Dual Monitor Set-up

michaels

michaels

1
Aug 20, 2007
2,730
45
Nashville TN
Does anyone have a dual monitor setup they'd like to share, whether for work or personal use?

i'm entering my final year of arch school, and my mac just can't cut it anymore. Everything i do is VERY performance and graphics dependence, and i want to look at a beautiful display while working.

i'm going to with an Asus G53SX laptop (15.6") or the G75 (17.3" screen) (gaming laptops/computers are built for graphics intense programs, and it'll be a beast at having photoshop, autocad, and sketchup/rhino/revit open at once, but i definitely am going to need another monitor, because i multi-task between between so many programs at once.

for the computer geeks, should i go with a "computer monitor", or an HD tv? i want something in the 20"-30" range, but looking at some prices, it looks like it might be better to go with a good HD TV or a computer monitor.

thoughts? opinions? i'd love to hear it all.

Cheers,
Stricklin
 
SGaynor

SGaynor

Well-known member
Dec 6, 2006
7,148
162
52
Bristol, TN
You can get a very good 23-24" monitor off of TigerDirect.com for only a couple of hundred bucks. I've bought a few off of there and have had no complaints.

Edit: I just checked and saw and Acer and a Samsung (24" and 23") for < $150.
 
Ballah06

Ballah06

Well-known member
Jan 21, 2007
5,638
16
Savannah, GA
Use HP laptop and dell monitor at work. Have a vaio and dell monitor at home. Both work great with no issues. Set up is a breeze; plug and play type deal. If you need to run more than 1 additional monitor, i.e. 2-4, there are adaptors available for that as well.
 
adriatic04

adriatic04

Well-known member
Mar 22, 2007
2,506
2
cleveland, oh
if you are upwards of 30" you should go tv. if you want dual monitor to have an extended desktop then get two monitors. if you are going to run win 7 64 bit then make sure you have drivers compatible with the 64 OS, thats the only bitch I have with my monitor. it worked fine on 32 bit and now on 64 bit no driver to I dont get the full capability of the screen.
 
R

robertf

Well-known member
Jan 22, 2006
4,789
360
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cheap dell 26" monitors work fine for this. Use the laptop display for data and the extended monitor display for modeling

and 2 monitors is for chumps

desktop.jpg
 
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Ballah06

Ballah06

Well-known member
Jan 21, 2007
5,638
16
Savannah, GA
ptschram said:
OK, what sort of hardware is necessary to run multiple monitors and how do you set them up to show different things on each monitor?
Click to expand...

PT,

Best Buy and the likes have a little box/adapter that lets you run more than two monitors at once. IIRC when I looked it was about $50. Then just plug and play type stuff. Although I never bothered with more than 2 monitors at a time (never really had the need), I would assume you can control individual monitor display capabilities through the control panel.
 
R

robertf

Well-known member
Jan 22, 2006
4,789
360
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you need 2 video cards, or a video card with multiple outputs. plug the monitor in, right click the background and enable multiple displays
 
chris snell

chris snell

Administrator
Staff member
Aug 15, 2005
3,020
152
I have two 27" Thunderbolt displays hooked up to my Mac Pro desktop machine. It's awesome. Still not as awesome as the dual SGI 1600SW LCDs that I had back in 1999. Those were the finest monitors ever made. Too bad you could only attach them to a shitty graphics card from Number9.
 
V

varova87

Well-known member
Mar 21, 2006
3,558
0
Texas
It's important to remember that your hardware needs to be able to support a second display if you're going for any sort of performance. Once you start asking your graphics card to run multiple monitors, things will start bogging down depending on the size and performance of monitors added.

Don't forget also that additional screens make it easier to run more programs at once, increasing your need for RAM.

This is all based on michaels goal of high performance monitors. If PT is needing a second monitor to browse parts catalogs or view diagnostic screens, a cheaper monitor will work fine on most basic graphics cards.
 
V

varova87

Well-known member
Mar 21, 2006
3,558
0
Texas
Michael, go with a good monitor. TVs usually have lower resolution when compared to their similar size monitor counterparts. 26" monitor will have 1920x1200, the same size HD tv will be 1920x1080 or even less if it's only a 720.

Small difference, but they can be greater and even a small difference might make the display look funny. Don't forget refresh rates also - mostly selectable on a monitor.
 
Ballah06

Ballah06

Well-known member
Jan 21, 2007
5,638
16
Savannah, GA
varova87 said:
Michael, go with a good monitor. TVs usually have lower resolution when compared to their similar size monitor counterparts. 26" monitor will have 1920x1200, the same size HD tv will be 1920x1080 or even less if it's only a 720.

Small difference, but they can be greater and even a small difference might make the display look funny. Don't forget refresh rates also - mostly selectable on a monitor.
Click to expand...

Price wise also, IIRC when I was in the market for my Dell (nothing fancy) monitor and looked at the TV alternative, the monitors were far less. That of course may depend on the type of monitor you are looking for. The Dell one I got from BB, was under $200 and does everything i need it to do.
 
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