DSF

there are a number of *cheapish* video cards with multiple ports - I have an ATI 5700 series video card with twin DVI *and* twin HDMI ports supporting up to 4 monitors. Currently I have two paired 23" widescreen monitors at the moment and couldnt even think about going back to a single monitor - running photoshop and quark and email and word at the same time is a godsend -the ability to switch easily between programs on different monitors is amazing - have email and word open at the same time for doing admin and quark and photoshop/illustrator open on the other.

on the other hand... 4 monitors I think would see me getting divorced

Less than £100 for a 3/4 output card seems very good....better add one to my Xmas list!

I really felt it going back to a single monitor, makes a huge difference running 2. I'd really like a triple setup on a snazzy stand (as seen on eBay!) Nothing huge, 19" in the middle and a couple of 17" on each side Maybe just buy a whopping big monitor instead!

go big and you'll never go back...

4 would be good though, set up in a 2x2 formation - two is my minimum now I *really* dont think I could use a single monitor again. even when sufring the web its invaluable - atm I have the starworld excel sheet open on my righthand monitor along with ebay and I'm typing this on my front monitor, so I can see what exactly is happening and I can refer to all three without switching programs etc.

I think you can run up to about 8 monitors with the standard control panel applet - Video edit systems are often built with multiple monitors as the software is timeline based... I'm sure this was supported as far back as W98!

With the arrival of HDTV the programme monitor these days is often driven from the PC - where years ago it was driven via other hardware. So twin system monitors plus a programme monitor ( effectively three, as you require) isn't unusual. I've see at least one system with triple ultra-slim-framed system monitors side-by-side to give a wide extended timeline, and the fourth configured as a 1080i programme output feeding a large wall mounted HDTV.

Justin;22094 wrote:Less than £100 for a 3/4 output card seems very good....better add one to my Xmas list!

I really felt it going back to a single monitor, makes a huge difference running 2. I'd really like a triple setup on a snazzy stand (as seen on eBay!) Nothing huge, 19" in the middle and a couple of 17" on each side Maybe just buy a whopping big monitor instead!

You need a monitor like mine @Justin... Samsung 46" 3D LCD does the perfect job

For those who can't afford 20 monitors plus graphics cards with so many ports you'd need to take out a mortgage just for the cables, the software alternative is virtual desktops using software such as this: http://portableapps.com/apps/utilities/ ... n_portable (other software is available from others).

:biggrin:

there are lots of cheap video card with double monitor ports and a 21"+ lcd monitor costs less than £100. Not much of an expense to increase productivity I think. Also it impresses everyone

phoenixalpha;22128 wrote:there are lots of cheap video card with double monitor ports and a 21"+ lcd monitor costs less than £100. Not much of an expense to increase productivity I think. Also it impresses everyone

A bit tough to squeeze into my netbook, though... :biggrin: (Makes it a tiny bit less portable, too.)