Three monitors - What do you use them for?

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I already had two monitors, just bought a matching third because it was on sale. Now I am having regret. Besides gaming, what does everyone use three monitors or more for?

I do music once in a while, so I can see it being useful there. But besides stocks and post production, do people really use three monitors for regular use? If so can I have some ideas?
 
I am a software developer and had 3 monitors at my previous job. 19", 24", 24". It was a database driven C# web app so I would keep Visual Studio in the middle, SQL Server Management Studio on the right monitor, and a browser with the app open on the left. It was nice to be able to work in both code bases and see the app all at the same time.

At home I just run 2x24" as I have never found a use for a third.
 
For normal usage:
Monitor 1: Web Browser
Monitor 2: Whatever TV show or movie I'm watching. If I'm doing research or trying to compare something, this becomes another web browser window.
Monitor 3: Notepad++ for when I write forum posts as well as any PDFs I might be reading at the time.

I use to have a 4th monitor but that died. When I had the 4th monitor and did modding for FNV, my setup was:
Monitor 1: Original or source model in NifSkope or texture in GIMP
Monitor 2: Modded model in NifSkope or texture in GIMP
Monitor 3: FNV GECK modding program
Monitor 4: Whatever TV show or movie I'm watching or any FNV modding tutorial I need to refresh my memory with.

Really missing that 4th monitor.
 
4 x cheapie 22" AoC monitors off 1 7850 in a square config.

Top left - Desktop / Music / Toolbars / Shortcuts / Folders
Top right - Web browser / Powerpoints / Word documents
Bottom right - Dev Apps
Bottom left - Dev Apps

I hate minimizing and moving things around. It limits my productivity.
 
I use 3, game on the middle one, right one is for gadgets and misc apps, left one is for misc stuff as well; use it as a placeholder if I have multiple programs or multiple windows of the same program open so I don't have to minimize or have windows overlapping..
Sometimes I'll watch a movie or tv program on one of the side monitors if I am doing something on the middle one.
I use all 3 when I use Adobe Premiere.
 
General usage:

1) Media (Video and audio)
2) Web / Chat / School PDF's
3) Misc windows like monitoring software and whose online chat lists

"Work" For class stuff
1) Media / extra PDF space as needed
2) Whatever engineering software is required (Solidworks, MATLAB, etc....)
3) PDF space / web browsers for stuff


I get the most use out of my 3 monitors during cramming school time


*note* I only game with one monitor.
 
3? LOL, I have 4 and it doesn't seem like enough sometimes.

Generally, for work, I have Outlook open on my left monitor, the web open on my center, random IM and notes on my right, and my VM for testing and RDP'ing into servers on my top monitor.

Technically I have 5, but the 5th is plugged into my wife's laptop when she needs it...

newdesk02.JPG
 
Left is for work email. Center is the main screen for browsing, building presentations, Sketchup models, gaming, etc. right is for pandora or whatever music I am listening too. Seriously considering adding a fourth.
 
I never minimize anything ever. I just move it to another monitor.

The top center display is my primary display and used for whatever my current primary task is.
The monitor on the far right is dedicated to widgets telling me the time, date, weather, system usages and temperatures.
The monitor on the bottom left is used for Steam. I always have my library and friends list up and any steam chat windows.
The bottom center display has the task bar. I'll often have some open folders down there and sometimes secondary applications or browser windows.
The bottom right monitor usually has winamp and teamspeak on it.
The top corners are usually used for secondary browser windows or applications, often with some sort of gaming stream on them.

I do occasionally have 3 or 4 twitch gaming streams up. Sometimes there are multiple StarCraft tournaments going on at once to watch.
I'll also be doing some programming with my IDE taking one screen, the stuff I'm making on another screen, with some references to what I'm working on on another screen while watching StarCraft tournaments, etc.



Whenever a better monitor comes out for gaming I will get it and use it as my primary monitor, but I keep the old ones as secondary displays. Since I got to 7 I haven't found myself in any situations where I wish I had more. With only 6 screens I occasionally did, although it was rare.
 
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