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My Multimonitor Setup: Three Screens For One Computer
Dave Naylor was asking me today on our Daily SearchCast podcast about whether he should stick with one monitor or jump to two. My response? Go for three! I've used three monitors for about two years now, and I'd never go back.
It all started when I bought a new computer with a video card that had two outputs, digital and analog. I used the digital for my new 17" LCD, but I wondered if I could get an old monitor going on the analog card. So I set my old 20" CRT to one side, plugged it in and was amazed at how I could expand my desktop. Honestly, if you've never used a multi monitor setup in Windows, it really does feel like magic. Using the Settings tab of your Display Properties, you can choose to extend your primary desktop onto the other monitor. And then that's what happens. You have a super big desktop, where if you pick up something, you can drag if from one monitor and drop it onto the other. The only problem with using two monitors I found was that my neck started hurting from looking only ahead or to the right. I figured if I got a third monitor going on my left hand side, I'd be moving my head around in various directions, avoiding any pain. The alternative, I suppose, would have been to have had two monitors right next to each other in front of me. But I disliked this idea, because then my main natural viewing area directly ahead would be gone. I'd always be looking slightly to the left or right. My bright idea meant purchasing two more 17" LCD monitors plus another video card, so I'd have three outputs in all. It was worth the money. I couldn't believe how much more productive I was. In my middle screen, I could write. On one of my other screens, I could read about something new happening. And on my third screen, I could test out what was being described. It was fabulous. I recently graduated to 20" LCDs for reasons I'll explain more below (along with twin Nvidia gaming cards, handy if I ever want to link them together and run them as a single super accelerated card for games. I'll never do that, but it's nice to know I can). Here's how the current setup looks:
I quickly found I needed two more purchases to make things fly to really do well with a multimonitor setup. The first was Ultramon, which I've written about before. It allows me to have a taskbar for each of my computer screens. For example, currently on my main central monitor, I have FrontPage open. I also have my Outlook email window open. Both show on my taskbar on the middle screen. If I select one of the applications, I can switch to it. Without Ultramon, Windows stupidly would put the applications I have open on my left and right monitors also on my main central window's taskbar (my Outlook Calendar, Firefox, Paint Shop Pro, a few others would all show up). That's because my other monitors wouldn't have their own taskbars. Ultramon corrects this. In addition, it makes it easy to shoot any application from one screen to another. For instance, look at this:
See the two buttons to the left of the normal minimize, maximize and close window buttons? If you click on the one with the little arrow, that Choose Monitor window pops up that you can also see. Then click on the monitor you want to send a window to, and it magically moves over there. The other key element is a good monitor stand. I'm appalled at the state of LCD stands. The new 20" Dell monitors I bought late last year can't be elevated to the height to match my eyes for good viewing. My old 17" LCD monitors were worse. After some searching those years ago, I ended up going for an
Ergotron base, a DS100
Triple Monitor Desk Stand. They aren't cheap. I could By Danny Sullivan on Feb. 23, 2006
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Next Post: Petition To Fix Gmail's Custom From Glitch Comments Comment by 4Access | February 25, 2006 10:38 AM That...is a wicked setup. Comment by kingofpirates Man fate likes to punch me in the stomach sometimes. I literally just ordered a third LCD today, and the only way to fit them all on my desk was with the Ergotron desk stand, the very same model you have. And just like you, I like to tilt my monitors up a bit, but also very much inwards. Now I have noticed something, I was looking at the technical drawings, and the pivot that attachs to the poll DOES swivel in all directions (correct me if I'm wrong), but I'm pretty sure it does, at least that's what the diagram seems to suggest here. Now assuming all your monitors have this lean problem equally, that will tilt them all straight again, but man, what a bitch! I think I'm going to order it all anyways as I'd love the third monitor... Why they don't use a ball joint is BEYOND me. Regards, Sean Murphy Comment by Sean Murphy | March 21, 2006 3:06 AM I had my laptop hooked up as a second screen but having to unplug it every time I wanted to take it out of the house was a pain so Santa brought me a dual monitor from DoubleSight this Xmas! I noticed TigerDirect has them on sale for $799 - Check it out here Comment by Debra | March 22, 2006 1:14 AM Neat setup. I only have two physical displays, but I've essentially just doubled that into 8 via virtual desktops. Went into details here for anyone unfamiliar: http://www.revenuegirl.com/how-to-simulate-multiple-displays-and-dramatically-increase-productivity/ Comment by revenuegirl You may find that the ErgoMounts M3 Series Multi-Stand would fit you set up. http://www.ergomounts.co.uk/product-details.asp?cid=3&scid=6&pid=68 Comment by costa | June 8, 2007 3:18 PM I have an nVidia card with the vga and dvi interface ports, so I can use two LCD screens, but when I connect the third one to my normal intgrated vga port on the dell desktop, nothing happens and looks like the computer does not see the standard vga port (does bios disable the regular port when nVidia is set up?), what did you have to do to get all three to show at the same time, did Ergotron manage it for you ? Thanks .... Mark Comment by neshat | July 30, 2007 2:57 AM You might need to right click on your desktop, get Display Properties, then in settings see if you see a third screen that's all grayed out. If so, check the Extend my Windows desktop onto this monitor option.. Otherwise, yes, bios might be disabling it. Ergotron is just a monitor stand -- nothing to do with the monitor output. Comment by Danny Sullivan ATI has very good multidisplay option FireMV i am using it Comment by bitw I too want to buy a new system which includes a 256MB NVIDIA 8600GT. I want to connect three monitors, 19” flat panels with VGA inputs. The use is strictly business, no gaming. I want all three monitors to operate independently to use different applications, so I am not interested in the third monitor just being a mirror of one of the other two. I have been told I need a second video card to achieve this result. If so, what second card should I get? Also, for my use is the 256MB overkill? Will the 128MB do the job? Comment by Overmyhead | December 5, 2007 3:16 AM I just bought the Stand and 2 monitors with the TripleHead2Go digital addition. I connected everything the way that it told me is suppose to be set up to my laptop. But for some reason only one monitor is turning on like if it was the only one connected directly to the laptop. Can you help me out? I'm not sure if i did something wrong or still need to purchase something else that i didn't know about. Thanks Anthony Comment by Sayjin Want to comment? If you are signed into TypeKey, you'll see a form below. No form? Click on the sign-in link below, and you can sign-in or sign-up for a free account. Sorry you have to use TypeKey, but I use it to avoid comment spam. All comments currently appear automatically after posting.
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Totally agree with the multimonitor recomendation! I'm sitting in front of 2 monitors right now and am dreaming of a third!
I also agree with the UltraMon recommendation. The Smart Taskbar feature alone makes it worthwhile. I also love the keyboard shortcut options that allow you to reposition applications on different monitors without using the mouse. I have to admit though that the nVidia drivers are approaching the level of functionality provided by UltraMon. (At least for my use.) If it wasn't for the Smart Taskbar feature in UltraMon I'd seriously consider using just the nVidia drivers since they're free. (Obviously this is only applicable if you use one of their cards.)
Lastly, the reason I made this comment is I wanted to point out a cool looking utility: http://www.maxivista.com/
I haven't tried it myself yet but it looks like it quite possibly might be a cheap way for me to get that third monitor! :D