What do you guys use 2 monitors for?

J

jordan12

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Dec 29, 2000
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I am looking at getting a second LCD..mainly looks..

But trying to figure out the advantages, etc..

What do you all use 2 monitors for?
 
Everyone's got their own uses, but in general, it's very helpful for separating your work - i.e. dividing it up by task. For example if you're writing something you can have it on your main screen, with your references or email or just your Winamp/iTunes open on the second monitor. I find it makes me very productive being able to physically separate tasks that are also logically separate. Generally I have my main task on the main monitor and my and my supporting apps on the second - IM, mp3, email etc.
 
I personally hate minimizing windows. So usually I would have something like Adobe Lightroom on my right monitor, and Firefox or Photoshop CS3 on my Left Monitor.

You need to play with it to really appreciate it.
 
I am a network engineer/admin/monkey and one job I worked at had dual monitors for us. At first I was like, yeah....I don't really need two monitors.

After a couple weeks I found it very useful, and noticed I was using the second monitor for alot of stuff, and it helped alot.

Then the time came where I had to move to a new project where we only had one monitor. I then realised exactly how useful a second monitor truly is. I found myself trying to drag windows and command prompts to the non existant second monitor. Seconds seemed like hours, days seemed like years. Everything was dull, I was deeply depressed and wound up crying in the fetal position in my cube for hours sometimes. After many weeks of counseling I was okay again.

For home use though, I honestly don't think I would need one, since all I do is game on my computer.
 
For work they are very handy. Working on screen layouts or programs or writing scripts while referencing multiple spreadsheets and pdfs is something I do on a daily basis. There is no such thing as too much desktop space, regardless of your task. ;)
 
it's very usefully for anything that involves several sets of data at once or two ways to display the data:

word and related excel document
informative website and thesis/homework
dictionary and moonspeak
reference pictures and drawing
zoomed and full picture
shaded and wireframe views
ebay and paypal
work and pron
sourcecode and program
html code and website
trading and news

...
 
THRESHIN said:
PORN
Click to expand...

i was wondering how long it would take for this response... lol...

I usually keep Winamp, IMs, and some other smaller stuff on my main (laptop LCD) monitor and use my secondary LCD for web browsing, email, and Media Center...
 
i watch tv (tv card) and keep all my msn stuff on the 2. monitor... also, i run a special software mixer on the 2. monitor
 
Supreme Commander! :D
My 2 Eve Online accounts. One on each screen.
TV/Xbox/DVD on one and one of the above or surfing on the other.
 
I actually got my 2 CRTs from a friend over a period of a year, and finally got a new vid card some months back with a DVI and VGA input, so I said what the heck, I'll plug both in. The lumbering behemoths took pretty much all of my desk space up until I just replaced one with my Acer LCD. I have my LCD directly in front of me with my CRT to the side at an angle. I usually have Amarok or VLC playing something on the second one (CRT) and my main stuff like firefox, OpenOffice, etc. on the LCD.

It's probably quite important if you work on a computer all day, which I don't, but for home use in general it's still quite useful if you can afford it/have the space/etc. as we all run many things at once these days.
 
I don't find it that useful for gaming ... because I can't concentrate on anything else, although it's nice to have email up on the other display.

For work applications ... word, excel, and powerpoint, it comes in very handy - altho a large display can accomplish almost the same things with multiple windows open.
 
shazza said:
I don't find it that useful for gaming ... because I can't concentrate on anything else, although it's nice to have email up on the other display.

For work applications ... word, excel, and powerpoint, it comes in very handy - altho a large display can accomplish almost the same things with multiple windows open.
Click to expand...

Well if you play WoW in window mode on your first monitor you can just drag the mouse over and use thottbot on the second and be looking at the exact location on maps tips etc while your gaming. Otherwise you can throw your hardware monitor over there, as well as Instant Messenger, or Xfire or whatever as well as see who is holding downt he push to talk button and screaming on vent.

Or watching Porn while playing games or other movies (yea right hah). But you can say check email respond to IM, brows net / pay bills while watching a movie on the other screen.

Also great while developing software etc. Basicaly it's just more realestate while you work. Kind of like having 2 desks or a very large desk made from two combined desks.

2 monitors is cool but 3 would be awesome ;)

Finaly the real reason we have 2 huge ass screens is to get the chicks.
 
at work i usually have lotus notes on one monitor, with a few things minimzed, and on the second i have consoles and rdp connections, internet, IM


home, sorta the same thing.. I have amarok, some terminals, IM, irc, and on the other usually the internet and folders i'm working in
 
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