Dual Monitors

[Jeff Horton]

Read something on using dual monitors and I have been doing a little reading on the web. With the price of CRT monitors dropping with the everone spending their money on LCD's looks like I add a second 19" for around $300 including a new video card.

Anyone have a dual monitor setup? What do you think?

Looks like a no brainer to me.

 

[Tejus]

I've been using dual monitors for a couple years. I consider it one of the cheapest investments to improve your productivity and work environment. Great for viewing/comparing/cutting/pasting. I also have a tv monitor card (approx $30). Rather than parking yourself in front of a tv, you can accomplish something useful while watching your favorites on the side.

You'll need a dual monitor graphics card or possibly a couple graphics cards. There's some earlier threads on this.

The CRT's are cheaper, but the LCD's are so much nicer. I'm replacing my CRT's with LCD's as the CRT's go out.

I was running a 20" CRT and 17" LCD. The 20" CRT went out several months ago, I've been trying several replacement LCD's. I tried the Samsung 213t with the rotating screen. I had high hopes, but found the 213t was not user friendly. The screen was so big it was difficult to position yourself to read from different sections of the screen. Same problem when the screen is in portrait mode.

You need to run the LCD monitors at their native resolution to obtain the best display. The 213t has a 1600x1200 resolution which creates a small font, difficult to read. You also need to make sure the monitor has a dvi hookup, much better picture than vga.

I've dropped back to the Samsung 191t, 1280 x 1024 resolution. This works out better, I'll probably keep this one.

bueno suerto.

 

[Claude From NY]

Multiple monitors can be connected to individual graphics adapters (PCI plug n play) or to a single display adapter that supports multiple outputs. Windows pretty much takes care of the rest. You will be able to designate a primary monitor.

When I was trading stocks I had a nice set up. A 17" for monitoring the stock market and a 20" for appraisal work.

 

[Scott Kibler]

I tried it and hated it. Takes up too much desk space and was too distracting for me. I work OK just switching back and forth between open applications. That's just me.

 

[Mike Garrett RAA]

Haven't really thought about it for appraisal work but we use dual monitors in the tech department of the church...works just fine.

 

[Jeff Horton]

Appreciate the input.

I counted the other day and while doing an appraisal I had 7 different windows open at once. Firefox has helped with that dramatically since I can open several websites in one window. Still I have lot of information open and something is always hidden.

I think I am going to try it since I can do it for about $300. Just makes sense to me that it would save time (which is money).

 

[KD247]

Be careful; you'll become spoiled. Sometimes when I'm working on my laptop and need to open a map or picture I'll instinctively look to my right. Something like phantom limb syndrome I guess.

From 11/7/03

Many new computers have video cards with dual outputs and, if you keep your eyes open, there are some great deals on high quality 17" lcd's.

Every once in a while I'll bump into someone who can't figure out why anyone needs more than a 14" monitor, but it's usually because they never tried anything else. Now, I'd feel shortchanged with anything less than two 19" screens, so just keep in mind that it's one of those ratchet-effect things. You'll never be able to go back!