Dual Monitors
Whoever said good things come in two's were onto something here. Depending on how you use your computer, and what tasks you need to perform, dual monitors can be either a hindrance and waste of space, or make you wonder how you ever did without.
What is dual monitors?
Put simply, dual monitors is the art of hooking up two (or more, WinXP supports 10) monitors to one computer, thereby increasing your windows desktop space. This allows you to have two full sized windows running without any overlap.
What do I need for dual monitors?
Windows XP/2K
If you find you meet the requirements for dual monitors, then the tasks you perform on your PC will ultimately determine this question. And there are two main different situations:-.
Gamers - If you are seriously into gaming, no. Its not worth it. Save your money for one fast card. Video cards with dual monitor support are not very good at 3D applications. While 2D is often solid, it won't cut it. Only bother if you already have a good AGP card and can get your hands on a second PCI video card and monitor (and insanely rich to be able to afford it after you buy a GeForce 3).
Everyone else - I know this is very broad, but one question will determine wether dual monitors will be of serious benefit (note: showing it off to your mates does not count).
Do you run several programs at once (multitask)? If you only have one word document open, and maybe explorer window too. Or if you run programs that are completely independent of each other. If you find you fit into this category, you don't really need dual monitors. Only splash out if you have money to throw around (you should consider giving it to me if that's the case).
However, if you find you have several programs running at once and are sort of dependant on each other Eg. you have Word running to do an assignment, and have internet explorer (or opera, those so inclined) running to copying slabs off the internet for the assignment, dual monitors might just be for you.
A good example of when dual monitors came in really handy was when I had a programming assignment. I had the programming application running in the main monitor, and the help file in the second monitor. Being able to read the help file and program at the same time not only saved me time, but it also saved some wear and tear on the ALT and TAB keys.
There are infinite possibilities, but the serious question to be asked then is will the benefits out weigh the costs? There are a few cons with dual monitors.
Special Features and things you can do with Dual Monitors
If you get an AGP/PCI combo, all you get is XP/2000 support, which is minimal, but quite satisfactory. In the display properties, you can setup your Windows configuration to how you have set up your monitors.
Note in the following 2 screenies how resolutions and colour depths differ. Each monitor can have its own resolution and colour depth. Simply select the monitor you wish to adjust and change the desired settings.
Are your monitors side by side? On top of the other? What does it matter? What this setting allows for is how you manage windows over two monitors. Say they are side by side (my personal recommendation), and you have notepad running on monitor 1. If you dragged the notepad window to the right of monitor 1, you will notice that instead of disappearing (like it does with one monitor), it starts showing up on the other monitor. If you keep going, eventually, the whole notepad program will be in monitor 2.
If you have a video card with two video ports, then more than likely (as is with the case with Matrox) they will have advanced features that allow you to configure your dual monitors even more.
For example, the Matrox G450 not only has the the extra display for your desktop, but it also has:
Conclusion
After running dual monitors for several months, I have almost found myself almost dependant on having two monitor. During my uni months, this has been a major time saver. Now that I'm on my holidays and have nothing better to do than play games, I am starting to really miss my GeForce 2 Ultra. It will be going back in soon though. Then I will see how I manage with only one monitor again.
Acknowledgements go to Roland for his generosity in lending me a Matrox G450 and a spare monitor.
Copyright © Julian Nguyen 2001
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Whoever said good things come in two's were onto something here. Depending on how you use your computer, and what tasks you need to perform, dual monitors can be either a hindrance and waste of space, or make you wonder how you ever did without.
What is dual monitors?
Put simply, dual monitors is the art of hooking up two (or more, WinXP supports 10) monitors to one computer, thereby increasing your windows desktop space. This allows you to have two full sized windows running without any overlap.
What do I need for dual monitors?
- Two or monitors. Personally, I would seriously recommend obtaining two of the same monitor, as you will feel a little more co-ordinated when working between the two.
- Enough desk space for the second monitor. For those with space for only one monitor, forget it.
Windows XP/2K
- An AGP video card and a PCI video card (can be hard to get hold of)
OR - A (preferably) a video card with two monitor plugs on the back (such as a Matrox G450, or nVidia GeForce 2 with TwinView)
- A video card with two monitor plugs on the back
(Not entirely sure if 98/ME properly support dual monitors with AGP/PCI, but probably not)
If you find you meet the requirements for dual monitors, then the tasks you perform on your PC will ultimately determine this question. And there are two main different situations:-.
Gamers - If you are seriously into gaming, no. Its not worth it. Save your money for one fast card. Video cards with dual monitor support are not very good at 3D applications. While 2D is often solid, it won't cut it. Only bother if you already have a good AGP card and can get your hands on a second PCI video card and monitor (and insanely rich to be able to afford it after you buy a GeForce 3).
Everyone else - I know this is very broad, but one question will determine wether dual monitors will be of serious benefit (note: showing it off to your mates does not count).
Do you run several programs at once (multitask)? If you only have one word document open, and maybe explorer window too. Or if you run programs that are completely independent of each other. If you find you fit into this category, you don't really need dual monitors. Only splash out if you have money to throw around (you should consider giving it to me if that's the case).
However, if you find you have several programs running at once and are sort of dependant on each other Eg. you have Word running to do an assignment, and have internet explorer (or opera, those so inclined) running to copying slabs off the internet for the assignment, dual monitors might just be for you.
A good example of when dual monitors came in really handy was when I had a programming assignment. I had the programming application running in the main monitor, and the help file in the second monitor. Being able to read the help file and program at the same time not only saved me time, but it also saved some wear and tear on the ALT and TAB keys.
There are infinite possibilities, but the serious question to be asked then is will the benefits out weigh the costs? There are a few cons with dual monitors.
- You need space for the second monitor
- Two monitors instead of one will double the power (higher electricity bill). A single 17" monitor rate at up to around 100W.
- If you get AGP/PCI, there is a possibility (note the word possibility) of having system conflicts, IRQ problems etc.
- Expensive. Need an extra monitor. Need a new Video card.
- Radiation baby, radiation...
Special Features and things you can do with Dual Monitors
If you get an AGP/PCI combo, all you get is XP/2000 support, which is minimal, but quite satisfactory. In the display properties, you can setup your Windows configuration to how you have set up your monitors.
Note in the following 2 screenies how resolutions and colour depths differ. Each monitor can have its own resolution and colour depth. Simply select the monitor you wish to adjust and change the desired settings.
Are your monitors side by side? On top of the other? What does it matter? What this setting allows for is how you manage windows over two monitors. Say they are side by side (my personal recommendation), and you have notepad running on monitor 1. If you dragged the notepad window to the right of monitor 1, you will notice that instead of disappearing (like it does with one monitor), it starts showing up on the other monitor. If you keep going, eventually, the whole notepad program will be in monitor 2.
If you have a video card with two video ports, then more than likely (as is with the case with Matrox) they will have advanced features that allow you to configure your dual monitors even more.
For example, the Matrox G450 not only has the the extra display for your desktop, but it also has:
- Dual-head clone - View a copy of your main display on your secondary display
- Dual-head zoom - Your main display behaves as normal, but the secondary display is a zoomed in portion of the main display (you can set how much zoom you want). This has the potential to be
- Dual-head DVDMax - Play digital video in a window on your main display and, and the same time, view that video full screen on your secondary display.
Conclusion
After running dual monitors for several months, I have almost found myself almost dependant on having two monitor. During my uni months, this has been a major time saver. Now that I'm on my holidays and have nothing better to do than play games, I am starting to really miss my GeForce 2 Ultra. It will be going back in soon though. Then I will see how I manage with only one monitor again.
Acknowledgements go to Roland for his generosity in lending me a Matrox G450 and a spare monitor.
Copyright © Julian Nguyen 2001
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