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the use of two monitors

Pete

What is the purpose of the use of two mostly 17" flat screen monitors? I see them more and more in architectural firms. Who uses them, the draftsman, the graphic designer....?

 
Nov 15, 04 7:07 pm
zepplin100

You put all your palettes and tools on one monitor, and you put your work on the other and you gain valuable workspace as a result. Having two monitors helps you multitask too.

Nov 15, 04 7:19 pm  · 
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spaghetti

it looks so damn badass

Nov 15, 04 7:21 pm  · 
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Tectonic

but doesn't it take up too much space for what you get..........I always thought that the better you got at computer use the more effecient you could be, but having two monitors seems too overwheling to be effecient

Nov 15, 04 7:23 pm  · 
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spaghetti

at the computer labs at school, i hog 2 or 3 computers at a time if possible... it is just faster to do work (like having 3 pieces of paper to draw on as opposed to one) the material/digital world is too slow for me sometimes..

Nov 15, 04 7:28 pm  · 
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Mr. T

having 2 monitors is like having a longer desk to put all your stuff on. either way you still work in one corner of the workspace.

Nov 15, 04 7:29 pm  · 
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e

i'm not sure how badass it is to have two 17" monitors side by side when you could have one 30" >> apple

Nov 15, 04 7:33 pm  · 
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Suture

One for cad...
...the other for surfing for architectural porn

Dick's condominiums from the image gallery

Nov 15, 04 7:36 pm  · 
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qunqing

boss will double workload though...

Nov 15, 04 7:58 pm  · 
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mauOne™

i am using 2, 19"CRTs, at home & i can't handle it,
it's too much excitement.

little problem figuring out where to put the keyboard and the mouse, i need a bigger table or learn to draw on my leg

2 used, 19" CRTs for 260 U$D, the deal of a lifetime I said, now you should see the electricity bill :ob

Nov 15, 04 9:11 pm  · 
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I have a 20" Apple Cinema Display at home, and am thinking about getting a 17" LCD to go with it for secondary activities. At work we have a couple stations (not mine - yet) running dual heads, and I think it really makes a world of a difference. If you're running two programs that reference each other for something (we do our drawings in DataCAD and door/window schedules in Access, for example) its really nice to have both open and running full screen, rather than constantly switching back and forth. Same thing goes if you're trying to read a tutorial for a program in PDF and do the activities at the same time.

Nov 16, 04 8:10 am  · 
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A

Just one monitor for me...and a whole lotta CPU's

Nov 16, 04 8:18 am  · 
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Jordan Lloyd

"One for cad...
...the other for surfing for architectural porn" - Not sure how this one works....

Nov 16, 04 8:28 am  · 
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momentum

putting all your palettes in photoshop, on one screen is a gigantic help. no more opening nad closing the history and layers panels, and you get more space for the image you are working with.

same for max/viz. put your panels on one, materials, rendering, etc, then keep your space maximized on the other screen. to top it off, you can extend your rollout properties tab, which means you scroll through it less.

cad is nice too, cause if you are copying from one drawing to another you canhave them both up constantly.

in word, it is nice to be able to copy and paste as well without minimizing nad maximizing all the time.

at my job i'v got three screens up which run on two computers. first computer has one screen and i keep internet "research" up, music, e-mail, and printing software and folder.

the other two screens are the BOXX laptop, and a monitor to extend its workspace. in microstation it is nice to keep everything open, so the second screen becomes a place for all that, and the work screen is the laptop.

only problems with this is that i sometimes forget which keyboard i should be using, but i am used to it so this doesn't happen a lot. no one else likes to touch the setup because they always get the mice and keyboards mixed up.

i would trade it all in a heartbeat for a boxx with dual processors, mega ram, and hella video card with 2 30" apple screens though. Any day of the week, just so i can cruise archinect with mad screen frontage, and slow connection speed.

Nov 16, 04 12:40 pm  · 
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wangsta

i always dig it when people display their personalities on their monitors...you know, aCAD runnin' on one machine with the Simpsons rollin on the other. you just know their serious.

Nov 16, 04 1:32 pm  · 
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French

wangsta, that was nerdy too...

Nov 16, 04 2:13 pm  · 
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wangsta

it was a joke dude, i was saying that most people who use 2 monitors have no REAL use for both, and end up using one for some bullshit like playing movies...

Nov 16, 04 2:23 pm  · 
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wangsta

...while they work

Nov 16, 04 2:24 pm  · 
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Hasselhoff

I used to be running to monitors when I first got my new work station, but I didn't have enough room for two in the studio, so I sold my CRT. A 19" flat panel is nice, but 2 monitors is totally awesome.

Nov 16, 04 4:01 pm  · 
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enzo76

It's great to split the screen between two monitors in AutoCad as well. Especially when doing 3d work.

Nov 17, 04 5:05 pm  · 
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Hasselhoff

"i always dig it when people display their personalities on their monitors...you know, aCAD runnin' on one machine with the Simpsons rollin on the other. you just know their serious."

My critic was being super nice to me yesterday because the wallpaper on my monitor says "My Architectural Future" and has a burning car wreck as a picture. It rules. But sadly, it's true.

Nov 17, 04 5:12 pm  · 
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greengoblin

BEWARE!! I used to run two 18" flat screen at home... it was the greatest thing in the world at first... but then I found out they put too much stress on your eyes. Especially when you're watching the computer screen at least 4 hours at work! Its not healthy!

Nov 18, 04 12:29 am  · 
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Jeremy_Grant

just recently I hooked up my 34" flatscreen tv to my 2nd home computer and just last night I hooked up my spare 19" monitor to the same computer just to test how 2 screens could make work easier. I put the 19" monitor slightly raised off the floor in front of the tv and I put all my pallettes on it (microstation and photoshop). It works pretty good with the wireless mouse and keyboard from my recliner. Very comfortable and a lot of screen space to work. I've also been using the 34" screen for writing my thesis paper and it works great.

i used to have the 19" monitor set up so I could dock my laptop and use the two screens to set up my presentations or write papers.... word on one, internet explorer or adobe acrobat on the other.

momentum:
can't you figure a way to rig up a kvm port switch so you just have one mouse and keyboard?

my dream is a renderfarm and a workstation on a kvm port switch

Nov 18, 04 12:38 am  · 
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graspin

we use the double in our office....but sadly, most of the guys just pin up pics of their wives/babies....whereas i pump it hard on both!

my mentor tought me that a dedicated architect has no time for a wife...or a baby...just many young misstresses! lol

Nov 18, 04 8:03 am  · 
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evilplatypus

2 hands, 2 feet, 2 nutz, 2 moniters. No Apples.

Nov 19, 04 11:38 pm  · 
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trace™

where I am working at during the day, everyone has dual 21" crts or dual 20" lcds. It's pretty sweet. Coming home to my lonely 21" seems odd and certainly slows me down.

If you do a lot of rendering, it's great to ahve space to surf and still keep an eye on the rendering.

But I've got two computers here and one machine, vice versus at work. I think having two machines is the most productive, rarely does one sit idle.

I am eyein' one of Sony's 23" lcds, but hard to justify when you can have two 20" lcds for less.

Nov 20, 04 2:27 pm  · 
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mauOne™

hey trace, i'd like to know more about 2 CRTs if you will

what kind of CPU supports those 21"s, what kind of graphics card ?
does that take too much RAM ? how is modelling speed on the viewports ?

:o)

Nov 20, 04 2:32 pm  · 
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jaja

Isn't it odd having two screens at home and using only one screen at the office? Most firms still use one screen per station so no point getting use to a two screen.

Nov 20, 04 4:31 pm  · 
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RqTecT

I have 4 and always looking for one more.
hooked to 2 sets of dual 21 samsung monitors at home.
way cool.

Nov 20, 04 8:05 pm  · 
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trace™

STARK3D - sounds nice! One monitor is looking pretty stark (ha! ok, it's early...), but I keep holding out for cheaper, nicer LCDs. Sony and Lacie have ones out (or coming out soon) that are supposed to be superior to CRT's color. I'll belive it when I see it, but the Sony uses LED's to light the LCD, which requires less power, and is just better, I guess. The Lacie is about twice what a Dell 20" LCD is, though.
Man, I love those 23" LCDs!! Apple's 30" is just amazing, and now that we can use them on PCs....next client.....

MauOne - at work we've got every graphic card from a Geforce 5900 (256 mb ram), which has one digital and one analog out put (which is fine for two CRTs) to Quadro FX 3000s. Any decent card should give you the power to use 2 monitors.
Modeling is fine, although I wish they'd speed up Max's capabilities with large models (we are going into the millions of polygons). Not much difference from the high end game cards are the mid range (like $500+) pro cards. I'd go with a game card if money were a concern.

The only time I've noticed the video ram being an issue is with real time stuff. I've exceeded the ram a few times, but that was with a baked model in a real time app.

Nov 21, 04 9:08 am  · 
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ridge

What brand CRT has a thin enough egde to place both monitors side ways without having a large gap between the monitors? I'm thinking about buying to monitors, but the thin egde LCDs are too expensive. So thin egde CRT's will be my answer.

Nov 24, 04 6:09 pm  · 
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French

At work most of our workstation are dual monitor. At home I own a 19" eizo LCD screen. I recommend it, eventhough it's pretty expensive.

Nov 25, 04 4:36 am  · 
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jaja

Don't put 2 CRT screens right next to each other unless you have some shielding in between them. Two CTR monitors will burn out down the edge; you don't want that to happen. LCD's are more appropriate

Nov 26, 04 10:46 am  · 
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mmm3

they only problrm with running dualies is it's like crack, you'll never want to go back to a single

Nov 26, 04 1:37 pm  · 
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JAG

I have dual 21" CRT Monitors at home and a single 21" at work. I find the dual monitors are more useful for graphics work, then Cad, but I don't do much 3d stuff. It's especially handy for putting together websites, as I can work on the right monitor and keep an eye on my desktop and manipulate images in photoshop in the other. The ability to move palletes and tool boxes to one side of the screen is very helpful. It's also great for producing documents as well. I can go through my email, make PDF's, look for attachements, etc. without having to minimize any windows...

I would take two 19's over a single 21 any day, and two 17's over a single 19, but I would probably go with one 21" monitor over two 17" monitors.

Nov 26, 04 3:08 pm  · 
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spaghetti

look at this:

http://www.go-l.com/store/hardware/cinerama.htm

67" ????!!! woowee

Nov 29, 04 2:17 pm  · 
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e

69 inches. ^

Nov 29, 04 3:13 pm  · 
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momentum

just wondering if all of those here using multiple screens were using them on a side by side basis, or if some of you put one "on top" of the other? or maybe they are random on your desk(s)?

bloodclot ARCattack: i found one of those switches, used it for about five hours and junked it. i would use it at home if i had two computers so i could check the progress of what would be my render node, but here at work, it just got annoying to flip the switch each time. i just find it easier to move my hands from one keyboard to the next. i have the space at my desk anyway so what the hell.

Nov 29, 04 5:52 pm  · 
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todd

momentum : you should not have to flip a switch, you could set your one keyboard to simply "double hitting" your spacebar and it will automatically shift from one keyboard phase to the other. If the switch you have allows it.

Dec 1, 04 1:28 am  · 
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