Why I Love Having Dual Monitors
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I noticed two kinds of people on a recent comment thread: people who LOVE dual monitors and are never going back — and people who don't see what the fuss is about. So here's my ode to why dual monitors are great…
I resisted the urge to “upgrade” to dual monitors for a long time, and when the opportunity presented itself for a slightly bigger desk area, a friend talked me into two monitors. And… everyone was right. Having two monitors is amazing, and I love it, and when I have to work on only one monitor now (like on my clunky old laptop on vacation) it feels like I can't do half of the stuff I want to do. I'm curious to hear how you guys use your two monitors, because a lot of my uses tend to be blogging focused, but here are some of the reasons why dual monitors are great for me:
- Budgets, bill paying, and other things involving numbers: I can pull up my statement on one screen and have an Excel spreadsheet up on another.
- Staying on top of a task: I almost always have the comment moderation queue open as the top tab on one of my monitors, with my email open on a second bottom tab
- Consulting one document to help write a first document: If I were still a lawyer I'd have Westlaw on one screen and a word doc on a second — in addition to not having to toggle screens it's just kind of nice to be able to see them right next to each other.
- Clicking 10,000 shopping links: Yeah, maybe this is just me? But when I go to an online store and start picking through products I frequently end up with a zillion open tabs. I know to take a break when the tabs are so small I can't click on them anymore! Then I start looking at the individual products and sorting them by dragging the “consider more” ones over to the other monitor.
How about you guys — do you have dual monitors (or more!)? Why do you think dual monitors are great? If you've tried them and weren't a fan, please share your thoughts, too!
I actually don’t like dual monitors for my work. There are times when it would be good to see two things side by side (even at home – say Quicken and online bill pay), but that’s rare. Instead, at work, I have one absolutely enormous monitor and that works best for me.
I use one monitor for emails and one for Word documents. Or I’ll use one for the source document and one for the document I’m working on. Can’t stand working with just one monitor (or, even worse, just the laptop screen) now…
Same. I HATE drafting with only one monitor and having to tab back and forth to reference emails or precedent.
When I was at a firm, I actually used my open laptop screen as screen #3 and dedicated it to keeping my billing software running.
Yep. This is me. I actually have dual monitors and will occasionally use my laptop as monitor #3 depending on what I’m working on.
I have 3 at work and 5 at home. 5 is perfect for my job (appellate lawyer), but my office won’t supply more than 3 and I can’t add them myself.
Please share your setup for the 5!! I am also an appellate lawyer, and I’ve often joked about wanting a super hi-def TV screen for all of my windows.
It’s a total of four 24″ monitors arranged in two stacks of two. Then I have a 26 inch(?) that runs portrait on one side. The 24″ ones I use for Westlaw/internet, the brief I’m writing, the record, and briefs filed by other parties. I primary use the tall monitor on the side for email.
My home set up requires the computer to have two video cards. Fortunately, my husband is a computer guy who loves to build them and handle this for me.
OMG this sounds like a dream.
I have 2 big screens at work plus my MacBook, which I use just for shopping. The 2 big screens I use for work; the one on the left for briefs, and the one on the right for either Lexus, tcourt filings, client billings, or whatever else I need to copy and paste from into my briefs. I only have 1 big screen at my apartement (it comes with the iMac), so I am not as efficient as I am at work. I spoke with the manageing partner about this and he said he would order me a couple of big screens for home and have the tech guy come over to install them, but I said no b/c I do not want the tech guy over at my apartement alone with me. FOOEY! I had enough trouble with my ex, and this guy ooogles me at work! DOUBEL FOOEY on that!
My coworker also has eithet 5 or 7- they wrap around the “L” of his desk. Lots of jokes when people see his set up for the first time.
I’ve used two monitors since around 2003, when my now-ex husband set it up for me when I was in med school. It’s the one technological trend that I actually was ahead of the curve. It drives me crazy if I’m traveling and only have my laptop screen.
I also love having two ever since my work switched. What I do when I am working from home is use my ipad as my “second” – it’s not ideal but I can have documents open while I type on the laptop, and it’s mostly workable.
Wow, I wish I could find a tech guy who would install a second monitor for me w/o seeking for me to do stuff $exually for him. Why is it that men’s minds always go right to the place where we do not want them to. The tech guy here loves to stare at my boobies, and he has told others in the building that I want to have $ex with him! I have NO interest in that, especially with him!
I work in design and don’t know what I would do without a second monitor. Second one is indispensable. At home, I’m fine for most things with just laptop.
I can’t even imagine a work setup without at least two monitors in 2019.
Agreed. I’ve been working for 20 years and I’ve never not had two monitors! Some were larger (not flatscreen), but yeah, is this some kind of weird back to the future post? Like next is someone going to sing the praises of digital photography or streaming music or smartphones or any other widely adopted technology?
100% agreed. I’ve had two monitors for 15 years. And I’m not a trendsetter.
I only have one monitor because I just can’t stand blocking the view now that I have a window. But if I add another, I would flip it portrait style for reading documents, scrolling through spreadsheets, or occasionally looking a computer code- because those are most often what I’m flipping to as a reference while I do sometjing else.