Dual monitors, Why do you use them?

[GrayW]

this for me to at work, however i use synergy have have a mac mini on my right screen and windows 7 on my left and centre.

My left is ubuntu using synergy :)

[IceBreakerG]

I have 3x24" wide screen monitors on my desk at work (connected to 2 GeForce GTX560 GPUs). I'm a software developer, so on my left screen I usually keep software requirements and documentation on, center screen is my main screen, has most apps on it including Visual Studio 2012 and my browser(s), outlook, etc, and my right monitor usually has another browser window (usually the one I'm testing with) and SQL Server. This set up is massive in scale, but I couldn't imagine going back to anything less than this again. It's awesome being able to see so much information at the same time.

[medhunter]

Thank you so much for these creative ideas

But in fact, I can say you use the setup for Coding ,Office documents editing, graphic production,Gaming, Web browsing/General stuff.

I am not a coder, Heavy office editor, or a graphic guy.

That leaves general stuff:Email, Browsing, Gaming, Media.But I can't see myself Gaming and paying attention to a website or a movie.

So, I am sure you get a huge benefit, but it is almost work related (Coding, Graphics, Office).But what is out there for a person who is not into these stuff.

I have a second monitor and I am going to use it eventually, but I want to know how to make full use of a 2nd monitor.

For example, you say you use Ubuntu and Windows 7. If for example, you ran Ubuntu in a virtual machine, full screen on your 2nd monitor, you could have an additional keyboard and mouse attached and hooked to that virtual machine giving you a 2nd machine fully working machine without the need to ctrl+alt, alt+tab out.. or indeed dual boot.

I have just read an article saying same thing about this setup is over-rated,but I lost the source.This may be the incentive to start this thread

I Dual Boot Ubuntu and Win7. Most of the time on Ubuntu.But a good point, though, that I can use it with my wife.Synergy is the software for that, right?

[The_Observer]

have dual monitor at work, its great to have them. cant have enough desktop space!

[Shadrack]

I have a 2 monitor setup at work and I don't think I could be as productive without it.

I can have a PDF open on one monitor that I'm referring to while writing a report in Word on another monitor.

The question just strikes me as an odd one... Its like, why is 2 better than 1? Because 2 > 1, that's why.

[lnmnky]

For playtime

Movie or Music ___ Web or Emails or Explorer etc...

For Worktime

Code ___ Requirements or Browser or Email

[zeta_immersion]

got 3 x 24"

1 for porn

1 for RDP/Server

1 for games and porn --- will be moved to the other one

gaming is fantastic though but heat production is astronomical

[DavidM]

Thank you so much for these creative ideas

But in fact, I can say you use the setup for Coding ,Office documents editing, graphic production,Gaming, Web browsing/General stuff.

I am not a coder, Heavy office editor, or a graphic guy.

That leaves general stuff:Email, Browsing, Gaming, Media.But I can't see myself Gaming and paying attention to a website or a movie.

So, I am sure you get a huge benefit, but it is almost work related (Coding, Graphics, Office).But what is out there for a person who is not into these stuff.

I have a second monitor and I am going to use it eventually, but I want to know how to make full use of a 2nd monitor.

I have just read an article saying same thing about this setup is over-rated,but I lost the source.This may be the incentive to start this thread

I Dual Boot Ubuntu and Win7. Most of the time on Ubuntu.But a good point, though, that I can use it with my wife.Synergy is the software for that, right?

I'm still only running one 23", but I'd love to have another smaller one running in portrait mode for web sites while gaming. I'm playing through the Mass Effect series (again and they are starting to become one very long game) and I don't know how many times I've grabbed my laptop to check locations of quest items, guns stats or just where exactly I want to put that last skill point. I guess you could say I'm running a second 15.6" screen that happens to be powered by another computer. :)

My wife is going for her Masters and is writing paper after paper and uses dual 21" screen, one with Word up and the other has her sources. When I set it up for her she laughed and told me it was over kill, the other day I told her I was going to take one for myself she told me to, well, FO... in so many words. The other day she had one with Word and one with IE and a pdf sharing the second. I was waiting for her to tell me she needed another monitor.

Slightly off topic, anyone running Windows 8 with dual or triple monitors?

[GrayW]

I Dual Boot Ubuntu and Win7. Most of the time on Ubuntu.But a good point, though, that I can use it with my wife.Synergy is the software for that, right?

Synergy allows you to control multiple machines over a network with a single mouse and keyboard http://synergy-foss.org/

[Dot Matrix]

Had an extra lying around, so when I upgraded to Windows 8, I figured, "why not"?

Might get rid of it though, as I was never able to get my workflow to adapt around it.

[Lee G. Veteran]

I use dual monitors. I use a 24" monitor as my primary monitor alongside a 20" monitor. I've found that it has increased my productivity.

I can have a Word document on one monitor, and a browser open on the other. I can also have a video playing or a video game on one monitor, and a browser on the other.

I use my secondary monitor for displaying virtual machines and remote desktop sessions, and I often have my media player opened on that monitor.

[primexx]

How else can you tile 4 word documents side-by-side?

[Pupik]

Got 32' as my main monitor and 23' one right of it. Only use the second monitor when I play games like LoL to read more about the champion I'm playing from mobafire or alike. Or watch streams on twitch, when I'm doing something else. Rarely use the second monitor for anything else.

[Sikh]

I have 3 monitors. Center is 27" and sides are 24's which will be upgraded when I build a new desk.

When Developing Apps / Coding Websites / etc, its nice like everyone else to have Development Environment in middle, resources left or right, and email / browser for tesitng left or right.

On my macbook, i just went from 2 24's to 1 27" TB Display and I love it. Im an IT Tech at work, so I have a 27" tb and a 24" 1080 monitor. I really have to say, having 1 2440*1400(i believe) does replace 2 monitors for me. But, I will have another 27" for home when I can.

But, on my macbook i mainly do all of my work work on there and any linux compiling, bash scripting blah blah blah. So having multiple monitors is important on my Macbook but I can replace (for now) having multiple monitors at home by dividing my tb display into 4 quadrants.

At work we also got multiple desktops with dual 30" 2600*1600 dells on them. If I could get ASUS monitors IPS or not @ that resolution, then I honestly believe I can live with 2.

Resolution is mainly the thing for me and most of the people I know that use multiple monitors. Its easier to buy 4 27's at a good time, which will easily cost as much as a 27-30" IPS panel at anytime.

[Nashy]

I have 2 24" monitors.

There is so much room for extra programs. It's great when I'm multitasking with more than one program.

Especially Dreamweaver on one, Fireworks on the other. If I'm browsing, I usually have Winamp open in the other, or any other small task I'm doing in it.

[Coagulated]

I used to do a lot of video editing and a lot of the tools I used were designed for dual monitors. However, after a while I just found that I loved the increased productivity in general, even when doing recreational activities.

Okay, at one point I did used to play Football Manager on one screen whilst playing/administrating a Call of Duty 5 server on another screen - but that was just gluttonous!

[pixelpixel88]

I have 2 at work (actually a notebook + a monitor). Since im a software developer, i am coding on my laptop, and have the result (browser) or documentation open on the big monitor. Also its nice to check the resulting webpages on different resolutions and screen sizes.

[garwin]

you should check warwagon's setup

[+shift. MVC]

2x24" here, haven't looked back since I switched. My productivity in particular while programming is significantly better.

[metal_dragen Veteran]

Since OP doesn't do a lot of productivity style stuff, here's mostly how I and a few other people I know use a 2nd monitor for typical "home" use.

My PC at home is generally used mostly for gaming, so I use a 2nd monitor to keep an eye on things like CoreTemp (for monitoring CPU temps/load), PrecisionX (for monitoring GPU temp/load/fan speed), Ventrilo/TeamSpeak/Mumble, and have a web browser open for either reference or to watch streaming video while I play (background noise). I mostly play MMOs (Rift, The Secret World, SWTOR) so I don't have to concentrate fully 100% on the game all the time.

At work, it's as others have said - the second screen is used for reference or image editing for the document I'm working with on the primary screen.

[+Anarkii Subscriber²]

2 monitors.

As a 3D Artist I have my main screen with a 3D package on the left (usually Autodesk Maya or zBrush) and reference art on the right.

Also when not doing work I have browser on the left, and movies/games/porn/whatever on the right.

[The Laughing Man]

3 Monitors,Also should be add a poll.

[+Nik Louch Subscriber²]

As a web developer, I feel my sweet spot is 3 monitors:

* Back end code

* Template code & CSS

* Rendered HTML

[Defiant]

I have two 22" screens at home and work in a mirror setup. 99% of the time the LH screen is email & tickets via an RSS feed to the app bar in Outlook. RH screen is either dev tools I am working with or web browsing. Could not go back to one screen now.

Far quicker to look left & right rather than tabbing or lining up windows...

[Livin in a box]

I don't mean to hijack the thread, but to save making my own, I have another TV in my room that isn't being used but it doesn't support 1080p like my monitor does. I've tried plugging it in before but it was a pain as it made everything go at 768p, but is there a way around this?