I’ve just bought a new monitor and I was wondering what to do with my old one, which is still perfectly servicable. It wouldn’t be difficult to hook it up to my PC as well (apart from lack of desk-space) and I’ve heard that a lot of people do this.
I was wondering though, apart from the obvious increase in usable desktop space what other advantages does it give. My new 24" monitor is plenty big enough just for desktop space.
Totally incoherent question but hopefully you get my drift. 
You can run something in full screen without giving up your ability to quickly do something else.
For the same amount of space, having two distinct areas can help you easily differentiate and organize windows and programs. For example, you can say “All my inputs are on this monitor and all my outputs are on that monitor”.
I use a second monitor for several windows I want open all the time. I have a TV tuner in my desktop, so I can run a cable TV window. I also have caller ID software running on two landlines that screen calls and hang up on telemarketers and such. Plus some Windows desktop gadgets to track the stock market, headlines, weather, etc.
On my current job, I have 8-10 programs open at all times, often multiple windows of several of them. Most of my tasks require using 2-5 of those programs at once. It would be extremely inconvenient to be trying to do my job on only one monitor.
The purpose? More screen space.
I have three screens at work. I use:
For static applications that just need little attention or need to be constantly on top. So, I usually have my instant messaging client and my music player on that screen. If I’m watching a training video or in an online conference, I’ll often put it full screen there.
For my web browser or main application of focus (e.g., Word, Excel).
For my email client, or second application of focus (e.g., Word, Excel).
This means I can be watching for information updates while I work, and also be comparing documents or working on a project based on information in email or another app.
If all you’re doing is web browsing, or working in a single application at a time, it might not be worth it. If you do any data entry or document comparison – or find yourself switching between applications a lot – it might be a huge help.
It’s handy to keep your center monitor super high res for games and/or working in graphics apps etc., and then have a more moderate resolution off the side for web browsing and chat.
Most of those replies assume that I can multi-task!
Only kidding, thanks everyone!
At work, I find it enormously useful - if I’m running something that I need to keep an eye on, I can maximise it in one screen while I get on with other work in the other one.
Also, if I’m configuring a bit of software, writing code, documenting a process, etc, I can have the document open in one screen and the work in the other - makes it really easy to transcribe bits from one to the other, or to compare theoretical configuration sets against real life, etc.
When I owned an online business, multiple monitors were a Godsend. I used three on my main monitor. On the main one I used the program I used for designing the website. The one on the left was used for Photoshop to make the graphics and the one on the right displayed a browser so I could see what the final product would look like. My main monitor was a 21" and the side monitors were 17" displays.
Once you became used to using a multiple setup it became frustrating to use a single monitor. Remember, that you need either multiple graphics cards (sometimes not easy to do if your computer has an integrated video card on the motherboard) or a single graphics card capable of supporting two momitors.
I lead quite a few meetings where I share my desktop so that everyone in the teleconference can see it. It’s very handy for marking up documents and walking through requirements for projects.
The problem is that I also use an instant messenger program (lets me field messages from my boss or ask other people not on the call quick questions) and a teleconference management program (lets me see who’s on the call and who’s currently speaking) while I’m holding the meeting.
Having 2 monitors allows me to share one with the teleconference that has the documents were working on while I have another they can’t see that I use for IM, meeting management, checking e-mail, etc.
zoid, you probably already know this, but some conferencing apps (e.g., WebEx) let you share applications instead of screens.
Yeah I know but sometimes we’re reviewing several different docs (a word doc, a spreadsheet, a project plan, etc) and to quickly switch between them it’s easier to share the desktop of the first monitor so anything I bring up there is shared, and move the apps I don’t want anyone to see to the other monitor.
I use two monitors so I can watch netflix on one and read other things on the other.
Yeah I get that it is strange, I just focus on whatever is more interesting at the time.
I am using two monitors right at the moment, and my mail is on one screen, the web browser on the other. I actually have a third monitor connected that I only use for video editing - the timeline on one screen, the previews on the second, the program on the third in HD. For my purposes, a great video card and extra monitors are worth a whole lot more than a faster overall computer.
My current project at work would be next to impossible with out dual screens: I’m watching video of lectures and matching them to the PowerPoints used during the presentations (I’ll be recording the PowerPoints with Camtasia next, and inserting the lecture videos as picture-in-picture). If I couldn’t have the PowerPoint on one screen and the video playing on the other, I’d pretty much be screwed. As it is I’m writing down the slide timing and typing it up later because even flipping between Word and PowerPoint would be crazy-making.
I have two monitors at work. My most typical usage, and it is very helpful, is to have SAP fullscreen on one, Excel fullscreen on the other. I do a lot of copy and pasting between the two, and the two-screen solution is a lot better than when I used to have to tab between the two.
In the next few days I’ll have to compare pieces of two ginormous databases. I can’t do it mechanically; I have to open one screen in one, open the same view in the other and compare field by field. Why? Because the technical people have been swearing up and down that the two are the same and I have already proved they’re not; now I have to find out what’s causing those differences which they still swear are “impossible!” (as I told my boss, “it’s happening therefore it’s possible”).
Being able to have them side-by-side in two monitors would be very convenient. It would mean being able to check them without either having to alttab constantly or to narrow both views until a point where I need to be using the displacement bar all the time.
I’ll second all of the above, and add one more: it’s great for mapping and GIS software, where often you’ll have a database or a document open on one side, and the map you’re working on on the other.
If you find it useful to keep a running log of problems and solutions, work progress, etc., it’s great to not have to be minimizing and maximizing it all the time.
I have two computers, each with only one monitor. I would sort of like to have two monitors on both, but that would take more space than my current desk arrangement can handle. I really ought to sort all this mess out, actually…
Anyways, I have two monitors at work, and that’s absolutely necessary as I use a 3D computer graphics application, Photoshop, and After Effects, where more screen space allows for finer detail work.
I have 3 monitors at work.
Left: Database, documentation, or other tertiary application depending on the task
Middle: Main coding window
Right: Web browsers for viewing what I’m coding
I like having multiple monitors rather than one huge monitor. For one, I like the distinct areas of multiple monitors as opposed to the large, amorphous shape of one big monitor where stuff would always be overlapping and getting in each the way. Also, I can angle multiple monitors so that they all point at me. I know curved large monitors exist, but they are very expensive.