Dual monitors rock!

Finally got my laptop at work, and now that it’s all set up with its nifty docking station and all, I decided to set it up as a dual monitor (using the monitor from my former desktop). I absolutely love working like this. I can have my IM client, email, and other constant-but-not-essential stuff on one screen, and work in the other. I especially love being able to fill out a document on one screen, while looking up the info on the other.

I’m going to feel like I’ve lost an eye when I get home to my single-monitor setup!

Agreed. Dual monitors do, indeed, rock.

I second that. HAHAHAHAHA. I Crack Me Up. :smack:

do they work on games?

When I get into work, I have to re-learn to use alt-tab. And it’s horrid.
(BTW, I give this thread three hours before it’s a pissing contest about who’s got the multiest-monitor setup…)

Heh. Only an hour into it, and I’ve got a triple. :slight_smile:

I have a dual monitor setup at home.

Sadly, at the moment I have only one cable.

I have a three monitor setup - a high res 21" display for CAD and related apps, a 17" screen beside that for working at normal resolutions, and a 17" screen above that for IM, e-mail, help file display and so forth. Set up as such in both WinXP and Debian linux in a dual-boot system.

I’m such a geek.

I love my second monitor. It’s perfect for Photoshop; I’ll have my project full size on one monitor, and all my toolbars open on the other.

I have a single 1024x768 display at home.

Have pity on me, and post pictures of these setups.

Wait, you can do that? My laptop will let me have two monitors, but they’ll both show the same thing. I thought that setup was only possible on desktops.

[hijack]For a little bit of fun with a dual monitor setup, reverse the moniters. Dad had his set up backwards by accident, and couldn’t figure out why when he pulled the mouse to the left of the screen, it wouldn’t go to the other monitor :smiley: [/hijack]

I de-geek myself by not having a camera…but I’ve got two monitors in front of me, a synthesiser and two printers neatly stacked on shelves one side, and audio stuff the other side, far less neatly. And all my boxes of ‘other stuff’ and junk piled in the corner.

And yes, I do end up tripping on something whenever I stand up :smack:
BTW, another pathetic competition would be ‘who has the most plugs in the back of their computer?’ - I’ve got 14. I’m happy being above-average :wink:

It depends on the laptop - it might be simply switching the output from the internal one to the VGA connection. Others operate as two separate monitors - not a particularly unusual requirement, when you think of powerpoint being used on projectors etc.

I think it would be cool to see some dopers’ very own set-ups, but in the meantime, a quick Google Images search turns up a few examples. Personally, I only have one monitor, but I have played around with a 2-monitor system in the past, and I can tell you that it is a lot of fun to keep pushing your mouse back and forth from one screen to the other. :slight_smile:

Screen Spanning Doctor enables iBooks, iMacs and eMacs to use “spanning” mode (2 seperate monitors).
It also will drive the external monitor at higher resolutions than the internal display.
And it’s free! (donations accepted)

A bit of advice, please.

I have a Dell desktop and a Samsung 19" 997DF monitor. What, exactly, would i need to do in order to connect a second monitor to this system? What else would i need to buy?

Also, i do own an older 17" monitor. If i have two monitors connected, can i adjust the settings for each one individually from Windows?

If it helps, the system is:

Dell 8300, P4 3.0GHz w/ 800MHz FSB
1Gb RAM
NVidia GeForce 5200

On a desktop system, don’t I need a second video card to make this fly?

I haven’t tried it, but I think my Dell laptop will support it by displaying monitor 1 on the LCD and monitor 2 on my external CRT…but I could be mistaken.

Mine is a Dell, single video card. Because there is a port on my docking station to allow an external monitor, I don’t need an additional card. How it would be done without a docking station and only a single card, I wouldn’t know.

The multiple monitor setups I’ve used (NVidia, Appian and Colorgraphics - friends have used Matrox cards but I haven’t) have allowed a variety of multiple monitor video arrangements.

I’m permanently sold on them.

I’ve used a triple monitor set up for six or seven years now, after using a dualie for a couple of years.

For real work, it’s absolutely grand.

I’m addicted. My PowerBook lets me hook a second monitor up and I have a big Sony 20" Trinitron at work for it and at my apartment an old 15". Whenever I have to work for a prolonged period with just one screen I get frustrated.

Soon I’m supposed to be getting a Y connector which will let me run a third screen, which isn’t half bad for a laptop :slight_smile: I’m going to put a small flat-panel display up on my desk.