Dual Monitors: Is There Any Need?

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he doesn’t get the multi-tasking benefits of having multiple things open and immediately visable. 2 monitors is also a god send when you’re crafting a post for example that relies on an email for data: one monitor focused on the writing app, the other with the email open for reference or copy paste…or for image creation etc. I’d go 3 monitors tomorrow if I had a desk big enough to take the third…or maybe I could fit it in :-)

I was very dubious about dual monitor setups until recently when a local supermarket had a special offer on 19″ LCDs and it prompted me to ask the question of my friends on Jaiku as to whether a second monitor was really worthwhile. The answer was a resounding yes. So I took an old CRT out of cold storage and attached it to my laptop, which has always supported dual screens. I’ve been trialling this setup for a few weeks now and I have to say I’d find it very difficult to go back to single screen.

I use the second monitor as… a monitor. In the true sense. I monitor the live web – Twitter and Jaiku via Google Talk IM. Being able to glance over to my right at that monitor as messages come in instead of task switching on my primary screen saves me a huge amount of time, not just in task switching but in *context* switching. It’s hard to describe the difference but when glancing briefly at the peripheral screen I don’t feel like I’m context switching. I’m not taking my attention 100% away from what I was doing and so I find it much easier to keep a train of thought going. The secondary monitor isn’t distracting. In fact I’ve taken to calling it my PAD – Peripheral Attention Display :)

I’ve gotten so used to working with two monitors, I also find it very difficult to work on just one now. I’ve gone so far as to get 3 setup on my work machine. I’ll typically have a browser on one, the code I’m working on on another and reference material on the third. Virtual screens are nice, but if I can quickly glance around … it keeps my train of thought from derailing that much more often.

Try going back to one monitor after using a 3-screen setup. Talk about a drop in productivity.

I have two monitors at work. I come in in the morning, slap my laptop into the docking station, open it up, and whip my mouse across the two screens. The right one (I’m left-handed) has my email and chat, and the left one (the laptop itself) is where I do most of my work. If I have to read off something as a reference, I drag it to the right.

I have been using a dual screen in the last 5 years and I dont hink I could be able to switch back to only one screen. I uses the second one with Google Desktop which gives me nice widget like a analog clock, live weather, a small Gtalk window and some system monitoring tool. I alway have iTunes playing on that screen, I love to have my playlist right in front of me. Then you have the IMs windows, I just cant stand having IM windows in front/back of my Web Browser, so they are all on that second monitor, I care less if they are on top of iTunes, as long as I see it. Dual screen are perfect when coding and/or web designing, I can have my favorites sFTP client and text editor on a screen while Firefox own the first screen with a dozen of tabs.

Maybe I like to work like that because I’m a visual person, I like to have everyting so I can see them at the same time. I also am a Linux user, I had Virtual Desktops and I was still using them on a dual screen. I had like 6 or more Terminals on one virtual desktop while having everything I said earlier on another virtual desktop.

But I consider myself a Poweruser, so in my case yes, a dual screen Is Needed. I even had a tri-screen once and I would go back to it at anytime :)

I just wanted to pipe in with the fact that virtual desktops (like Spaces) are nothing new – heck, even FVWM ha[d|s] support for virtual desktops. The first thing I did on any Windows desktop was to install a pared down version of Litestep for its virtual desktop functionality.

I do agree with Chris, too. I mainly use my second monitor for A) tracking items but also B) a place to shunt windows that I’m using, but not working with right ATM. That way I can just reach over and grab ‘em real quick when I need to.

Slightly related and worth mentioning on this topic is Switcher by Bao Nguyen. It brings the OSX Expose style switching to Windows Vista.

I have had dual monitors for the last ten years at least and couldn’t do without them. Whilst multiple desktops etc. can achieve the same in terms of screen space it is the reduction in cognitive interrupt which is the big productivity gainer. Being able to change something in an IDE and view it in the browser without your consciousness being interrupted by the transition between pages is where the big gains are. Where I formerly used to work a test was done to see if there was a measurably increase in productivity and for me it came out at about 30% when engaged on web development..

Dual monitors also work great for apps like video and image production, video editors and web applications that provide several editing palettes. One can enjoy the tools on one monitor while the preview or source is being edited in the other monitor.

Virtual desktops can’t be used in those scenarios.

yep i agree with u chris. unfortunately i dont have the funds to buy a second monitor, but when i do i have no hesitations for buying one. my monitor’s max resolution is 1024×768, which really isn’t enough. i’d love to have a sidebar and all kinds of windows open at once, but with that resolution, and on a 15″ monitor on top of it all, i can’t. While spaces is cool, i find it easier to just look over to another monitor rather than having to switch them even though that’s not very hard. It’s especially useful when you want to have 2 things open and you can’t fit them on one screen, and you can’t afford to hide either one. moving your eyes is much faster than switching virtual desktops :)

Hrm, if you haven’t dual screened before, perhaps you don’t “need” it. But once you start using one, you’ll definitly get hooked on.

Dual-screening for me really increases my multi-tasking abilty, I mess around with my network, and I maximize my MSTSC(remote desktop) in my second screen, so I can access and change settings on my WinXP that is acting as a server, using the same set of mouse and keyboard that’s on my Vista.

It also splits the work load; when I edit my website, I can upload in one computer via mstsc, and stream music from Pandora.com, and continue to work on the site on the other computer, and mstsc doesn’t drain as much hardware resources.

Dual screening just saves so much time and hassal.

I definitely agree. I un-hooked my second monitor last night because I needed more desk space and it is a CRT and I miss it already.

Chris must like the word DUDE. I have done the whole dual monitor thing before and always go back to one single monitor because personal I dont like clutter and 2 monitors looked cluttered, and I find my single 22″ LCD HD Flatscreen it does the job, I am still able to multitask.

Scott

I want a second monitor

i use dual monitors on my computer one is 1600*1280 and the other is 1024*768
and they are to the max i use a ati 1300 pro when my computer was a pc it worked but when i changed to linux it is harder to sett up but i think two monitors is worth it at least for me a gray hat hacker

I agree with Chris, I’ve been dual-screening my Macbook Pro for a month now…and I cant live without my second screen (21′)…it’s like how Windows Vista cant live without BSOD or bugs

“Codename Frost” has gotta realize that not everybody has a focus on games. Some people use their computers for work. It’s not about being able to switch between desktops instantly, but being able to see things you’re working on at the same time in different apps.

I’d sure like dual monitors, maybe even three. I do a lot of CAD work, and need other programs open at the same time. Oftentimes flipping and dragging between the SolidWorks and/or Corel Designer, Photoshop and one of two or three HTML editors I use. That’s to say nothing of also having having Firefox, TBird and Mailwasher open.

It never ends…

BTW, some time ago, when Chris first started writing about using more than one monitor, he wrote of ‘duel’ monitors. Sounded like he had to fight with it a lot!

.

Currently using 4 !9″ monitors when it comes to filing forms hwere inst. and forms can all be up it’s the bomb! When it comes to play watching TV on one chatting on another monitoring stocks AND playing a game is unreal. The girl is jealous of this computer

Hi
I use 2 moitors on my Mac G4. It works really well except that in Firefox, windows won’t stay put ant often jump over from 2nd screen to first, or the top strip disappears beyond the 2nd monitor top edge so I can’t move them.

Safari doesn’t seem to have this problem but I prefer to use FFox because Safari is incompatible with so many sites.

Best

JG

I just installed a second monitor and i think it has made my life much more easier
and i can now run webcammax and actually be able to click things on my first screen whilst the partition of my second screen can be captured to ustream without the window minimizing out of the way everytime i click. Now i dont know what i would ever do without a second screen and i would never get rid of it. ill probably end up with about 4 screens literally.

i started using a dual monitor setup 3years ago and have suddenly found exponential need for more desktop space! this last 6months i’ve ended up with 8monitors (4×2) around me running from 4 computers using synergy and multivista. It is the most incrediable working space and everytime i grab a laptop to go on the move i almost give up on the possiblity of getting some work done as its so innefficent!

I’ve been using 2 monitors for several years now and I don’t think I could efver go back to using just 1. I am a web designer so it makes a huge difference in my work productivity.

I’m also big fan of dual monitors. It boosts my productivity.

For web developers I’ve created tool called XRefresh, which is designed for dual monitor web development. This tool can refresh your browser whenever it detects file change (in selected working directory).

Screen1: browser
Screen2: CSS editor / HTML editor / whatever

Yeah, been using dual monitors for 7 years now…thinking of getting a third and maybe a fourth and fifth. Where are those shades at…?

Dual monitors….. i say if your a hardcore geek with a few extra bucks, what the heck, but if not, research! everything you do on a computer, is represented on your screen. the bigger the screen, the more expensive, better resolution. dual monitors, pretty much the same but the same. so if you have a mac or linux, and youre running out of space, no need, because macs have spaces, and linux haas ubuntu. it all depends on how you use your computer

I’m with a small school, seeking to implement “digital signage” well but simply and inexpensively. We want to put a 1080p display on the wall outside each classroom and show a mix of picture slideshows (here are the kids in this class, some of their art or science projects, etc), short video clips (speeches, trips, etc), and some text (”Welcome {xyz}”, “Upcoming is {abc}”, etc).

So that’s eight INDEPENDENT content streams driven from one head-end PC. The rooms are in a single building, but spread over about 200 feet.

I guess I could load up a PC with three identical quad-port video cards (so all eight, console, and even some expansion would have the same driver). But then how to distribute the signals? Do I just run video extenders? Do I convert the signals to add channels to our cable television feed? Or do I convert all of this to an IP streaming server–and then tack some kind of network media player behind each display?

Is there an advantage to using Matrox, ATI, or Nvidia cards?

And what software does one use to drive all of this–Mac OS X, WinXP, Win Vista, Win2003, Win2008? Target a Powerpoint show at each monitor? Or maybe there’s an open source or at least inexpensive digital signage package?

So what would you do???

To be abit blunt, HELL YES there is a need for Dual monitors, since adding a second monitor to my XP setup, I have been amazed with the increase in ease of use and access to information while writting blog posts etc, Especially designing websites.

Would never go without dual monitors again.

Dual monitors are a necessity to me. I use my secondary monitor for IRC, IM, and other web browsers when I connect my notebook. I use my primary display for current browsers, active IMs, and the occasional game.

This guy just dont get it, the bigger your workspace the more productive you are and monitors are a big factor in that.
Chris has even said this in a video.

I just don’t see the point for more than one monitor. I mean, it’s like with your internet browser. For example you could have 7 tabs open in that browser. There’s no other option for that. So why do you need more than one monitor?