Why do people use more than one monitor?

[zEric7x]

I have a laptop so I do plug into my TV from ever now and then to watch movies and play games but I mean if you have 2 monitors for extend desktop or whatever you use it for whats the point of that? I myself cant think of many uses for such a feature but then I not really thought about it.

 

[Britton30]

Ask This guy z3r010have a look at his 6 monitor set up.

 

[MacGyvr]

I currently have a three monitor setup at home and two at my shop. I can barely function now with one monitor.

 

[Sardonicus]

Multitasking.
One monitor is really restrictive.
How do you think administrators on forums access data so quickly.
One monitor........no way!

 

[Zepher]

Makes it easier than trying to move windows around one screen. I have my newsreader on the left screen, gadgets and email on the right screen and do my work on the middle screen.
Editing video allows you to have more of your tools shown at one time, makes for an efficient working environment.

 

[pparks1]

I've used 2 monitors at work for many years. The primary reason is to have more applications open at the same time. For example, I want my instant messenger and my email open at all times at work. In addition, I have a monitoring system that I would like to keep open to make sure everything is running correctly. I'm often doing research with my web browser and perhaps working on documentation in a spreadsheet or document. Trying to manage all of this on one monitor is a PITA and always leads to me being behind or missing something.

 

[profdlp]

Redheads on the left, blondes on the right, brunettes in the middle.

 

[Britton30]

Redheads on the left, blondes on the right, brunettes in the middle.

Never thought of that...:devil2:

 

[pcunite]

I personally prefer one monitor especially now that Windows 7 can snap windows easily. I'm happy with my 24" NEC 2490wuxi2. I don't like to turn my head all day. If I tire of this size I guess 30" would be nice.

 

[profdlp]

On a more serious note, here are a few of the ways I've made use of my three monitors lately:

1) Writing a term paper. I had the document I was writing in the middle, firefox with about 20 tabs open on the left, and my bibliography, endnotes, and appendices open on the right. This pretty much simulates the way I used to do it in the pre-home computer days when I would have books scattered across my desk, a typewriter in front of me, and other documents off to the side.

2) Email on the left, browser in the middle, ballgame on the right. I can see everything at once without all that woo-woo clickety-clack business, which is quite distracting for old people like me.

3) Task Manager off to the side with the performance tab showing. Programs on the right and center monitors while I see what the memory and cpu usage are for various things I am benchmarking.

Basically, you wouldn't work on a real desktop that was only 20" wide, at least not if you need to get anything serious done. Why limit yourself to that situation with your virtual desktop?

 

[James Colbert]

OK. I'm convinced. As soon as I finish my office renovations, I'm buying more monitors. I'm blaming you people.

 

[noobvious]

Redheads on the left, blondes on the right, brunettes in the middle.

That is the winning answer!

 

[th3r0ck]

well! when i do web developing!! on Monitor is really tough to handle!! it also helps me to use my PDFS to learns and other monitor to implement REAL TIME! no MINIMIZING!! ;D

 

[jimbo45]

I have a laptop so I do plug into my TV from ever now and then to watch movies and play games but I mean if you have 2 monitors for extend desktop or whatever you use it for whats the point of that? I myself cant think of many uses for such a feature but then I not really thought about it.

Hi there

not wishing to be facetious but you might as well ask why do people use a different plate for each course of their meal.

A very typical instance is in Graphics . photo editing of LARGE PROFESSIONAL quality prints -- for example photoshop can use many layers -- you might want to separate layers on to different monitors for different processing before merging into the final print, or you might want to process different documents simultaneously etc etc.

Writing a book with illustrations -- you want the text on one monitor while creating the illustrations on another --etc etc.

Honestly I can think of ZILLIONS of uses for having multiple monitors.

cheers
jimbo

 

[zEric7x]

Hi there

not wishing to be facetious but you might as well ask why do people use a different plate for each course of their meal.

A very typical instance is in Graphics . photo editing of LARGE PROFESSIONAL quality prints -- for example photoshop can use many layers -- you might want to separate layers on to different monitors for different processing before merging into the final print, or you might want to process different documents simultaneously etc etc.

Writing a book with illustrations -- you want the text on one monitor while creating the illustrations on another --etc etc.

Honestly I can think of ZILLIONS of uses for having multiple monitors.

cheers
jimbo

I just was interested to hear what people had to say.. alot of the stuff people said are things I would not of thought of or probably need. I use Photoshop just fine with one screen and other things to. But anyways was interesting ideas.