multi/large/wide screens - What works best?

[Fat Tone]

I'm starting to feel that for the work I do, more standard screens is better than fewer large screens.

At work I use 3off 1280*1024 (~3.9MP) and it suits me very nicely. I could add a 4th but I think I'd get lynched
At home I use a dell 2407 (1900*1200) and a cheap 1680*1050, total 4MP.

So between them I have the same amount of desktop space.

At work I always have Outlook filling one monitor. On the others its mainly Explorer, IE7, all the office 2003 apps, a programming IDE, remote desktop, sometimes Photoshop, you get the idea.

At home its very simillar plus FTP, more RDP session etc, but I seem to have to do a lot more clicking past windows, moving them around etc. I guess for most of my apps I'm happiest with them at 1280*1024. It often feels too cramped if I try to tile them on one of the monitors.

And yes, I know I'm really spoilt

So, what works for you guys?

[Paddy]

!"£$&!!!

[VJ]

At work, I have a single 4:3 28" monitor, my father has a widescreen 24", and at home I have a dual monitor setup (17" lcd 1280x1024 + 17" crt 1280x960).

I personally like the dual monitor solution: for normal use one needs more width then height. And if necessary, I can rotate the lcd to a portrait setup. The widescreen display is nice, but I seem to get lost on such a large display (don't really know what to put where). Finally, the single large non-widescreen monitor is also nice, but not that convenient for software development (try putting a debugger, and a graphical program next to each other); one tends to have more unused regions.
Matrox does have software to divide a single monitor into multiple section (such that maximise for instance only maximises to a portion). This would make a widescreen behave more like a dual monitor setup.

So my ideal setup would be a multi monitor, where you can rotate the displays to portrait (individually).


Jörg

[Pace]

I've just switched from a 19" 4:3 CRT at 1600x1200 to a 24" 16:10 LCD at 1920x1200 and it's excellent. I believe back at my parents I used to use the 1600x1200 CRT alongside a ~1MP second monitor, and this was my ideal working space though. I think 1600x1200 is ideal for Photoshop/Dreamweaver, and the smaller screen was fine for email or previewing my work. Ultimately it depends on your application - fine detail work will require high resolutions, heavy multi-tasking will benefit from multi-monitors.

I love my new screen, although 1600x1200 would have been fine, and 24" is the biggest I'd want sitting in front of me. Perhaps 2560x1600 will tempt me one day

Also using a 32" 1366x768 LCD (of average quality) in the lounge, and will likely upgrade that to a bigger and better 1080p effort within the next year.

[Enak]

3x 18.1" on my TH2G Digital.

[Mehen]

3x 18.1" on my TH2G Digital.

nice!

I have 2x17" lcds, I too really like the window size per display. I say add another 1280x1024 display - I think having multiple windows on the same display would get messy (ie w/ widescreen lcd).

[Jammrock]

dual widescreens here. One is a 22" Samsung at 1680x1050, the other is a 15.4" laptop display at the same resolution.

[Chucky Cheese]

at home i have dual FPD2485w gateway panels...NICE!...at work we are still predominately using 17" crts, even though our new systems are coming with 17" lcds

[Dr Mordrid]

The big editing rig is running three 21" ViewSonic LCD's with a 42" plasma and 14" JVC studio monitor for previews.

[Mehen]

Doc's toys make me want to worker harder in school.

[High_Jumbllama]

IS there anything out there besides the Parhelia that supports a stretched desktop?

[Dr Mordrid]

Using Windows built-in Span display mode you can stretch the desktop across how many ever displays are connected to your card.

Multi-monitor FAQ here....

Matrox, NVidia and ATI all make quad cards for workstations.

[High_Jumbllama]

Thanks. It works and it also makes it clear I need a better video card.

[Umfriend]

At my previous job I had 4x18" LCDs (1280x1024 each). Over here I have 2x20" (16x12) + 1*24"WS (1920x1200). Ideally, I'd have 3x 24" WS with the middle one in portrait mode. What would be really really kewl is if you could define areas within apps would maximise, so virtually creating two screens on one actual screen.

[VJ]

You mean like this:

http://www.matrox.com/graphics/en/finent/products/powerspace.php

Jörg