Hello,  I'm having a debate with my spouse ....

some computers allow a second monitor.

most laptops also do this:  plug a second monitor
into your laptop and your options are usually
        laptop only,
        monitor only, and
        both.

A second monitor since Windows 2000 (?)
   {and forever with Macs AFAIK}
can be an extension of your desktop ... example,
you can show your e-mail on one monitor while
creating code on the second.  Or, for web design,
you can have your code on one display and
your browser showing your rendered code on the other.

Also, I like to have one monitor display the Microsoft tutorials
while doing hands on in Visual Studio on the other monitor.

Not long ago, while working at our kitchen table on my
laptop, I dragged a second monitor to the table to try
and boost my productivity.  My spouse thought I was
being ridiculous and strongly believes that there's no
benefit to a second monitor when you can simply use
ALT+TAB; one does also have to ALT+TAB to control
whatever is on the second monitor.

What's your opinion:  two monitors or not two monitors?


Thank you.

Regards,
Gerry (Lowry)

I definitely prefer two monitors.  I like having Visual Studio on one of the monitors almost all the time, and on the other I end up switching from email, SQL Server Management Studio, Browser (especially when I'm developing web content), and training or reference material.  When looking at training or reference material, it's especially handy to be able to look at example code while I'm coding in VS.

Hello Dan,

thank you for replying.  I was hoping to hear other opinions too.

I guess I could tell my spouse that 100% of programmers prefer two monitors.

For me, it's so much more productive.  Since Windows supports more than two monitors, in my ultimate scenario I'd probably have several if (a) I could afford them and (b) my spouse would allow me.

I can hear the snickers from the peanut gallery about who wears the pants in my family.  To that, in paraphrase, I quote a comedian whose name I've forgotten:  "Over a quarter of a century ago, I decided that I wanted to stop making decisions for myself, so I got married". 

Regards,
Gerry

I'd highly recommend going for a multi monitor setup. When I was first introduced to dual screen in about 2005 I was pretty skeptical, but after a day or so I started to get why people like it. It's incredibly useful for programming activities - you can learn from one screen, and implement on the other, or you implement on one and test on the other. Or pretend to work on one or play games / read news / post on forums on the other. It is also great for big copy and paste jobs where you're plucking bits of info from one document and then pasting them into another.

With the price of flat screens these days it isn't all that expensive either. Round about 2003 I spent about £500 on a 19" Sony trinitron that weighed about 35kg - thinking that with that quality, I'd be using it for years. I finally got rid of the brute 3 years back and replaced it with a 20" Samsung LCD that cost me £200, Then last year I added the 24" Samsung that was a steal at £230 - the 2 screens combined cost less and take up less space than the old one.

My other half doesn't yet appreciate the value of the second screen much. But she does play some games on the PC (the sims etc) and I sold her on the idea of upgrading the main monitor, then added that it would be a shame to throw out the old one. But I'm finding now that if I have to work from home some evenings, we can sit together and watch a tv show on the second screen while i'm working on the main.

A couple of things I've found: i) it works best when the 2 screens are the same vertical height ii) because you'll start having more windows open at the same time, you'll need at least 2gb ram.

TBH I don't think there's much of a gain in usefulness when you start going from 2 to 3+ monitors - in fact it starts becoming a bit hard to manage, the 3rd can be handy if you spend a lot of time on a remote desktop. At an old job I got into an arms race with a colleague - unfortunately he played a good long game and got put in charge of it purchasing, so it ended in a 3 screens to 4 defeat, I think he only used the 4th screen for playing Settlers from Catan.

Without a doubt: 2 monitors. I think I would now struggle to go back to one screen.

Especally when you span Visual Studio over both monitors and have your .aspx on the left and .vb on the right. 

Yep, didn't even have to think about that one ;)

So far, the good news for me in my biased opinion is that still 100% of those who have replied prefer dual monitors.

Sabeltann:

in part:  "I don't think there's much of a gain in usefulness when you start going from 2 to 3+ monitors - in fact it starts becoming a bit hard to manage"

Agreed, although it depends.  That does not mean that I'd be unhappy with more than two monitors.  It often becomes more of an issue of the design of one's office than physically switching with ALT+TAB. Even with a single monitor, I can easily have 30+ windows open.  Ideally (after I win the lottery, assuming that I live long enough to win the lottery), I'd have a semi-circular desk.  I think that would work best, especially if one wishes to effectively win an "arms race" as described by Sabeltann.

Regards ~~ Gerry (Lowry)

@ d_helland, Sabeltann, and bgs264:  thank you for your input.  I've been using the second monitor with the laptop for about a week.

Given your input, while not convinced herself, at least my spouse now considers that the possibility of using two monitors and being more productive is real.

Real it is!  I'm making much faster progress on my project than when I was using only the laptop.  Especially when stepping through code in debug mode on the extension monitor and watching my ASP.NET MVC output in IE7 on the laptop's display.

Regards ~~ Gerry (Lowry)

F.Y.I.                   ***  update ***

some interest links regarding multiple monitor setups:

http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/000012.html Multiple Monitors and Productivity

http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/000740.html Bill Gates; Larry Page (Google cofounder)

http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/000666.html  Every programmer shall have two monitors

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/335302/do-programmers-need-multiple-monitors

For notebook users, two monitors likely is not a problem.

Scott Hanselman's fourth is a tiny and apparently portable monitor
that runs off of a USB port. 
http://www.hanselman.com/blog/ReviewMimoMonitorsIMoPivot.aspx,
http://www.compiledthoughts.com/2009/10/visual-studio-tool-windows-on-mimo-usb.html.

Larger USB monitors are available, one example:
http://www.samsung.com/my/consumer/pc-peripherals-printer/monitor/lcd-monitor/LS22LFUGFZ/XM/index.idx?pagetype=prd_detail 
  (21.5 inches wide, and apparently built in speakers too)

regards/gerry