Use Dual Monitors

Dual monitors are all the rage these days. People whose work is closely tied to the stock market use dual monitors: the Bloomberg/Reuters terminal and the work monitor. In other workplaces, especially where there aren’t too many restrictions on the Internet usage, it is not uncommon for developers to use one monitor as the workspace and another for browsing, checking mail, and work-related googling. Recently, dual monitors have entered our houses.

While I went through the customizations of the Dell Inspiron Mini 9, I was amused to find “External Monitor” listed among “Accessories”. This may be a singular case specific to netbooks because watching a movie on a 8.5″ screen is far less convenient than watching it on a 19″ external monitor, though it is better than watching it on a cell phone screen. Anyway, I already use an external monitor at home; I connect my Lenovo T60 to a 21″ LG LCD Wide screen to watch any video. I am not the first one to do so.

I must confess that I don’t really need an external monitor for any other purpose because my workspace is usually clean with very few open applications. It is just that there is a significant experience gradient in between the two while watching videos. If you have a cluttered workspace, consider a second monitor. And if you’re selling your desktop and going for a laptop, don’t be too hasty in getting rid of the monitor.

Setting your PC to use dual monitors: After connecting the second monitor to your PC — display cable to the CPU and power cable to the power supply — open Control Panel -> Display -> Settings. In the settings tab, click on the drop-down to select the second option and tick beside “Extend my Windows desktop onto this monitor”. You might have to also tune the “Screen resolution” and the “Color quality”. Apply these settings, and you will be able to drag applications from one screen to the other. The secondary monitor logically is by default to the right of the primary monitor regardless of the side on which it is physically located. You can move the “1″ and “2″ rectangles around each other to suit your requirements.