Product Review

[Voice Recognition and eMachines M5310] [Canon 6.3MP EOS Rebel Digital Camera] [Voice Over IP] [HP Pavillion ZD7000] [Radio Shack 6-in-1 Remote] [Palm Zire 71] [Perfect Notebook Part 2] [Perfect Notebook] [Do LCD's make a difference?] [Digital Camera Binoculars] [Maxtor Backup] [Apple iBook Part 2] [Apple iBook Part 1] [Sony Vaio Laptop] [Panasonic’s KX-TG4000B 4 Line, Multi-Cordless Handset] [Brother MFC-9700] [E-Machines] [Dual Monitors] [Sony Clie PDA] [IDE Raid Controllers] [Olympus C700 Digital Camera]

Dual Monitors

One of the best kept secrets of PC computing today is the ability for Windows to support dual monitors. The best way to describe having dual monitors is to say that it is like having two computers for the price of a second monitor.

Today’s computers are very fast and powerful. The fact is that anything above 700 or 800 MHz is wasted on the average business computer user. Why not put all that extra power to work. This is how Dual monitors work. You need to get a special video card. They start around $80 and go up from there. Frankly if you are just using your computer for business applications and not games, the $80 variety works just fine. Sue and I are both using the ATI Radion VE 32 meg DDR cards purchased from Circuit City, unfortunately they no longer carry the card. There are several other options however, Matrox, and Nvidia just to name a couple. Now I will warn you. If you choose to try this, it will ruin you. You will not be able to live with just one screen anymore.

Once the card is installed in the computer and the video drivers are installed, things are a real snap. Connect your two screens, I really recommend getting two identical monitors although it is not necessary, and start up windows. Once you are in windows you need to right mouse on your desktop to pull up the menu, selecting properties from the list will bring up the display settings for your computer. Here you will be able to activate the second monitor, extend your Windows Desktop to it, and setup any additional settings that you may require.

Once everything is all set, you’ll notice that your “primary” monitor has your taskbar, your “secondary” monitor is empty, and your mouse will float between the two screens. You can now use the second monitor to keep your email open all the time, or to keep a web page with research information open while editing your document on the other screen. Having the ability to keep two applications open in full screen mode is really nice. As a web page designer it has really made my work less confusing and more efficient. I’ve found it useful for just about every aspect of computing not just design. When I’m catching up on my bookkeeping I can have QuickBooks open on one screen and my spreadsheet open on the other.

Any way you cut it, it helps me be more efficient. If you would like some more information regarding setting up Dual Monitors for your computer, just give us a call or send us an email. Here are some good choices of video cards:

Matrox 450 or 550 DualHead http://www.matrox.com/mga/products/home.cfm

*VisionTek Xtasy GeForce4 MX 440 64MB DDR AGP Graphics Accelerator
http://www.bestbuy.com/detail.asp?e=11099087&m=488&cat=521&scat=522

ATI RADEON 7500 64MB AGP Graphics Card
http://www.bestbuy.com/detail.asp?e=11090904&m=488&cat=521&scat=522

*My personal choice would be the VisionTek Xtacy card as it is powered by Nvidia’s GeForce4 chip providing awesome gaming support as well as blistering fast performance in an everyday office environment.