why do so many people have dual monitors?

[Solodays]

whats the advantage over a single monitor?

 

[vhx]

More space.

Games + Websurfing = Win.

 

[Fullmetal Chocobo]

Actively working on something while passively monitoring something else. Such as having temps up on the other monitor while you game on one monitor. Or work on your finances on one while having the statements up on another.

 

[Throckmorton]

Next Door Nikki on on the left, Hailey Young on the right

Edit: Don't Google these people at work.

 

[Rottie]

Why? because they like to show off.

 

[Rottie]

souble post...sorry

 

[bassoprofundo]

Try it and you'll never go back. I liken it to the way your TV experience changes after using Tivo/DVRs. It opens up new possibilities and totally changes the way you use your PC. Compose an email while looking at your calendar in another window. Watch a DVD full screen while editing two different excel sheets, each in their own windows (no alt-tabbing to cut and paste between the two, no tiling the windows on a cramped screen). Watch TV fullscreen in one window, have your IM client, Vista (or Yahoo or Google) widgets in another, monitor that Woot-off in a third, and browse AT in another. The possibilities are endless. I'm only using a dual setup at home right now due to my desk configuration and a triple monitor setup at work, but I've used configurations of up to six 20-22 in. screens. How much a multi setup will benefit you will depend heavily on what you do with your PC, but with dual-headed cards being the norm and with the price of LCDs being so low, there's no reason not to go at least dual. Combine your multi monitor setup with a sweet piece of software to manage them like Ultramon, and I swear, it'll rock your computing world.

 

[bunnyfubbles]

when you're working with apps such as photoshop, its nice to be able to keep tool bars and such all open and on one monitor while you work on the image on the other monitor

 

[Throckmorton]

I tried dual and didn't like it. The thing that throws me off is having one mouse for both

 

[potato28]

Originally posted by: Throckmorton
Next Door Nikki on on the left, Hailey Young on the right

Edit: Don't Google these people at work.

:laugh: But really, I use it for working and watching a movie. Or for AT and work.

 

[Solodays]

Dont you need a decent powered pc inorder to operate dual monitors?

 

[dawza]

Originally posted by: Solodays
Dont you need a decent powered pc inorder to operate dual monitors?

Just to drive the monitors in 2D- no. You simply need a video card that supports two outputs, or a single-output card + onboard. The former is generally preferred, as you will not have to deal with driver issues (i.e. onboard nVidia video + add-in ATI card will not play well together).

You may find that your other components (CPU, RAM, HDD) will no longer be satisfactory due to the increased amount of multitasking you can manage with dual monitors. My rule of thumb is an additional 0.5-0.75GB of RAM for each additional monitor; if you do a lot of HDD-intensive work, you might consider upgrading to a higher-density drive and/or putting an additional HDD on a separate channel. Dualies can also let your dual-core processor stretch its legs a bit; when playing a movie on one monitor while surfing on the other, I noticed that my single-core CPU would cause the movie to stutter on occasion. This ceased to be a problem when I upgraded to an X2.

Multiple displays + Ultramon will greatly enhance your productivity and comfort. Spanning spreadsheets across two displays, reading a PDF on one and taking notes on the other, conducting research on the web while writing a paper, etc. Plus, it makes you look more hardcore at work, even if you mainly use the second display for AT

 

[Peter]

I just added an ancient ATI Mach64 PCI card and a vintage 15" CRT from the attic, simply because I figured I could use a small 3rd monitor to move all those status and log windows to The two big ones (20" CRTs) are driven by a single GeForce FX5200, the CPU is a P4-2.6 w/ HT. Total desk space is 3584x960.

This is strictly for 2D work and entertainment, of course - even though the two big monitors do have 3D acceleration available.

And just for the record: I'm watching a 1.5 Mbit/s TV stream on the center monitor, type this message on the right one, and monitor mail, load, and system status on the newly added small one. CPU load hovers around the 20% mark.

 

[postmortemIA]

At work I have two 19". Company standard are 19" and 20" monitors, they don't buy anything else... it is the only way that I can do some good coding.

 

[Steve]

Originally posted by: Peter
I just added an ancient ATI Mach64 PCI card and a vintage 15" CRT from the attic, simply because I figured I could use a small 3rd monitor to move all those status and log windows to The two big ones (20" CRTs) are driven by a single GeForce FX5200, the CPU is a P4-2.6 w/ HT. Total desk space is 3584x960.

This is strictly for 2D work and entertainment, of course - even though the two big monitors do have 3D acceleration available.

And just for the record: I'm watching a 1.5 Mbit/s TV stream on the center monitor, type this message on the right one, and monitor mail, load, and system status on the newly added small one. CPU load hovers around the 20% mark.

How is it that you of all people are using nVidia and Intel???

Anyway, my main monitor is the 19" Soyo LCD that I won on this forum a couple of years ago, and to its right is my trusty old Viewsonic 17" CRT that I use for my email client as well as watching videos. Both driven by my Radeon 9600, which I may replace with an X1600 Pro in the coming weeks.

 

[Peter]

I used to have an ATI 9550 in there, but then inherited a GeForce 5200, tried it and found that for what I'm doing with this machine, NVidia's Linux driver is working a lot better.
When digging through the box of ancients to find a PCI card that works well as tertiary, I tried S3, Matrox and ATI, and found the driver for ATI legacy cards to do the best job.

And it's not been an Intel machine for long either. No particular reason for that, other than that I needed my 64-bit capable AMD CPU/mainboard elsewhere and had that 32-bit Intel thing lying around - inferior, but still good enough.

 

[oztrailrider]

I recently set up my new machine with dual 19" Samsung 931C monitors. It is so nice to be able to have two applications open at once in front of me. As someone stated above I might have online banking open on one and Quicken open on the other etc. It's cool to browse two forums at once both in fullscreen too. It greatly enhances your productivity. I find it strange to back to a machine with one monitor now. I also find it useful for when I am studying, I have one monitor displaying my XP box in fullscreen and I can be writing notes in the other. The only thing I wish is that I had gotten monitors with a thinner bezel, the actual screens have a bit of distance between them with the 931Cs since the bezel is so thick. Love it otherwise though! :thumbsup:

 

[konakona]

because they havnt been spoiled by having a secondary rig instead.
there is no going back

 

[Tarrant64]

I use 2 monitors at work 17" widescreen LCD on the notebook with a 19" LCD right next to it. I can monitor emails and other network stats while actively working on other things on the other monitor. I do a lot of remote desktop so it helps to have that other screen. It's become essential now.

At home I'm on a 22" viewsonic widescreen. I upgraded from a 15" LCD -> 19" CRT -> 22" widescreen LCD. I find that I would like to have a second monitor. Chatting with people online, widgets, etc. are a pain to have all on one screen especially if your digging through forums or writing papers, etc.

I have been trying to find an excuse(and money) to skip the dual monitors and upgrade to a 24" monitor. My LCD may be falling off of the table here soon....

 

[Anubis]

Dilbert answers your Q
http://www.dilbert.com/comics/...lbert2036666071016.gif

 

[HannibalX]

I use three monitors. A 22" Wide screen in the center flanked by two 19" 4:3s on either side.

It's great. Makes moving data from spread sheets and other data sources really easy.

 

[BladeVenom]

http://video.google.com/videop...&type=search&plindex=0

 

[Peter]

Originally posted by: Pale Rider
I use three monitors. A 22" Wide screen in the center flanked by two 19" 4:3s on either side.

I bet the 19" are actually 5:4.

 

[BurnItDwn]

Originally posted by: Peter

Originally posted by: Pale Rider
I use three monitors. A 22" Wide screen in the center flanked by two 19" 4:3s on either side.

I bet the 19" are actually 5:4.

depends on if they are CRT's

 

[OnEMoReTrY]

The biggest reason for me for using dual monitors is I always keep MSN Messenger on the 2nd monitor, so when I'm gaming etc full screened, I can see whos trying to get a hold of me and whos online etc. The conversation windows popup on the 2nd monitor. Aside from that, the usual temperature monitoring progs etc for coolness factor xD