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Last week I became a convert to the growing trend of using more than one computer monitor. Does anybody else use more than one monitor for gaming, work, or whatever else? If you do, I'm interested in hearing your experiences so I can level up from my current noob state.
Poll: How many displays do you use?Two (69) 49% One (60) 43% Three (9) 6% More than three (2) 1% 140 total votes Your vote: How many displays do you use? (Vote): One
(Vote): Two
(Vote): Three
(Vote): More than three
I bring my personal Lenovo T500 laptop to the office (school actually -- I'm a grad student research assistant in EE) and use that for work. I recently brought an old LCD to use so I can have a second display to facilitate reading papers, writing code, writing papers, producing graphs, etc. It's a little bit awkward, but that amounts to a 15.4 inch 1680x1050 laptop screen paired with a 17 inch 1280x1024 external monitor. The OS is Windows 7 Professional. Usually I put reference-type or passive material on the 2nd screen and spend more time focusing on the laptop screen.
It's pretty common for people with smaller laptops to just use one big external monitor and forget about the laptop screen, but extending the view to two monitors is working for me.
However, I'm running into some issues. Some programs, particularly older ones, do not play nice at all with my setup. Is there a way to stop programs on the second display from opening up dialog boxes on the first display? Or is that just shoddy inconsiderate coding from 10 years ago? 
Also, is there a way to "show desktop" quickly only for one display or the other? I keep some files and folders on the desktop for quick access, but I'd prefer if Windows+D didn't minimize everything on both displays. I'm guessing there's some widget that would solve this problem, but is there a simpler or more elegant solution?
Cheers.
 
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Calgary26004 Posts
I used to use Ultramon to disable the second monitor if I went into a program that didn't run well with it.
The best part of having dual monitors is putting a stream up while I play. I'm usually playing while watching Live on Three, and lately I watched like 10 episodes of We Got Married while playing hahaha 
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At home, I use two displays on my desktop. I'm personally very picky with my displays - I have a Dell Ultrasharp 2007WFP and 2407WFP (20" and 24" IPS and S-PVA panels).
I use my 2407WFP mostly for browsing the web and watching stuff, while my 20" gets exclusive usage for Starcraft - I find smaller displays to be much easier to play on since you can see the entire scope of the screen without having to tilt your head much.
When I'm watching proleague streams and I want to see both games, I'll have one on each screen, which is pretty awesome. Sometimes, though not often, I'll have a stream open on one monitor while I'm playing on the other.
I find having two displays really increases the mileage I get from my desktop and increases my enjoyment. People should look into investing their computer upgrade $$$ into nicer displays and peripherals, instead of going for a $600 video card, which depreciates hugely in price and becomes obsolete in a year. Getting nicer peripherals also increases your enjoyment/productivity of your system greatly.
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On May 26 2010 03:05 Chill wrote:I used to use Ultramon to disable the second monitor if I went into a program that didn't run well with it. The best part of having dual monitors is putting a stream up while I play. I'm usually playing while watching Live on Three, and lately I watched like 10 episodes of We Got Married while playing hahaha
I do that too
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One (shitty laptop) screen when I'm at home at home,
six when I'm at uni analysing data, running programs, etc.
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The amount of freedom you gain with a second screen is amazing. I used to use two, I use three now because it works so well with ATI's eyefinity.
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I have three. One standard in the middle, two widescreen on the sides. Its a bit annoying for SC2, because i want to play on the side, so i kind of have to shift my chair for maximum comfort.
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United States4126 Posts
On May 26 2010 03:11 SayaSP wrote:Show nested quote +On May 26 2010 03:05 Chill wrote:I used to use Ultramon to disable the second monitor if I went into a program that didn't run well with it. The best part of having dual monitors is putting a stream up while I play. I'm usually playing while watching Live on Three, and lately I watched like 10 episodes of We Got Married while playing hahaha I do that too
Me too. I love Ultramon
When I go over to my friends' houses and use their computers, I wonder how they can live without a second screen. Once you find uses for that extra space, it's hard to not have it around.
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I think i will buy another screen too because i'm quite bored when i'm playing Sc2.
I think it could be fun if i can browse at the same time.
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32 inch tv @ 1368x768 with my 15.4 inch 1680x1050
Mostly just use the TV to stream tv and stuff while i do real computering on my laptop screen. I've been contemplating getting a nice 23 inch 1920x1080 monitor to put next to my laptop but i'm broked 
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wow, I didn't know so many people had 1+ monitors... I've only got one, but when I can afford it I would love to get a second one.
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United States17042 Posts
I personally use a 24" display (dual xga), a 19" display (1024x1280 iirc) and a 22" widescreen (1680x1050). Works great, as coding and reading papers can then be spread out across all of the workspace. the problem is that linux doesn't play very nice with 3 monitors, and 4 would be way way too large for my desk- i would need to start making things to be able to mount them one above the other.
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well, at home, I use my screen + TV is needed.
At work, I got 2x 19inch
It's just impossible to program without 2 screen T.T
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use 2, 22" LCD @ 16*10 and 17" CRT @ 12*10
turn off the 17" CRT off a lot though since I normally only use it when I'm streaming something on it while doing other stuff on the 22". sometimes I'll use both monitors for internet browsing or maybe something productive, but not often
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I have 3 x 27" Sceptre LCDs running in ATI Eyefinity.
You can't go back to gaming at only 1920x1200 once you've experienced ATI Eyefinity @ 5760x1200.
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My current setup consists of only one monitor, although I'm planning on getting me another one, cuz dual monitor is so handy. Play Starcraft on the first screen, and watch a movie on the second one ;>
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2 24" 1920x1200 monitors, got a 1080p tv for sc2 also hooked up but i only usse 2 only need two
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I have two 23inch samsung LCD monitors, and I'm curious, if I fullscreen something and click on the opposite screen, the fullscreened image (liek youtube ) exits fullscreen mode, the only program I have run into that does not do this is VLC, is there some kind of setting I can enable to allow a picture (movie/youtube etc etc) to remain fullscreen, while working on the other?
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im using a similar set up with a 15.4 laptop and like 23 inch lcd so crossing back can be awkward cause i have to be on the top half of the bigger monitor
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On May 26 2010 07:00 TadH wrote:
I have two 23inch samsung LCD monitors, and I'm curious, if I fullscreen something and click on the opposite screen, the fullscreened image (liek youtube ) exits fullscreen mode, the only program I have run into that does not do this is VLC, is there some kind of setting I can enable to allow a picture (movie/youtube etc etc) to remain fullscreen, while working on the other?
that's just becuase it's a media player same reason why VLC doesn't minimize goes for why WMP wont do that either.
As far aas getting alsh videso to stay full screen
http://lifehacker.com/5419028/keep-flash-videos-in-full-screen-on-dual-monitors
just bing it. (yes i said bing just to see how it feels against google)
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EPT
