Comments on: Multiple-Monitor Setups: Are Two Enough?

By: Kevin Connolly

Kevin Connolly — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 06:37:14 +0000

I often find myself with 30-40 windows open. The Taskbar and alt-tab just won’t do; I need space to see them all. My setup has 7 screens on one PC; 11 screens total.

http://www.kconnolly.net/office.aspx

So no, two is never enough.

By: Gertrude Jenkins

Gertrude Jenkins — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 21:56:31 +0000

Why doesn’t everyone just buy one 60″ screen and call it a day?

By: boe

boe — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 18:43:08 +0000

My boss would like 6 30″ screens (dell 3007wfp) monitors in an arrangement like this on his desk. Do you know where to get a stand or stands for 30″ like that shown in the picture – I can’t make out the name on it.

By: Jess

Jess — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 10:03:28 +0000

I can accept that there are some people who genuinely do need more than one monitor but I don't think I could get one with it. There are some good multi screen support systems out there but I think that more than one monitor would really hurt my eyes.

I think I would be tempted to browse through other websites on other monitors though, when I was supposed to be working on all of them.

By: jim anders

jim anders — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 18:12:08 +0000

I recently upgrade from a dual monitor stand to a triple monitor stand, and i have to say that my productivity has gone up. When you're used to having multiple monitors, one more couldn't hurt. You just added a bunch of desktop real estate. I also found this good review site on multiple monitor stand, perhaps it'll be helpful to someone

By: Adrian

Adrian — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 17:57:23 +0000

I have to say that I never even thought about using two monitors, but more than two seems even more ridiculous. If it can’t fit on one screen I think you might be overusing your computer, just my opinion :)

By: WWD’s 2009 in Review, Part 2

WWD’s 2009 in Review, Part 2 — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 14:01:42 +0000

[...] added in its latest release — I tried it out on a call with jkOnTherun blogger James. Sam pondered on the efficiency benefits of multi-monitor setups; Dawn discussed the impacts that blanket corporate policies can have on web working employees; [...]

By: Jamie

Jamie — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 21:41:38 +0000

I typically prefer multiple monitors, but I can definitely see the appeal in having a 30 inch as my only display. More about it here: http://blog.dtelepathy.com/telepathy/your-displays-large-or-numerous/

But for me, the best thing about multiple monitors is the separation that is created by having actual physical spaces available to place windows into. I can actually put something over to the right and glance over at it. That can really help my mind as it takes part in my workflow. It’s almost as if the head movement helps jog my memory. As for two versus three, I think that anything more than one is good enough.

By: Erin

Erin — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 22:34:13 +0000

There is another option that some people might find helpful and less expensive than plunking down $3k for six monitors, cards, stand, cables, etc. Many monitor cards (PNY, ATI etc.) have ‘multi-monitor’ modes. Some are called Hyperdesk or whatever. There are also free software utilities that allow your single monitor to work like 10 monitors. PNY’s Hyperdesk for example allows me to set up my single or dual monitor system to use up to 10 different desktop’s (think monitor floor space) and switch between them by a simple “Alt+Numerical Keypad 0-9″ and I can switch between multiple word processor files, to day trading windows, etc. What’s also neat is the softwares ability to remember a desktop configuration. So for my daytrading, with one command I can open up multiple programs, on multiple screens and I am up and running in the morning in moments.
Just a thought. :) Erin

By: Orgil

Orgil — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 12:38:06 +0000

hi. i have one trouble i cant multi monitor my one pc. My mainboard is Asrock G31S. is it enable? help me

By: Jesse

Jesse — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 17:17:40 +0000

I feel obligated to mention Synergy, an application that I use all the time to use one mouse/keyboard combo for multiple COMPUTERS. Most of the time, this consists of one dual-monitor desktop with a laptop sitting off to the right. I consider three screens to be the absolute ideal, when I do add a fourth screen, it’s likely to just end up playing music and running a visualization of some sort. Not really necessary from a productivity standpoint.

Synergy also allows me to use a multitude of operating systems without having to jump back and forth or run a bunch of VM’s. My Desktop can run Linux, my laptop can run Windows, and I can have an OSX laptop off to the right (running visualizations, as mentioned) to test the latest design draft in Safari and IE for Mac.

By: Alex Fadeyev

Alex Fadeyev — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 14:19:38 +0000

Having more than one monitor is great but just the first step to increase the overall productivity – there are some minor but annoying user interface drawbacks which may diminish the work efficiency (at least, on Microsoft Windows OS):

- there is no standard service such as Windows Taskbar to manage windows located on secondary displays
- you can’t quickly minimize, restore, or activate any particular window via its Taskbar button without having to move your cursor to the primary display
- there is no access to the Start Menu from secondary displays – requires moving the mouse pointer to the primary display each time you need to access Start Menu
- when you switch windows using Alt-Tab the Task Switcher service window is displayed on the primary display only, which is quite distracting if your current attention is on a secondary display
- there is no quick way to move a window to a certain monitor or to maximize a window over the entire composite desktop if such need arises

Unfortunately, even the upcoming Windows 7 doesn’t address those issues properly, so most of power multi-monitor users usually utilize the 3rd party products, such as UltraMon, MultiMon or DisplayFusion. Recently, there appears the new solution – Actual Multiple Monitors (http://www.actualtools.com/multiplemonitors/), which fixes the mentioned UI issues and provides some additional services such as window thumbnails on WinXP, Windows 7 Aero Snap emulation on WinXP/WinVista, and others.

I’d recommend any professionals who uses several displays at once at least check this program out – it may improve the multi-monitor experience significantly.

By: Wayward

Wayward — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 18:52:57 +0000

I’ve been running two monitors at work for the past 6 months or so and I love it. I’m a web content editor and I tend to use one screen for reference and the other for making editorial and formatting/layout changes. The kicker is when I work from home. I’m still using a 9lb desktop replacement at home. When I bought it 5 years ago, it was perfect for my needs but it doesn’t have the video capacity to support dualies. Now that I’ve been using two monitors at work, I just get irritated at how slowly my work gets done from home. Planning to purchase a new set up in the next few weeks. Yea!

By: Ian

Ian — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 09:55:17 +0000

I've been using two monitors for a while now but I was always disappointed with the way desktop backgrounds worked with them. I eventually made this sweet app & now many of my friends & coworkers use it.

By: Workaround: iTunes Video and Dual Screens | Mac Bargains

Workaround: iTunes Video and Dual Screens | Mac Bargains — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 07:14:57 +0000

[...] a lot of folks out there, I run dual monitors on my Mac. In my home office where there’s no TV, it’s nice to occasionally dedicate [...]

By: Zoltán Cserei

Zoltán Cserei — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 05:50:29 +0000

I once had a dual-view setup, but I had to sell my second-screen. It was a luxury that I liked very much. One for my active tasks, and one for my passive tasks (like opening Thunderbird there, iTunes, etc.). Now the taskbar replaces the second monitor ;))