Travel Technology - Second monitor advice

Not really travel related, but I figure people will know something...hopefully.

I want to get a second monitor for my desk. I'm going to be doing a lot of Excel stuff, and a widescreen format would be best. My current setup is a Thinkpad T61 in a docking station, which is plugged in to an IBM 17" 4:3 LCD monitor.

1. The current monitor is plugged in to the DVI port on the docking station. Can the laptop output to the DVI port and the docking station's VGA port simultaneously?

2. Amazon has a 19" LCD monitor for $130. It's made by AOC, which I've never heard of. ANy experience with this brand, or should I get the Acer?

AOC: http://www.amazon.com/AOC-919SW-1-Widescreen-LCD-Monitor/dp/B0013K8NAK/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&s=pc&qid=1228321262&sr=1-6

Acer: http://www.amazon.com/Acer-V223-WBD-Widescreen-Monitor-Black/dp/B0017AR13G/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=pc&qid=1228321262&sr=1-2

Thanks for input!

Are you also using the built-in screen?

I am now, but with two external monitors I wouldn't need the built in screen.

If you have an old monitor you may want to plug that in and check to see if the laptop can handle two monitors out like that. It is a lot of work for just one tiny graphics card to handle, especially out of the same ports basically.

I've done it with an HP/Compaq docking station setup, with one monitor on DVI, one on VGA. In my case, *I* couldn't handle it unless both monitors were the same brand and model - otherwise the difference in placement, resolution and color balance drove me nuts. I couldn't get used to he desktop spreading across 2 monitors if #2 wasn't in the logical location, either...

RFTraveler :cool:

With the current price of 22" monitors, why not just get yourself a nice 22" monitor and use that plus the laptop panel? Anyway, FWIW, that's what I do.

If it turns out your laptop can't drive two external monitors, you can buy either a USB monitor or a usb video adapter and do what you want.

-David

not had an AOC. have had acer17&19. have a v7 22". like all three. i think the v7 is a visionic(?) that is downgraded.

check buy.com for price and availability. buy.com is a front for the manufacturers. they just take a commission. buy.com is a great place to buy samsung tveez. they air freight from CA. i bought a 65", and they air freighted it to DC.

With the current price of 22" monitors, why not just get yourself a nice 22" monitor and use that plus the laptop panel? Anyway, FWIW, that's what I do.

If it turns out your laptop can't drive two external monitors, you can buy either a USB monitor or a usb video adapter and do what you want.

-David

That's what I used to do. But I figure, the IT department gave me this otherwise nice IBM monitor so I may as well try to use both.

Once they get back to me as to whether they'll give me a bigger monitor, I'll make a decision. :)

2. Amazon has a 19" LCD monitor for $130. It's made by AOC, which I've never heard of. ANy experience with this brand, or should I get the Acer?

AOC: http://www.amazon.com/AOC-919SW-1-Widescreen-LCD-Monitor/dp/B0013K8NAK/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&s=pc&qid=1228321262&sr=1-6

Acer: http://www.amazon.com/Acer-V223-WBD-Widescreen-Monitor-Black/dp/B0017AR13G/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=pc&qid=1228321262&sr=1-2


I don't know if I could handle two different types of screens (as mentioned elsewhere). However, I can say that I have the 22" Acer at home and a Dell 19" at work. If I were looking for just one screen, I would be comfortable spending the extra $42. At home, I routinely set the Acer at a resolution that lets me effectively tile 3 or 4 applications.

With the current price of 22" monitors, why not just get yourself a nice 22" monitor and use that plus the laptop panel? Anyway, FWIW, that's what I do.

If it turns out your laptop can't drive two external monitors, you can buy either a USB monitor or a usb video adapter and do what you want.

-David

I actually would prefer two 19" screens over one 22" screen. I like being able to have some things maximized on one screen and some on another and not have to manually tile them all on a single screen.

I couldn't get used to he desktop spreading across 2 monitors if #2 wasn't in the logical location, either...

That is hard to get used to, but you can fix it by moving #1 and #2 around in the settings dialog box.

I use a monitor + laptop panel both at home and in my office. I absolutely love it. It took about 2 hours for me to come to love the productivity bump it provided. Seriously.

I actually would prefer two 19" screens over one 22" screen. I like being able to have some things maximized on one screen and some on another and not have to manually tile them all on a single screen.

I'm with sbm12. I actually prefer my two 15" 1024x768 panels at work to my single 19" 1680x1050 at home.

Is there any way to make Windows (in my case, XP Pro) think a single, big widescreen monitor is two separate monitors so you can maximize two apps on the screen at once?

I'm with sbm12. I actually prefer my two 15" 1024x768 panels at work to my single 19" 1680x1050 at home.

A good point about resolutions - less is preferred to more, especially with smaller screens. A 19" 1440 x 900 max resolution is IMHO much easier to use than a 19" 1,680 x 1,050 max resolution screen.

Also depending on the graphics card... if two will work and at what resolution... if it is possible, you may have to reduce the overall output resolution to each monitor to reduce the processing required in the graphics card if its a weaker card...

Thanks all...our IT department is graciously providing me with a 19" widescreen monitor (the biggest they have). So that's what I'll work with.

In the last couple days of using my monitor and laptop LCD, the idea of two bigger external monitors is very exciting. :)

A good point about resolutions - less is preferred to more, especially with smaller screens. A 19" 1440 x 900 max resolution is IMHO much easier to use than a 19" 1,680 x 1,050 max resolution screen.

Yeah, they are cramming too many pixels into the screen for older eyes.

I've got 19" 1280x1024's and I don't want any more pixels than that.

I have two 22" or so monitors (wide screens) for my office. My preference would be to get two matching monitors -- color matching and what not.

Windows 7 will support PROPER DPI adjustment for larger high res panels so you can choose to get more on the screen but not have to get so much more that you have to squint at it.

Normally on a notebook GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) you will have two unique display controllers (CRT-C's) , they can drive any combination of two UNIQUE outputs to either VGA, DVI or LVDS (the panel built into the monitor), some also allow for S-Video/Composite, HDMI and Display Port with some of these allowing possibility for all these outputs to work at the same time BUT ONLY 2 unique outputs (e.g. VGA + S-Video would have the same output and then LVDS + HDMI would have the same output - if the GPU allows simultaneous outputting - some newer AMD and NVIDIA GPU's allow this - but normally it's just two unique outputs on most current notebooks)

On some select docking stations when you dock an additional GPU can be present in the dock (If PCI-E Slot is present) where the onboard GPU runs the screen on the notebook and the dock connected monitor is run by a different GPU. For this to work it has to be Windows XP *OR* the same GPU vendor/driver on the onboard GPU and the dock GPU if using Vista.

Onto Windows support for multimon. On XP or Vista both AMD/ATI (HydraVision) and NVIDIA (nView) do good multi monitor software for handling maximize windows across one or two monitors (you can set behaviour). Intel has never done similar software for their integrated graphics.

If you use two monitors like I do, then buy this software. It will allow you to have two different background images, one across both screen and will provide drag and snap for moving windows from on screen to another.

http://www.binaryfortress.com/displayfusion/

^^

This thread reminded me of around 2002 when I upgraded to a 19" flat screen CRT & used it in tandem with a 17" rounded CRT... ugh that was fun :rolleyes: At least I had a decent Nvidia graphics card (128 MB) to run them both, and adjust them properly...

(And yes that was a black friday special I think - 19" CRT for $99 after MIR)

I actually would prefer two 19" screens over one 22" screen. I like being able to have some things maximized on one screen and some on another and not have to manually tile them all on a single screen.

Same thing here. In fact, when at home there are some things I won't do on my laptop I'll make the trip upstairs to my office so I can take advantage of having both monitors. I went with 2 monitors in my home office a couple years ago and wouldn't go back to just 1.

Also, I have identical monitors (19" Viewsonic) and would think it would bother me too if they were different.

Finally, I have bought 3 LCD monitors from Buy.com and have been very satisfied.

That is hard to get used to, but you can fix it by moving #1 and #2 around in the settings dialog box.
(snip)



Yeah, but I mean the difference between having M1 and M2 level and side-by-side as opposed to a laptop screen at about 1in above the desk, and the monitor stand a few inches higher - last time I looked, you could only spec them to left and right of each other, not at a diagonal...

And, what I prefer (or preferred back when I could do it...) was to have the matching monitors with external mouse and keyboard in front of me, with the laptop in dock elsewhere. Added advantage of having a 10 key pad when needed...

RFT

Yeah, but I mean the difference between having M1 and M2 level and side-by-side as opposed to a laptop screen at about 1in above the desk, and the monitor stand a few inches higher - last time I looked, you could only spec them to left and right of each other, not at a diagonal...

RFT

Mine works fine on a diagonal.

Mine works fine on a diagonal.

Huh....never tried that. Oh well...


RFT

I once hooked up 6 monitors at once to a vintage 1987 Mac II. It was so easy--totally plug and play even with a bunch of different kinds of monitors. Most were the small color monitors typical of early-90s Macs, but there was a grayscale portrait monitor or two and one black-and-white (not grayscale, just black and white) 20-incher in the mix. It was crazy.

Then I had to give everyone else their monitors and video cards back. :(