Quad monitors - 3+1 or 2x2. Anyone use the 3+1 in workstation enviornment?

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I'm looking at a new monitor setup for a workstation and I just discovered the 3+1 setup which is attractive and would save me from having to buy one extra monitor.

I have 23" monitors and thought that 3 across might be a little wide for a workstation but it would allow for 2 centered monitors which I really like.

Has anyone used these setups outside of gaming?
 
You'll have to forgive me, but I don't really understand the distinctions you draw between 2x2 3+1, etc. I use 3x 1920x1200 24" displays at work with a 4th 1680x1050 display in the upper center right. Two of the displays are driven by Intel on-board and two are drive by a discrete card. It's really awesome for development work. I tend to have two browsers open side by side on the left, their corresponding dev screens and Visual Studio 2012 on the center, Sublime Text on the right, and all the misc chat, email, music and other garbage on the top right.
 
How exactly do you mean 3+1?

Here's my 3+1,

12958654835_404fac31d2_b.jpg


Granted, the top is a 32" TV.
 
You'll have to forgive me, but I don't really understand the distinctions you draw between 2x2 3+1, etc. I use 3x 1920x1200 24" displays at work with a 4th 1680x1050 display in the upper center right. Two of the displays are driven by Intel on-board and two are drive by a discrete card. It's really awesome for development work. I tend to have two browsers open side by side on the left, their corresponding dev screens and Visual Studio 2012 on the center, Sublime Text on the right, and all the misc chat, email, music and other garbage on the top right.

The picture above is what I was referring to. When I found the ads for the stands, I thought that was the standard terminology for that setup.

I didn't know that the onboard could be used when there was an add-on card also in the system. I asked on another forum and was told I had to choose one or the other, or add a second graphics card. I know my mother board has an HDMI and display port output and it uses the CPU for processing. Is there anything special you have to do to get the onbaord to work? I have an Asus P8Z77-V DELUXE & i7 3770K CPU if that matters.
 
I use 20-30-20 plp with a small 16" tv below that I use as a fourth when not watching tv. I plan to upgrade to a 29" 2560x1080 to go above the 30".
 
I have 23" monitors and thought that 3 across might be a little wide for a workstation but it would allow for 2 centered monitors which I really like.

The problem with going with only 2 monitors across is you have a bezel in the middle of your field of vision. I personally find it really annoying even for productivity software.

If you have lots of information that you only have to refer to once in a while on screen then the monitor above works well, but if you are using it a lot you'll get neck strain unless the lower monitors are *REALLY* low ie. the bottom bezel touches the desk.
 
The picture above is what I was referring to. When I found the ads for the stands, I thought that was the standard terminology for that setup.

I didn't know that the onboard could be used when there was an add-on card also in the system. I asked on another forum and was told I had to choose one or the other, or add a second graphics card. I know my mother board has an HDMI and display port output and it uses the CPU for processing. Is there anything special you have to do to get the onbaord to work? I have an Asus P8Z77-V DELUXE & i7 3770K CPU if that matters.

I looked into the descriptions used for various setups and you're right. My setup is sort-of 3+1 only in the sense that instead of the +1 being directly over the top of center, it's centered between the center and right displays.

I've used 3+1, and I found the top monitor to be pretty useless.

I think it depends on what you're doing. I like to put all the "extraneous" shit up there on the fourth display. Things I rarely need to look at or that are not the focus point for work.

The problem with going with only 2 monitors across is you have a bezel in the middle of your field of vision. I personally find it really annoying even for productivity software.

If you have lots of information that you only have to refer to once in a while on screen then the monitor above works well, but if you are using it a lot you'll get neck strain unless the lower monitors are *REALLY* low ie. the bottom bezel touches the desk.

I agree with this. I rarely look up at the top display for more than a moment. If it's something like an IM or email that needs actual attention, I just drag it down to the primary display.
 
Usability with top screens really just depend on how far or close you are sitting from them. You need more distance than normal unless you had pretty
small screens. My top one is used for my PS4, 360, N64, Chromecast, cable, etc. It works well for me.
 
At work I currently am using 4 23" 1920x1080 screen all set side by side. It works quite well for what I do. However, when dealing with the 4th screen, I tend to not use it all that often because I have to physically turn to my left to see it.

I've been using 3 monitors for about 5 years now and I added the 4th on last year. I do plan on buying a new stand that will allow me to do a 3+1. I'll use the upper screen for monitoring things or to display Bloomberg on Aereo.
 
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