Is Dual Monitors Worth It

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I currently have a geforce2 gts 32mb and a 15" monitor. Tomorrow I'm taking my mom's old computer, which I think has a 14" monitor. Would it be worth it buying a cheap pci vid card and having dual monitors? I do webdesigning and graphics, so I thought it moght be cool. Wht are the major advantages, disadvantages to having dual monitors. Thanx.

ouch, 15" + 14" that must suck... i have 19" + 15"

it'd be good for you.

for what you indicated, you should really go with a larger monitor, if you can.

but dual is good no matter what you have ;-)

advantage:

you can see HTML code and output on different screens... you can run both at different resolutions, so technically, you can see how the output is on 2 different resolutions.

um, for graphics, you can have a separate screen for different views... that is, one that's zoooooomed in, and one that's "normal"...

disadvantage:

running at different resolutions can get tricky, it takes some time (very little) to get used to.

if the monitors are running at different refresh rates (vertical) it could get messy... make sure they're runing at (hopefully above) 75Hz.

your power bill will go up...

using a very old monitor that cannot display nicely will hurt your eyes some. those 10 year old monitors should not be used ;-) but one that's a few years old is fine.

you better be running win98, win98se, winme, win2k (any)... older MS OSes don't support multiple display adapters.

oh, having 2 CRTs running will probably increase ambient room temperatures by a degree or 2...
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i never liked 14" monitors. they're just tooooooo small...

Thanx Mday, I'm just going to use the 15" and 14" until I can afford a 19". Then I'll have a 19" - 15", then when I can afford either another 19" or 17", I'll buy that. Thanks for your help.

If you want to play any OpenGL games, you need to temporarily disable the second card's extended desktop.

Also, don't worry about higher electric bills too much.
Most monitors use 60 watts of less.
10 hours a day is 600 watts. 30 days is 18,000 watts.
Cost for electric here is about $0.08 per kwh, or per 1000 watts.
So the above average monitor would cost less then $1.50 a month in electric.

oh, having 2 CRTs running will probably increase ambient room temperatures by a degree or 2...

Heck yea it will. I have a 19" a 21", and a lowly 14" :eek: running on two puters, plus my 27" WEGA, a mini fridge, a digital cable box, and a bunch of other little things (cable router, modem, back UPS, etc.) running right now. It is by far, and away the hottest room in the house. I hve to open the windows sometimes in the middle of the winter, because of it! :Q

It's worth it though IMO.

I agree too about the electrical. Our electrical bill isn't through the roof at all. I'd say our A/C units are the only huge jump we ever see.

Go for it man. Any extra desktop is cool with me.

You think that's bad? My roommate and I have so much stuff running it blew a fuse! Out of the entire dorm, our room was the only one that had no electricity until they went and fixed it (flipped the switch hehehe).

I have dual 19" running, he's got a 21" running. We both have stereo systems, tv, fridge, microwave... the works. Thank god we don't pay for utilities separately!

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