3 vs 2 monitors, productivity increase?

Jun 21, 2010
921
24
0
Worth the trouble adding a extra monitor to a dual monitor setup? Those with 3+ lets hear it.
 


3 is plenty I find. I normally have a side one for chat/aim and the other side one for music, notes, random shit I want to look at but keep out of my main monitor view.
 
3 seems like a pain in the ass since most gcs only support 2. What would be the easiest way to add a 3rd?
 
Well if you are using Linux two screens is all you need.

I have 4 workspaces per screen.

Which means I have access to 8 monitors but only use two screens.
 
Well if you are using Linux two screens is all you need.

I have 4 workspaces per screen.

Which means I have access to 8 monitors but only use two screens.

Mac has this too, but can only see one at a time, so it defeats part of the multitasking.
 
marginal utility is lower per extra monitor brah

This!

3 is plenty I find. I normally have a side one for chat/aim and the other side one for music, notes, random shit I want to look at but keep out of my main monitor view.

Just got my ass off, dudes. I wonder how can you stand with more monitor, I mean 3 monitors at once. You guys might be top Internet Marketer or Web Developer, I guess..no?
 
2 monitors is enough for me. The rest can be used with another computers where you just run some stuff that do not require any actions. I'm using 70% 1 monitor, 25% 2nd and 5% all others around. But that should totally depend on what kind of job you do.
 
I recently switched from 2 to 3 monitors and it is a bit more helpful being a designer/web dev. I'm actually thinking of adding a 4th soon just because I have the ability with another cable.. I use IRC and it'd be nice to keep it maximized on another screen (though that could actually be a productivity killer!)
 
3 seems like a pain in the ass since most gcs only support 2. What would be the easiest way to add a 3rd?

Most PCs have 2 or more PCIe slots which means you can put two video cards in there with 2 outputs each. There are also other options, but that is the easiest.

I think the majority of newer ATI cards support 3 monitors for eyefinity through 2 DVI ports and a displayport.
 
I think having 2 x 27" would be perfect instead of 3 x 24". I've seen setup's where 4 x 24" used by developers by twisted the panel into a portrait mode, worked great if your coding all the time.
 
I tried three before since we had an extra monitor. Ended up moving back to two.

I find it easier to mentally hard-split two different things (say, research on one monitor and campaign planning on the other). And if I need any more space, I utilize Ubuntu's workspaces (toggling through different screens on one monitor).
 
I run 1x27" & 1x30" on my main desktop, with my laptop also open. I'm thinking about adding another 30" on my laptop, or maybe one in portrait mode for spreadsheets, ppc stats, etc.

The biggest help to me was the second 30" monitor.
 
I have 3 but rarely turn the 3rd one on. 2 is good enough for me, one for coding, design and another one for browsing, media, etc. 3rd used to just sit there wasting electricity, so I have it off for the most part or use it for my second older box.
 
Im running 2x2. 2 PCs with 2 22" each. I was thinking about using 3 on my main but i guess my 4870 doesn't have that damn displayport or even hdmi.