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OK, so I added a second 22 inch monitor a week ago, and I thought I'd just tell you what it's like.
I wouldn't go back to just one.
Seriously, if you have only one monitor - even a fairly big one - you would not believe how much easier it makes life if you have two.
The research I saw claims a 42~51% improvement in productivity - I don't think I'd go that high, but it certainly does make some things a lot easier. It's not just the extra real-estate you add, it's a better, more organised way of working you add. I have VS and Chrome open on my "old" 22 inch in landscape, both maximised so I have the full screen to play with, but with utilities, Outlook, MediaPlayer, my desktop shortcuts and the app I'm working on running on the other. So I can see the app run and look at the code without doing anything other than move my eyes. If I want to look at a technical manual or MSDN I can have that open on the second monitor while coding on the other. I can switch apps from side to side with simple keystrokes.
What did this cost? £110 for the monitor, £3 for the HDMI cable and £7 for a wall mounting bracket (and a very, very nice bracket it is too) - my original video card supported multiple monitors, so I didn't need to lay out £30 on a new one. Add a few quid for postage, and half an hour installation and you're there. Is it value for money? Definitely. If it doesn't make me actually more productive (and I think it does, just not 50% more) then it makes it easier to concentrate on what you are doing without chasing the right window round the screen and trying to find a way to show both apps at the same time. Which has got to improve productivity all on it's own. I don't know if you want a Portrait and Landscape combination - I did - but if you don't then you just need the desk space.
Talk to your boss. Get a second monitor - I'm sold on 'em!
If you get an email telling you that you can catch Swine Flu from tinned pork then just delete it. It's Spam.
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Way ahead of you there. Next thing you need is to set up multiple desktops and you'll get close to having your working environment nicely organised... 
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A dual monitor setup is wonderful! I've been using that setup at home for a few years. And then I started it at work about a year and a half ago. I can't go back to one. I've tried. I couldn't do it. It made my eyes hurt. Haha. I have Outlook on my right (secondary) monitor, Visual Studio on the primary monitor. And yes, I pull up technical articles and such on the secondary so I can read and code if necessary. I, too, run the application I'm working on in the other monitor, definitely beneficial when needing to view the code at the same time.
Both of mine are 24" at 1920x1080, Landscape orientation. It's made quite a large difference in my productivity. I'm actually quite fast when it comes to navigating a computer in general, Alt-Tab'ing, etc. But to eliminate the need for all that, for the most part, has been very helpful. 
djj55: Nice but may have a permission problem
Pete O'Hanlon: He has my permission to run it.
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I can't even remember the last time I didn't use two monitors.
Wout
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Same
CPallini wrote: You cannot argue with agile people so just take the extreme approach and shoot him.
:Smile:
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wout de zeeuw wrote: I can't even remember the last time I didn't use two monitors.
The last time that one of the pair stopped working?
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Where have you been all those years?
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Hiding under a rock letting you lot get the bugs out! 
If you get an email telling you that you can catch Swine Flu from tinned pork then just delete it. It's Spam.
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I've been using dual monitors for my work for well over a decade now starting back when I was working as a graphic designer.
The problem is deciding when to stop. At home, mostly for enjoying playing FSX, I have two decent video cards with dual outputs and I have 4 monitors hooked up.(3 across with one "utility" one centered above the other three) Writing software is great like this. Studio code editor in one screen, Studio palettes in a second, third for debugging, and the fourth is mainly for any explorer folders and such that I may wish to have open. It doesn't matter how much real estate you have on your monitors, you can always find a use for more.
As for portrait/landscape. At work I use a portrait monitor for the code(approx. 110 columns x 80 rows at the resolution I can read things comfortably), landscape for my palettes and debug sessions.
I wasn't, now I am, then I won't be anymore.
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I've said this before, but I was rewarded with £50 for suggesting that the developers get dual monitors here.
For some time now I've been working with the right hand one in portrait and the left in landscape. Many 'reference' windows are easier to use in portrait where you don't have to scroll up and down.
Every man can tell how many goats or sheep he possesses, but not how many friends.
Shed Petition[ ^]
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ChrisElston wrote: Many 'reference' windows are easier to use in portrait where you don't have to scroll up and down.
That's one of the reasons I wanted one portrait and one landscape - the other is user manuals - since these are generally A4 in Portrait it helps if I can see what the whole page looks like when I'm typing it.
If you get an email telling you that you can catch Swine Flu from tinned pork then just delete it. It's Spam.
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It is fantastic for increasing productivity at work, and it's even streamlined my procrastination at home. I can play on Facebook or whatever useless activity on one screen while I watch a movie on the other screen. 
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AspDotNetDev wrote: streamlined my procrastination
I love it!
Dude - I believe you've come up with new urban slang.
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2 is great. 3 even better. 4 is pushing things a bit.
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I'm curious what you're doing to get good use out of three? I've got that setup both at home and in the office and found major diminishing returns on the 3rd. At home #3's mostly turned into a dedicated chat monitor and almost never used for anything else; at work I'd put the relative use levels at 55/35/10% with #3 only getting a significant share of the work when I'm working on documentation updates (copy being edited; copy marked up by reviewer; reference documents, reply to reviewer, etc). I actually had 4 screens at work for about 2 weeks but took the 4th down to reclaim desk space when I never used it for anything.
Did you ever see history portrayed as an old man with a wise brow and pulseless heart, waging all things in the balance of reason?
Is not rather the genius of history like an eternal, imploring maiden, full of fire, with a burning heart and flaming soul, humanly warm and humanly beautiful?
--Zachris Topelius
Training a telescope on one’s own belly button will only reveal lint. You like that? You go right on staring at it. I prefer looking at galaxies.
-- Sarah Hoyt
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I have four monitors at work. The first three 22", 22" and 20" are portrait and the rightmost 20" is in portrait mode matching what most of the non-IT staff (our customers) have.
I do both Win-form and Web development and when I am doing Web I have to test on four different browsers so having lot's of screen let's me have VS on the second 22", two Explorer windows split vertically (with network uses on the 20" portrait) exchanging space occasionally with another two browsers (FF & Safari) split vertically, and another (IE, the most commonly used) on the "normal" screen, and Chrome running vertically (the primary tester for most of my work, at least one other tab permanently on Google, another one on CP) on my leftmost 22" along with the start menu etc.
I run SharePoint (project, docs and issue tracking) on my laptop (with another 15" external screen to run Outlook email & calendar).
...so I suppose I actually have six screens - all of which are used a lot, pretty much all the time.
- Life in the fast lane is only fun if you live in a country with no speed limits.
- Of all the things I have lost, it is my mind that I miss the most.
- I vaguely remember having a good memory...
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For me, its typically, left monitor with outlook open at all times with inter-company chat window on top(when I'm being messaged at least)
Middle monitor with VS open when I am coding, terminal windows when I am working on servers/remoting into pcs, and right monitor with tutorials or manuals when I need such things, doubling as an output monitor while testing code.
Treat stressful situations like a dog, if you can't eat it, play with it or screw it, then just piss on it and walk away.
Be careful which toes you step on today, they might be connected to the foot that kicks your butt tomorrow.
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Dan Neely wrote: I'm curious what you're doing to get good use out of three? I've got that setup both at home and in the office and found major diminishing returns on the 3rd.
I do use 3 monitors, but that's where I've drawn the line. All three are 24", 1920x1200, with one pair used in portrait mode, and the third in landscape mode. The landscape-mode one is running VS fullscreen (or videos, when I'm not coding), one of the portrait-mode ones shows a bunch of floating windows from VS (output window, locals, call stack, search results, etc), and the last one typically shows Outlook, OneNote, browser windows, logs and all sorts of utilities.
Years ago I had a 4th monitor, but I really didn't know what to do with it...not to mention I was constantly turning my head from the left-most monitor to the right-most. 3's definitely my sweet spot. I've also tried a 27" monitor, and the conclusion I had drawn at that time was, "same resolution, bigger pixels", so I couldn't justify the extra expense. I'm happy with my current setup. Although...bring on the 4K monitors already. 
At one point I also had VS spread across the two portrait-mode monitors, with two sets of tabs opened side-by-side--great for seeing long listings all at once, with enough of a margin on each monitor to dock a window.
Also, Remote Desktop with "Use all my monitors" is great for working with any computer, including those that simply don't have the hardware to support more than one or two (laptops, and even headless systems, come to mind).
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I use three monitors, but on two computers.
My main "work" computer has the usual dual monitor setup, the third monitor is either connected to my laptop (at work) or my workhorse PC at home (I do a lot of video editing/encoding).
With the most excellent Mouse Without Borders[^] I can easily code, test and chat without all that alt-tabbing going on. Having chats etc. on a seperate machine avoids annoying focus-stealing pop-ups from ... err... stealing the focus.
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Speaking of a mouse without boarders, this is even stranger. I have a dual monitor setup in my office with a wall calendar posted next to my left monitor. Sometimes, without thinking, I want to drag a date from the calendar onto an application. No! The mouse only works on the computer screen. Not the wall calendar. Frustrating, but, maybe the next best thing. Can I drag that picture on the wall into my application?
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Usually I use one for Visual Studio, one for Management Studio, and the third for web/email/chat. The systems breaks down entirely if I'm working on a drawing and usually end up with various Gimp windows open across all 3.
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200 26" monitors is overkill. One of my friends did that, and I think he has more than 200 now.
Bob Dole The internet is a great way to get on the net.
 2.0.82.7292 SP6a
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I vehemently disagree with the "4 screens is pushing it".
I have 4 x 24" screens, and find myself wishing for two more, because I can be far more productive in Visual Studio.
The more screens, the merrier!
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I use 3 at work. My laptop at home with one extra attached for 2 there. Almost feel useless with only one screen nowadays.
Treat stressful situations like a dog, if you can't eat it, play with it or screw it, then just piss on it and walk away.
Be careful which toes you step on today, they might be connected to the foot that kicks your butt tomorrow.
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