Practicing the Black Art (08/11)
When Two (Or More) Is Better Than One
by Vinny La Bash, vlabash@comcast.net
Member of the Sarasota Personal Computer Users Group, Inc.
My old CRT monitor was bulky, heavy, and generated too
much heat. So I swapped it for a wide screen flat panel display. Shortly
after, I decided to ditch my desktop because it was bulky, heavy, and
generated too much heat. Investigation into the current crop of portable
devices available on the market led me to say nay to all of them.
Instead, I commissioned a local computer store to build a 17" laptop for
me. It was the only way I could get a machine with the exact mix of
hardware, software, and performance capabilities I wanted without all
the extra "junkware" that commercial vendors load onto their systems.
Plugging my flat panel display into the laptop’s
video output gave me a pleasant surprise. With no foresight, planning or
intention, I now had a dual monitor system. Since nothing that’s
worthwhile having in this life comes without effort, there was still
some work to do.
Until you get to the Display Settings dialog box,
there is no way to know which of your monitors is #1 or #2. Either one
can be the left or right monitor, and either one can have low, medium or
high resolution. It doesn’t end there. Either one, but only one can
contain the Taskbar. You decide by checking the box that says This is
my main monitor. In the illustration, the main monitor is # 2. If
you want #1 to be your main monitor, left-click on the 1 and check the
box. Windows will automatically uncheck the box which made #2 the main
monitor.
With #2 as the main monitor, getting to #1 is as
simple as dragging your mouse pointer off the right edge of #2 and see
it magically appear at the left side of #1. Drag the mouse from right to
left to return to #2. To get the display to match the actual physical
relation of the monitors to each other, drag the monitor icons to match
the physical positions of your displays. Experiment with the settings,
and while getting everything to work the way you want, you will discover
that control is unexpectedly intuitive.
Laptops are much easier to set up with a second
monitor because Windows automatically takes care of the hardware. You
never worry about which monitor is which if you have to disconnect the
second monitor temporarily. Default settings consider a second monitor
as an additional output to use in place of the laptop’s display. You
don’t need to mess with the display toggle option as you would when
using a projector. The familiar Display Properties dialog box easily
does the job.
Dual monitor setups with desktops are more
complicated than laptops. That’s the drawback, but you don’t need to be
a geek to set it up. I’m tempted to say "Even a caveman could do it",
but let’s not go there.
You need two monitors and two video outputs on your
computer. Check your user manual or look at your motherboard to
determine what kind of video capabilities came with the machine. If you
have a low end machine, it’s most likely equipped with integrated video
on the motherboard. If that’s the case, you’ll need to disable the video
on your motherboard and install one video card with two video outputs or
two video cards.
One video card with dual outputs is in most cases a
superior solution to dual cards. Multiple cards bring up the specter of
video driver conflicts and poor video quality or crashes as a result of
these conflicts. A single video card eliminates driver conflict issues
along with additional complications. The more powerful your video card,
the more power it consumes, and the more heat it generates. A second
card may stress your power supply to the point of breakdown. Even if it
doesn’t, you still need to find a way to remove the excess heat. Unless
you really want the additional performance that only a dual card setup
can give, go for the single card solution.
Choosing a flat panel monitor avoids the bulk, weight, and heat of
old fashioned CRT monitors. Flat panels have the additional virtues of
being more stylish, and have you ever tried hanging a CRT display on a
wall? Having two monitors the same size avoids having to resize
applications when moving from one to the other even though it’s a minor
inconvenience. Make sure the video outputs from your computer match the
video inputs on your monitor. A VGA output goes to a VGA input. Newer
monitors will have DVI or HDMI
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Copyright 2008. This article is from the November 2008 issue of the
Sarasota PC Monitor, the official monthly publication of the Sarasota
Personal Computer Users Group, Inc., P.O. Box 15889, Sarasota, FL
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