like 1600x900 etc works fine for my needs. I just tested a 1200x2000 window which fit easily into 1/3 of my screen and snaps well using DisplayFusion shortcuts.[/EDIT]

Viper GTS

 

[paperfist]

It's not virtual displays at the OS level, it's for use within DisplayFusion:

https://betanews.com/2013/09/03/dis...plit-monitors-into-multiple-virtual-displays/

It's basically containers so that your keyboard shortcuts of (for example) "Move and size this window to the top right 25% of this display" act on the virtual display rather than the entire physical display. So I have a saved preset that I take with me from machine to machine that sets the following numpad shortcuts (with control + alt):

7, 9, 3, 1 = Size and move to the 25% of the display/virtual display (7 = top left, 9 = top right, etc)
8, 6, 2, 4 = Size and move to the 50% of the display/virtual display (8 = top, 6 = right, etc)
5 = Maximize

It's completely seamless at the OS level, I also use virtual taskbars so that application taskbar icons only appear on the 1/3 of the screen where the application actually is.

As for RDP, remember that RDP uses a completely separate graphics stack, RDP sessions do not at all reflect the physical monitor setup. It would presumably work fine through something that uses the regular graphics driver (VNC, etc).

[EDIT]Or do you mean the other direction, making a full screen RDP session to another PC full 'screen' on one of the virtual displays? Just tried that and RDP connect set to full screen does not see the virtual displays and instead goes full screen across the entire physical display. I have been using big monitors for so long that I never use full screen mode, instead I choose a size that correlates to the area I want the window to live. Unfortunately mstsc doesn't seem to allow custom resolutions through the GUI, other solutions might. You can, however, modify saved RDP sessions for custom resolutions (just make sure screen mode id:i:1). I much prefer windowed RDP on a big screen, so sticking to common resolutions like 1600x900 etc works fine for my needs. I just tested a 1200x2000 window which fit easily into 1/3 of my screen and snaps well using DisplayFusion shortcuts.[/EDIT]

Viper GTS

Wow sounds perfect! Thanks! You had the way I am using RDP currently.

I went off the deep end and bought that higher resolution LG display so I can't wait to try it with Disolay Fusion. Maybe I'll finally get productive

 

[Marc_Plante]

I run a 2k 32" monitor with my laptop display as secondary. I leave mail open in my laptop and can shuffle two full screens on my 2560x1440 space. My big question is vr goggles or 12k for a driving sim build.

(Spam removed)