Anyone running dual monitors? I've been wondering if I can run duals off of a laptop (probably 18's)? I plan to be doing alot of CAD work and will get a decent laptop that can handle the horsepower needs. More screen real estate will definitely help since I usually need multiple windows open (catalogs, specs, drawings) all simultaneously.

Are the new flat monitors USB these days? I'm using a 15" LCD now and will not go back to CRT's!

Anyone have any experience in this area?

 

I am not yet, but I have been tempted to bring the 19" from the other PC into my room and hook it up.

My vid card and XP supports two of them.
That would be cool.

 

using a dual monitor at work

running a laptop (15") and a lcd (17") which helps me motor through more coding....

 

Most the laptops I seen that are fairly new will allow you to hook up an external monitor or LCD and the have the display show the same things on both or you can turn on what XP calls in the driver section I think it is can't remember of the top of my head but its just a check box to turn expand or something like that and you can have more desktop space. Just got to get used to moving your mouse across 2 monitors.

 

What I want to do is have two separate 18" LCD's (aside from the built in which I'll disable) and have the laptop in a dock, then also use separate keyboard/mouse. I won't be lugging the laptop around alot, but I want to have the ability to take it along occasionally.

 

Depends on the laptop and dock. The larger Dell docking stations (not the "port replicators") can take a PCI card so you can definitely get a dual-head card. Careful though as I've found the C series isn't able to power a hot card, not sure if they've fixed that issue in the new D series yet. Otherwise you're stuck with the laptop's LCD for one of the screens. It will work though, I use it all the time.

 

I know running duals with a regular PC just requires a cheap vid card to be dropped in to replace the stock one. I run 3 18's side by side by side at work, and that's a lot trickier - it took our IT guys a few tries to get the software to do it. But 2 is easy...

 

I'm trying new things so I actually did a search and am dredging up an old post.
I was just given a Sony Vaio laptop that I am going to use for running navigation software on our boat, and possibly mapping software in the truck. The nav software has three different windows of information, which turn into micro-windows on the small screen. The Vaio has a great little screen, but the important word there is little. I would like to mount a 15" lcd screen in the boat, and use both the laptop screen and the 15", not as a repeater but to expand the desktop. That way I could have at least one of the nav windows running full screen. I'm running Xp pro and understand that it can handle this, but I think I also need a card. Can someone point me to the cheapest decent solution for this. Thanks.

 

Just hook it up and cross your fingers. Well, not that easy. Do a search for drivers. If you cannot find drivers for dual-display then your card probably cannot handle it. Vaio #$%&@ drivers are "fun." Once you enable the external display it should pop up on both screens. You will probably have to install a few drivers to find one that works. I would try the oldest version on Sony's site and work up from there (older>newer till it crashes). If it does crash. Reboot w/ F8>VGA mode and install a newer version.

 

Good luck finding a laptop that will support dual monitors aside from the connected one. I have yet to find one, but I haven't really been looking either. Do you really need all that power with you at all times? Why not get a desktop, that will be able to do the job better in the first place, and get either a used or base model laptop? A word to the wise, having a super high power laptop will be heavy, bulky, have horrible battery life, and they tend to run really hot. My buddy just had a monster laptop and it actually caught fire!

My roommate just told me the Dell 20" flatscreen has a $150 rebate right now, I'll see if I can get more information from him. Once you go big, you will never look back. Ive got a 23" widescreen and a 19" 4:3 and I love the setup. It takes multi-tasking to a whole new level. Though I primairly do imaging stuff and I don't know much about cad programs, it sure is a big help for me.

 

Ta Daaaa!!!!

 

[QUOTE=turboale]Good luck finding a laptop that will support dual monitors aside from the connected one. I have yet to find one, but I haven't really been looking either. Do you really need all that power with you at all times? Why not get a desktop, that will be able to do the job better in the first place, and get either a used or base model laptop? A word to the wise, having a super high power laptop will be heavy, bulky, have horrible battery life, and they tend to run really hot. My buddy just had a monster laptop and it actually caught fire!

QUOTE]

If you are referring to me then you should reread my post. I'm not sure how getting a desktop is going to help me on the boat or in my truck, and an old slow Sony Vaio would probably not accurately be described as "super high power".

 

That looks like it would work. Wondering if $169 is considered a cheap fix for this. My last two computers were free and I'm completely out of touch with what things cost.

 

Does the laptop have an external VGA jack? That's what I'm using. I don't need a card. If you use XP, just select "extend my desktop to this monitor". It just makes the real estate larger - not a repeater, but more area for windows. I run AutoCAD or Photoshop on my 24" widescreen and other apps on my 15" widescreen laptop panel at the same time.

 

Here's a link to more info: https://www.yotatech.com/forums/show...hlight=monitor

 

And what would an external VGA jack look like? It has a docking station that came with it that has a bunch of ports. Would be very good to be able to do this with the equipment I already have.

 

Likely 15 pin like this: http://www.bbdsoft.com/video.html (except female, not male). The other deal breaker would be that with the internal video display driver, can it drive both the laptop panel and the external monitor simultaneously? Some of the older laptops couldn't do both.

 

I've got a couple of those on this thing. Once I get the laptop and monitor in the same place I'll have to give this a shot. Sounds like I may just be in luck.
Thanks for all the help.