Dual Monitors? Monitor as in Screen.

I'm curious if anyone is using a dual monitor setup. As in two screens. I currently have on 17" LCD screen and I can get another one fairly cheap. Less than 100 bucks. I know I will need a new video card but I can get a 64M Radeon for 20 bucks or so. Should I do it? What are the advantages?

Having dual monitors can be pretty cool. It's easier now with LCD monitors being lite. You don't have to worry about a flimsy desk falling apart with the weight of 2 or more CRT's on it. I say go for it. If you've got the money do it. It's something I'd like to do, but haven't yet just because of pricing. But hooked up dual monitor systems and used them at the place I used to work. If you're working on spreadsheets or databases or if you're playing a game and like to have your music player of choice loaded up, but don't like to have to minimize the game to get to the player, you can just throw the player onto another screen and play your game on one. If you're playing games that are full screen, you'll get twice the screen width to play in. This can be bad or good depending on how you look at it. The motion from one monitor to the other is fluid even with different types or brands of monitors. We used two different CRT's with (1) 17" and (1) 15" monitor and it worked fine. There's no lag time when the mouse goes from one screen to the other. Pretty much I guess I'm just saying DO IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! haha you won't be sorry that's for sure

Dual monitors are great if you do a lot of spread sheets, or have a lot of programs open at the same time, like if you do a lot with digital pictures.

Depending on the computer, you'll need a card to plug it into.
Dual monitors are definitely worth it. Especially when mixing and recording.

I put a duel video out card (PCI radion something or other) into my last PC which was primarily used for music and..... it killed it !

System stability was shot, the bugger would crash 2 or 3 times a day. This was a P5 1.2 GHz 400 MHz FSB machine with half a gig or RAM which should have been fine.

No use for tracking at all.

I eventually got rid of the computer and gave the video card to a friend of mine who installed it and instantly inherited my crashing problems (imagine that). Apparently this was due to the sound card hogging all the system resources.

So, install at your own risk !

I love dual monitors, in Pro Tools you can have the mix and edit screen up or your plugs, or Reason. I use it now with Tracktion and Gearbox, its great.

Originally Posted by: Dr_simonI put a duel video out card (PCI radion something or other) into my last PC which was primarily used for music and..... it killed it !

System stability was shot, the bugger would crash 2 or 3 times a day. This was a P5 1.2 GHz 400 MHz FSB machine with half a gig or RAM which should have been fine.

Sounds like a bad card or an incompatibility or something..jeez, I used to run dual monitors on my 68k Mac, and there wasn't any difference in system performance

Yes, that is because Macs are great !

The last 3 PCs I have had have been horrible.

Perhaps I haven't had them configured optimally, I don't know and I don't care. Perhaps the peripherals were broken or there was a compatibility issue !

Bottom line is they didn't do what I wanted them to do in the available time frame. I don't have the time or the inclination to spend my very valuable and limited spare time trying to get some POS to work when I should be recording on it.

This is in direct contrast to the last 4 Macs (an iBook, an iMac, A G4 Powerbook and a G5) I have had which have all worked perfectly straight out of the box. Furthermore, adding a peripheral is as easy as pie and once working it stays working (well baring a direct strike by a meteorite).

I run 2 x 19" monitors out of my G5 and it is just rock solid !

Logic is not as nice an interface as Sonar however once you get used to Logic it is more than adequate. Additionally Logic is also not built on an ethos of squeezing every last penny out of the end user !

Oh did I mention no viruses ?

Originally Posted by: Dr_simon... Oh did I mention no viruses ?

Which >Mac OS< are you running?

Thanks for the replies guys. I'm going to hold off on the dual monitors for now.

Originally Posted by: LordathestringsWhich >Mac OS< are you running?

Can you name a native OSX virus ?

Whilst I don't believe that any OS is completely bullet proof, In the last 11 years I have only seen 2 "virus like" problems that have affected Macs and they have both been Word macroviruses.

I don't think the issue is that Mac OSX is inherently more secure than Windows, it is just that there are (comparatively) so few Macs out there. Consequently it is not really worth the time and trouble of a malicious programmer to write OSX viruses. I remember there was a company who set up a challenge (with a large cash reward) for someone to write a script that could perpetuate its self from one mac to another. This was withdrawn after the ramifications of the is challenge were considered. However no one managed it !

I have an ASUS P4C800 motherboard with a Radeon9800 Pro card and two 21" CRT's. Best thing since sliced bread. Super cool with SONAR 5.0 or if you run two applications at the same time. If your machine is of reasonably current production, you should have no problems with it.

Sonar is a lovely program !