Dual Monitors

[Anonymous]

Just an input question...  I know many run with dual monitors.  My office has been talking about possibly getting dual monitors for a few of us (me included).  I'm wondering what benefits and drawbacks are there. 

Thanks!

[michael.robertson]

I can't imagine not running duals (Even my kids at home use duals for homework)

The main advantage is you can have all your tools open on one monitor where your other monitor is filled just with your drawing.

You don't have to use all the Auto-hide pallettes and waiting for them to hide/unhide to get your drawing area back, just move them to the other screen and leave them open.

Things like Prospector, Properties, Toolpalettes, Layers, etc.

Even outsite of C3D, duals are great for regular office work. Most of our administrative staff use multiple monitors, not just engineers & CADD techs.

[Anonymous]

That's kinda what I thought my use was going to be too--having the other stuff on one and the drawing on the other.  I hate it when you have auto-hide enabled and you scroll over something so it expands and you have to wait for it to autohide again.  I also laugh sometimes at how many things I have open at once, and going to the bottom taskbar to toggle between things. 

What types of drawback are there, besides me having to keep a cleaner desk so that I can find some space to put this other monitor?

[BrianHailey]

The only drawback I can think of is you have to buy and clean two monitors instead of one. I use a laptop and I have a second monitor for it. When I'm at a clients office and I'm running off of just one monitor (the laptop) it drives me crazy! Even those that aren't 100% CAD will get a huge benefit from two monitors. Doing a drainage report? Have the report on one monitor and the calcs on the other; and that's just one example.

Adding a second monitor is an amazing way to increase productivity.

[Anonymous]

If you have the desk space then do it - you won't look back. It's even better with windows 7 where you can drag and maximise windows between monitors in one movement.

[Neilw_05]

There is NO reason to hold back from implementing dual monitors (aside from cost). They are useful in your everyday tasks as well. The only consequence is you will have to learn how to set up and manage them but it is really quite simple and well worth the effort.

[neilyj666]

.... and make sure that they both have the same resolution.. 🙂

[wfberry]

Neil:

Just for the record I do not think it would matter if the monitors are not the same size.

Bill

BTW, I am not all that fond of 2 monitors, I use 3.

[sboon]

We have been running dual monitors for CAD stations for several years, and adding them for non-CAD users whenever the opportunity comes.  I have upgraded to bigger and higher resolution several times.  Currently I use two 23" monitors, and I've come to the conclusion that this is about as big as I want to go.  I find that I need to push the monitors back on the desk to keep them both in my field of view.  Even so I have to turn my head to look at the secondary monitor, which means that I sometimes miss things unless I know to where to look.

[neilyj666]

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@wfberry wrote:

Neil:

Just for the record I do not think it would matter if the monitors are not the same size.

Bill

BTW, I am not all that fond of 2 monitors, I use 3.

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I'm not talking necessarily about physical size (although the same physical size is best in my opinion) but the screen resolution in pixels. My main monitor is 1920×1200 and my original second monitor was 1680×1050 and while I could stretch e.g. Excel over two monitors, as the toolbars disappeared on the secondary monitor it wasn't feasible to do.

Now I have 2 1920×1200 and there is no problem stretching over two monitors.

I could of course have dropped my original monitor resolution down but that wasn't an option.

[antoniovinci]

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neilyj wrote:
.... and make sure that they both have the same resolution

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It doesn't matter: I have a main 19" ratio 5:4 at 1280x1024, with a second 17" ratio 5:4 at 1024x768, and I won't change them for any 16:9 bigger displays...

On the smaller one, I keep not only the toolbars, but the F2 commands' window too, with Google Earth on the background.

Here's my drawbacks: obviously double space taken up on the desk, and hard return to "normal" desks e.g. at home.

[neilyj666]

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@antoniovinci wrote:

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@neilyj666 wrote:
.... and make sure that they both have the same resolution

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It doesn't matter: I have a main 19" ratio 5:4 at 1280x1024, with a second 17" ratio 5:4 at 1024x768, and I won't change them for any 16:9 bigger displays...

On the smaller one, I keep not only the toolbars, but the F2 commands' window too, with Google Earth on the background.

Here's my drawbacks: obviously double space taken up on the desk, and hard return to "normal" desks e.g. at home.

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....no it doesn't matter until you try to stretch an application over both monitors (see my recent response):smileywink:

[AllenJessup]

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@neilyj666 wrote:

 it doesn't matter until you try to stretch an application over both monitors (see my recent response):smileywink:

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That's my reason for wanting them to be the same size. I often divide modelspace into 2 viewports. One 2D Plan and one 3D model. I find it great to be able to see changes in both 2D and 3D immediately. That way if I miss a pick and draw an endpoint or vertex at 0, it's obvious right away.

When I'm only working in 2D the second monitor is free for other applications, like IE with the discussion group open.

Allen

[wfberry]

Neil:

Let me re-word my previous statement.  If the monitors are not the same size, then the resolutions would not necessarily need to be the same. 

Bill

[neilyj666]

I'd agree with that

[owenmull]

And then, of course, this line of thought can only lead to one place; why stop at dual monitors?

I run triple monitors, and the display power simply boggles the mind!!!!!

[AllenJessup]

There's a very good reason I stopped at 2. That's all I could get them to pay for! Otherwise it would be Monitor City around here.

Allen

[owenmull]

Oh it is Monitor Metropolis here!!!

[AKoerner]

I've been using 3 (24-27-24) for a while now and even going back to 2 feels insufficient...having to use only 1 is downright painful.  OK, perhaps that's a slight exaggeration..but still, i find i am much more productive with 2+ than with only 1.  For a while i tried 4, but this really was a bit too much (at least arrayed horizontally).

Re resolution/size, while it is certainly better to have the monitors the same size and resolution for consistency, aesthetics, etc, it really isn't necessary, especially if you are rotating the second, or just using it for toolbars, utility app dialogs, or even just your e-mail browser...  Windows 7 handles multiple monitors with differing resolution quite well, and of course having a relatively new and generally decent video card also helps 🙂

Adam Koerner

Civil Power Tools LLC

http://www.civil3dpowertools.com

i7-2600K OC @ 4.4GHz (and still running stable/cool...), 16GB RAM (1600MHz), AMD 6850 2GB video