Comments on: How Many Monitors Should You Have?

By: Alex Fadeyev

Alex Fadeyev — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 08:26:53 +0000

Having several monitors connected to your PC is just a first step. The expanded screen space requires smart tools to manage the greater number of open windows and use this space effectively. Moreover, Windows GUI has some minor but annoying drawbacks when running on several monitors:

- 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

I’d like to recommend anyone who runs Windows on a multi-monitor PC to read this short article: http://www.actualtools.com/windowmanager/dual_monitor_taskbar_task_switcher_and_other_multi_monitor_enhancements.shtml.

By: cr0ft

cr0ft — Tue, 27 May 2008 10:26:19 +0000

I purposely went out and bought 3 20-inch square screens (HP’s) with 1600×1200 and they were brilliant side by side. I think three screens are the sweet spot.

I wound up with one of them rotated into pivot mode. That was perfect for anything vertical – web surfing became a whole different experience. The other two were great for everything else.

Of course, once one starts in on the path to the dark side… I bought a 30 incher to replace the center screen for Christmas, and then rotated both the remaining 20 inchers into the vertical. Now I have a honking huge workspace in front of me, the browser/word processor/whatever is vertical to the left, and use the rightmost screen for whatever is left.

The height from end to end is 1600 pixels across all three screens, so the mouse moves naturally from screen to screen. I think I have achieved screen nirvana.

Of course, with 24 inch and 30 inch screens, they almost become too large to use effectively without wasting a lot on white space – but a program I found a while back, Winsplit Revolution, has become a mainstay for window management. It allows you to use quick keystrokes to shuffle windows around on the desktop and effectively tile them etc.

By: Mathew "Berek" Anderson

Mathew "Berek" Anderson — Tue, 27 May 2008 09:56:23 +0000

Just a few days ago I purchased 2 – Doublesight 26″ DS-263N H-IPS monitors, as well as 1 – 22″ Acer monitor for my second rig.

I’m still in China and due to be back home with my monitors waiting for me in two weeks. I’ve tried 2 – 20″ and while it was nice it was a bit cramped. I can’t wait to sit down at 2×26/1×22!

By: Dusty Edwards

Dusty Edwards — Tue, 27 May 2008 00:57:08 +0000

Another fine article my friend. I currently run dual 24″ Dell’s on my Mac Pro and added a 19″ Acer x193w which has a 2000:1 contrast ratio to my iMac ( which makes a great setup by the way ). As for my XP Box, I run 3 19″ Acer x193w’s which is mainly used for coding and mIRC.

By: Jake

Jake — Tue, 27 May 2008 00:11:32 +0000

You say it’s not a problem any more, but if you start losing your cursor again, get Mouse Locator:

http://www.2point5fish.com/

By: John B

John B — Mon, 26 May 2008 23:13:41 +0000

I just bought more than a dozen dell ultra sharp 20 widescreens for all the guys at work. I had been using a 19″ and a 15″ CRT before (terrible but it was 2) and once I had my dual 20’s everyone had to have them.
The learning curve on using them effectively is not to be underestimated. If I had it to do over again I don’t think I would go with the wide screen monitors because they are just big enough that not everything fits in peripheral vision.

By: Ded Ryzing

Ded Ryzing — Mon, 26 May 2008 21:19:30 +0000

How does the saying go? “Once you go multiple you’ll never go back..” Something like that. Anyways… Having multiple screens is the way to go. Currently on Windows XP right now and what I really miss are the virtual desktops you can get with Linux and OS X (called Spaces in Leopard I believe?). Right now I have dual screens but with virt desktops I had 4, 6 or as many as I needed. Having all my apps open on diff spaces and flipping through them with the mouse wheel…sweet. Right now I almost feel crippled with just 2 screens.

By: bgagne

bgagne — Mon, 26 May 2008 20:59:30 +0000

I run 3 — left hand is my Toshiba Tecra with a 17″ screen. This is my primary, with my taskbar mounted on the left edge. To its right (the middle) is a 22″ Chimei, and to the right is a 19″ Chimei. I run a Toshiba Dynadock to coordinate my USB keyboard, mouse, couple of peripherals and the 22″ screen through an integrated VGA port. The 19″ goes into my VGA out on the Tecra. Voila! Three screens with ease.

By: [PCM] How Many Monitors Should You Have? - Page 2 - Overclock.net - Overclocking.net

Mon, 26 May 2008 19:27:10 +0000

[...] Posted by Marin Source Interesting, multiple smaller screens of the same size are better than one larger one I [...]

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[PCM] How Many Monitors Should You Have? - Overclock.net - Overclocking.net — Mon, 26 May 2008 18:31:36 +0000

[...] How Many Monitors Should You Have? Source [...]