Are two monitors better than one?
With Microsoft Windows, you may be able to open dozens of applications at a time. But with only one monitor, there is a practical limit to how many applications you can have in front of you at the same time
With Microsoft Windows, you may be able to open dozens of applications at a time. But with only one monitor, there is a practical limit to how many applications you can have in front of you at the same time.
So why not use two, or more, monitors?
“It sounded pretty weird when I first heard that I could use two monitors on my XP system,†Anton Flewelling, a computer-assisted design engineer in Florida, told the German Press Agency dpa. “But (now) I won’t go back to using just one,†he says.
In the past, the idea of using two or more monitors on a PC seemed not only a bit strange but was also impractical, due to both limited desktop space and high cost.
But advancements in technology have made the concept more appealing to many. First, all recent versions of Windows - including Windows 98, Windows 2000, Me, and XP, provide native support for as many as ten simultaneous displays. Of course, not many people could envision using more than two at once.
Second, the cost of computer monitors, even flat-panel displays, has come down drastically over the past year or so. Outfitting a desktop with two displays today could cost less than what you would have paid to purchase a single 17-inch monitor three years ago.
And finally, flat-panel displays themselves, thanks to their svelte profiles, make the prospect of actually putting two monitors on your desk an idea you could live with, especially if the monitors are of the smaller 15 or 17 inch variety.
So what could you actually do with two monitors? If you work on graphics, you could move the toolbars and palettes to one monitor while your graphic is placed in another, free of the clutter that screen elements such as palettes often create.
If you like to watch DVDs on your computer, imagine being able to watch a full-screen DVD on one monitor while you take care of some task in a word processor on the other.
Or, if you’re a fan of the Internet, it’s not hard to imagine the usefulness of being able to view two Web pages simultaneously — one displayed on one monitor and the other on the second. In short, you can think of two monitors as analogous to having two sheets of paper on your desk — one that you’re referring to, and the other that you’re working on.
“It’s all about productivity,†Flewelling says. “Two monitors are better than one.â€
So what do you need in your PC to be able to run two monitors? Not as much as you might think.
The only part that owners of newer PCs need to add, aside from a second display, is a graphics card that features support for multiple monitors. While it is possible to use two graphics cards in the same machine, one of them must support the use of dual displays.
It’s also possible simply to discard the graphics card currently in your PC and install one that supports two monitors. That way, you’ll have just one video card in your computer rather than two.
Some popular cards that support multiple monitors include Matrox’sG550 (http://www.matrox.com), NVIDIA’s GeForce 4 MX or cards based upon that chipset (http://www.nvidia.com), and ATI’s Radeon 9000 or higher series (http://www.ati.com). Dual monitor support will be clearly written on the box of any card that supports two displays.
The good news, too, is that dual-monitor cards are generally no more expensive than a decent quality single-monitor card. Expect to pay anywhere from $70 to $200 , depending upon which other features the card offers.
Most good dual monitor cards provide software for managing the monitors. You can choose a primary and secondary monitor, and determine whether the monitor should be used jointly as one “large†Windows desktop or as two separate desktops.
Once you have your dual monitor card and your displays, setting everything up is fairly straightforward. Follow the card manufacturer’s instructions for installing the card and connecting the displays.
dpa
So why not use two, or more, monitors?
“It sounded pretty weird when I first heard that I could use two monitors on my XP system,†Anton Flewelling, a computer-assisted design engineer in Florida, told the German Press Agency dpa. “But (now) I won’t go back to using just one,†he says.
In the past, the idea of using two or more monitors on a PC seemed not only a bit strange but was also impractical, due to both limited desktop space and high cost.
But advancements in technology have made the concept more appealing to many. First, all recent versions of Windows - including Windows 98, Windows 2000, Me, and XP, provide native support for as many as ten simultaneous displays. Of course, not many people could envision using more than two at once.
Second, the cost of computer monitors, even flat-panel displays, has come down drastically over the past year or so. Outfitting a desktop with two displays today could cost less than what you would have paid to purchase a single 17-inch monitor three years ago.
And finally, flat-panel displays themselves, thanks to their svelte profiles, make the prospect of actually putting two monitors on your desk an idea you could live with, especially if the monitors are of the smaller 15 or 17 inch variety.
So what could you actually do with two monitors? If you work on graphics, you could move the toolbars and palettes to one monitor while your graphic is placed in another, free of the clutter that screen elements such as palettes often create.
If you like to watch DVDs on your computer, imagine being able to watch a full-screen DVD on one monitor while you take care of some task in a word processor on the other.
Or, if you’re a fan of the Internet, it’s not hard to imagine the usefulness of being able to view two Web pages simultaneously — one displayed on one monitor and the other on the second. In short, you can think of two monitors as analogous to having two sheets of paper on your desk — one that you’re referring to, and the other that you’re working on.
“It’s all about productivity,†Flewelling says. “Two monitors are better than one.â€
So what do you need in your PC to be able to run two monitors? Not as much as you might think.
The only part that owners of newer PCs need to add, aside from a second display, is a graphics card that features support for multiple monitors. While it is possible to use two graphics cards in the same machine, one of them must support the use of dual displays.
It’s also possible simply to discard the graphics card currently in your PC and install one that supports two monitors. That way, you’ll have just one video card in your computer rather than two.
Some popular cards that support multiple monitors include Matrox’sG550 (http://www.matrox.com), NVIDIA’s GeForce 4 MX or cards based upon that chipset (http://www.nvidia.com), and ATI’s Radeon 9000 or higher series (http://www.ati.com). Dual monitor support will be clearly written on the box of any card that supports two displays.
The good news, too, is that dual-monitor cards are generally no more expensive than a decent quality single-monitor card. Expect to pay anywhere from $70 to $200 , depending upon which other features the card offers.
Most good dual monitor cards provide software for managing the monitors. You can choose a primary and secondary monitor, and determine whether the monitor should be used jointly as one “large†Windows desktop or as two separate desktops.
Once you have your dual monitor card and your displays, setting everything up is fairly straightforward. Follow the card manufacturer’s instructions for installing the card and connecting the displays.
dpa