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01/24/2006 11:52:55 AM · #1 |
| I am looking into buying a dual monitor kit that comes with the stand, monitors and the card from Tiger Direct.LinkI was just wondering what you guys thought of it and was wanting to know if you think dual monitors are a good thing or just a waste of money. Thanks in advance |
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01/24/2006 11:58:03 AM · #2 |
Leah, I can't help you with the kit you're looking at, but I can answer your other question.
I got a second monitor a year ago for my last birthday.
It was hubby's idea - I had never thought about doing that - and I even thought it was a bit over the top. It took me all of about 2 days to get used to it, and by now I have no idea how I ever managed with just ONE monitor LOL
I LOVE having them both, and never want to go back to working with only ONE. |
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01/24/2006 12:14:46 PM · #3 |
I've been running dual monitors for about 5 years now - once you go you'll never come back.
Having all your pallets and junk on one screen and JUST the image on the other makes the whole thing worth it.
Trust me, you won't regret it :) |
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01/24/2006 12:39:58 PM · #4 |
I run dual monitors on my Mac (native support) and as the others say it is really nice, especially in PS where you can devote one monitor to the image and put all your tools on the other monitor. Also since the calibration on each monitor is likely different viewing image on both helps make sure you aren't changing saturation, levels etc that look great on one monitor but awful on a different one.
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01/24/2006 12:41:30 PM · #5 |
Don't get Hyundai. I got 2 L91A's and took them back the same day the colors were not up to par and I could not get both monitors to display consistent color between the two. It is a deal as far as price but I think you will be disappointed in the color response of the monitors. I use 2 NEC MultiSync LCD1970GX LCD's and cant live without them. They calibrated great and I have consistent color across the monitors. You should be able, for a few dollars more to get the same kind of set up but not as a kit. I don't know if you have a fry's electronics, www.outpost.com, where you live but that's a good place to see a lot of LCD's up and running.
Best Regards
P.S. For those with only one monitor, you dont know what your missing.
Message edited by author 2006-01-24 12:50:16. |
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01/24/2006 12:54:41 PM · #6 |
I purchased a second monitor because I wasn't fond of my laptop monitor (which is huge, one of those 17" thingies, but the color wasn't great.) Now, like Megatharian, in PS I have all my pallets & junk on my laptop monitor & the images on my beautiful one. It's INCREDIBLY efficient, although it did take me several days to get used to it.
Definitely recommend it! |
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01/24/2006 12:59:46 PM · #7 |
| I work on my laptop with all my pictures but always check our PC when I upload a picture because the do loo vastly different sometimes. I get the colors right on my laptop then have to go back and make adjustments because of how it looks on the PC. Definitly useful having 2 monitors to compare. |
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01/24/2006 01:02:38 PM · #8 |
I have multiple monitors on multiple systems. Three on this one I am currently using. I would feel claustrophobic if I had to use just one monitor all the time. I leave my laptop at one office where I have to use it and am always opening stuff and looking to the left and there is no monitor there.
I like it on this sytem - one is a 21", one a 19" and one a 17". When I do edits and resizes I always look at the pics on all three to make sure they look ok.
Once you have them set-up you will wonder why you didn't do it sooner. |
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01/24/2006 01:16:07 PM · #9 |
it is definately a fun looking kit, but keep in mind a few things.
-the video card in the kit looks like it has one VGA output and one DVI output. You should get a card that has Dual DVI outputs, it is higher signal quality--and that way both monitors will be recieving the same kind of signal.
-The Monitors are cheaper because [as far as i can see] they are VGA only. I'd recommend getting monitors with VGA/DVI in, due to the higher quality of DVI. With that kit it looks like the DVI output would have to run through a DVI/VGA converter.
by all means though, work up to using 2 monitors. I miss having dual. Favorite setup i ever had was a Mac workstation with a big cinema display, next to a PC workstation with a pro CRT monitor, with a 19" dell pro LCD in between them. I had a second VGA out from the PC and a second DVI out from the Mac both of which were plugged into the dell LCD. I could then switch back and forth using the dell monitor channel functions. Dual Mac and dual PC. Great for Cross-platform development work....it was beautiful and I miss it.
Message edited by author 2006-01-24 13:21:53. |
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01/24/2006 01:17:57 PM · #10 |
Originally posted by Mr Bubbles:
I am looking into buying a dual monitor kit that comes with the stand, monitors and the card from Tiger Direct.LinkI was just wondering what you guys thought of it and was wanting to know if you think dual monitors are a good thing or just a waste of money. Thanks in advance |
I feel obligated to state that I have had very bad experiences from Tiger Direct, both with their advertising of a product and shipping something else, and also with their service support/returning defective items. I have not done any more business with them because of these experiences.
As for the specified item, I would think that if you were actually putting together a package like that, designed for dual-LCDs, you'd pick a card that had dual DVI so as not to have the digital->analog->digital conversion going on one of the monitors. The resolution also seems a bit low for 19", unless that's what you want. Last time I checked Samsung had some good monitors with a very thin bezel so that they could be placed next to eachother like this, although they would also be pricier. |
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01/24/2006 01:20:21 PM · #11 |
Note, most graphics cards i've seen now have two outputs, VGA and DVI, and both can be active at the same time. You can buy adapters to convert either VGA-DVI or DVI to VGA for $10. Our new dell came out of the box with two outputs. We bought an adaptor because we had two DVI monitors, and walaa, dual monitor set up and it works perfect.
Thus, don't waste a lot of money an expensive kit! Just get a standard graphics card with both outputs and a adapter if you need it. |
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01/24/2006 01:24:47 PM · #12 |
I also bought the second monitor because the laptop monitor just wasn't there. If I'm on an extended trip I take the "little" 19" Dell LCD with me. Otherwise I have the 19" Dell LCD and now the new 20.1 Wide Screen LCD Dell. I'll never go back. I can keep Adobe Bridge open on one and let the wide screen be my workspace for PS CS2. Great combination and my graphic card was already setup and more than capable of running both of then, Windows Xp is almost a plug and play setup.
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01/24/2006 01:45:29 PM · #13 |
I love my duals. I have 2 Acer 19" Flatscreens. They're not great monitors, but they do OK. I can get one to calibrate properly, but I can't get the two to match. SO I do all of my picture work on the one calibrated. I imagine that a Spider device would allow me to calibrate both to match each other, but I need to make another $20/hr to get that in the budget. They're still alot better than my old MAG 19" CRT was.
It's really tough when I work on only one screen, there's not enough desktop space for me. :) |
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01/25/2006 03:01:18 PM · #14 |
Originally posted by th3ph17:
it is definately a fun looking kit, but keep in mind a few things.
-the video card in the kit looks like it has one VGA output and one DVI output. You should get a card that has Dual DVI outputs, it is higher signal quality--and that way both monitors will be recieving the same kind of signal.
-The Monitors are cheaper because [as far as i can see] they are VGA only. I'd recommend getting monitors with VGA/DVI in, due to the higher quality of DVI. With that kit it looks like the DVI output would have to run through a DVI/VGA converter.
by all means though, work up to using 2 monitors. I miss having dual. Favorite setup i ever had was a Mac workstation with a big cinema display, next to a PC workstation with a pro CRT monitor, with a 19" dell pro LCD in between them. I had a second VGA out from the PC and a second DVI out from the Mac both of which were plugged into the dell LCD. I could then switch back and forth using the dell monitor channel functions. Dual Mac and dual PC. Great for Cross-platform development work....it was beautiful and I miss it. |
I use one VGA, one DVI monitor. And the VGA is a 17", the DVI is a 19". I use the 19" DVI for the photo, the pallets, etc go on the 17" monitor (and I only calibrate the 19" monitor). The reason for this is that its cheaper to add a monitor to your existing setup than to buy two new monitors and a dual DVI card. If I had to start from scratch, I'd probably do the same thing, and put the money saved into a RAID disk or NAS setup (or more RAM).
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01/26/2006 12:43:38 PM · #15 |
Thanks to your advice I plan on just buying a second monitor and a video card. So I ask another question what is a good graphics video card that has two DVI ouputs and should I get another monitor that is the same size or bigger? Right now I have a LCD 15 inch.
Thank you so much for all your help!! |
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01/26/2006 12:49:56 PM · #16 |
| NOt sure about the card .. I have tso monitors ... the same size, and also with the same quality card so that there is no difference between the two when I take things from one screen to the other ... but don't you think 15inch is too small ... I have 17 inch and that is a good size. I bought my monitors on trademe in NZ ... cheap ... so you should be able to get something off ebay cheap I would think. |
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01/26/2006 12:51:50 PM · #17 |
Using duel monitors using my editing programs, and my 3d programs comes in handy.
I put tools on one, and see my work on another.
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01/26/2006 01:07:59 PM · #18 |
Originally posted by Mr Bubbles:
...and should I get another monitor that is the same size or bigger? Right now I have a LCD 15 inch.
Thank you so much for all your help!! |
Big. Bigger. BIGGEST! YES! |
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01/26/2006 01:22:11 PM · #19 |
I use dual monitors at work. Mostly for programming/databases and stuff like that. I have a very cool setup:
2 PCs
2 Monitors
PC1 is a dual monitor setup however one monitor goes through KVM switch
PC2 connected to KVM switch and to one monitor
What's cool about this:
- I have dual monitor on one PC
- I can switch(using KVM) between 2 PCs
- I can switch(using KVM) one monitor to another PC and use info on other monitor as a reference for something (email)
Add remote desktop to the mix you can use bunch of PC at the same time and still see your main PC.
If someone takes away my second monitor I'll probably quit.
Nick
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