Double Your Fun with Dual Monitors

Double Your Fun with Dual Monitors

Bryan Lambert

 

You’ve seen them in offices, maybe even on your own boss’s desk. You’ve seen them at your gamer friend’s house on their cool gamers rig. You’ve may have even seen them when checking out at the local grocers. We’re talking about that cool desktop computer with dual lcd monitors, multiple monitor setup. How exactly does one set up a multiple monitor computer? Is it difficult? Is it expensive? Is it worth the effort?

One is Fine, Two is Dandy!

To answer the last question first, is it worth the effort? Well, let us put it to you this way: YES!!! Yes, Yes, Yes and a thousand times YES! Once you go two or even three monitors, you quite simply never go back. Why can we say that? It’s easy, you simply fall in love with having 100% more screen area to work with. You will find yourself having to toggle back and forth between browsers or switching between multiple applications less and less, which means more productivity. You also would have the ability to mirror (clone) your screen to a second monitor. (terrific in work settings so people aren’t crowding your shoulder during a business presentation).

The Nuts and Bolts

OK, say you decided to take the plunge and want to set up a dual 19″ lcd monitor system. The most common setup is simply two monitors attached to one computer. If you have a laptop, it is relatively simple as most have an external VGA port. You simply plug in a second monitor and then turn it on (usually with a function key to turn on one, or both monitors) and then set it up under your display settings in the computer operating system (any computer with a current operating system will easily set up the second monitor). It’s here that you can set it to mirroring the first monitor or set it to expand the desktop. For presentations some may choose to use something like a projector as the “second monitor.”

For those looking to setup a dual monitor setup on their desktop system, your machine most likely has a dedicated video card. Many of these will have two video ports and can support dual monitors. The setup would be similar to a laptop (minus the part about the function key). In both of these cases, the cost to you would simply be buying a second monitor. If your card has a DVI type port, then you’d need either a DVI to VGA adapter or a monitor with a DVI input (most dual output cards have one DVI and one VGA port on them). The DVI port is a 24-pin digital port while the VGA port is an analog 15-pin port.

 

But What If???

What if your computer DOESN’T have a second video port, as in the case of video being built into the motherboard? Easy, add a video card to your desktop computer and make sure that new video card has two video ports. They are relatively inexpensive and easy to add (if you don’t mind cracking open your computer). You just need to be sure that you get a card that fits in the type of slot that your computer has (PCI, AGP or PCI-Express (the newest type).

What if you want to maybe add MORE than two monitors? Simple, add more video cards. On a laptop there are USB, PC Card and ExpressCard video cards available (at a price), and on a desktop computer you can add cards that support more than two monitors (Quad cards for example can support four monitors). Or if you have unused PCI slots, you can add extra PCI video cards. Once you do go for more then a dual monitor setup, it will get trickier and more expensive to set up, but the basic principles remain the same.

Wrapping It Up

Running multiple monitors is both rewarding and fun thing to do with your computer. If you’ve been thinking about it but putting it off because it looked too complex, rest assured, it isn’t. So take a look at your computer, figure out what you need, and start your multiple monitor adventure. Then, your computer will be the one people look at and envy.