business twin monitor - what to buy?

February 19, 2009 8:34 AM

Staff member wants a new business PC with twin screens. Just tell me what to buy.

They sell stuff but they think they are a FX trader. If it keeps them happy, why not? What business PC do I need to buy? What do i need to look at at the back? two VGAs, two DVIs. We dont have an IT dept (well you are kind of the IT dept and better than one i could hope for). I can install a card but dont want to. Just tell me what to ask or idealy what to buy.

posted by sydney54 to computers & internet (12 comments total)

One thing to consider is a laptop with a dock, and an external monitor that plugs into the dock. This allows the laptop screen and exernal monitor to be used as dual monitors, but also allows he laptop to be used on the go.

Even easier is just to get one big monitor: the Dell 24 inch monitors are big enough to put up two windows side-by-side, and are only about $400-$600 bucks.
posted by orthogonality at 8:44 AM on February 19

You need a video card that supports two screens and two monitors. Dell or any of the other major players will offer this as an option under video cards. Your employee will probably appreciate two identical monitors as well, but it's not absolutely necessary.
posted by chrisamiller at 8:44 AM on February 19

most any modern video card will have two outputs on it. just hook up one monitor to each output. no new PC needed, just a new video card and a second monitor. card will have software for managing screen resolution and how windows shows desktop on twin monitors.
posted by cosmicbandito at 9:11 AM on February 19

You need a video card that supports two screens and two monitors.
posted by chrisamiller at 11:44 AM on February 19 [+] [!]

What do i need to look at at the back? two VGAs, two DVIs.
posted by sydney54 to computers & internet (2 comments total) [add to favorites] [!]

If they've got two VGA ports or two DVI ports, then assuming the video card and drivers support it you should be able to just plug in a second monitor and it should work.
posted by Ziggy Zaga at 9:13 AM on February 19

For what it's worth, until you've tried a dual display setup, you *would* think it's just for FX traders.

In reality, it's a VERY helpful boost to your productivity, no matter what you do. Even my mother found that it was useful when she moved to a company that offered her a dual display, since she could keep an email open on one monitor, with a Word doc on the other. It lets you keep cluttered stuff out of the way of your primary screen, while still being visible simultaneously, and it helps you get more done.

Any modern computer with a "real" (not onboard) video card will work just fine, and any major manufacturer will sell a computer with a real video card. Dual DVI is important if the monitors will be flatscreens, but you can convert from DVI to VGA, so it's not *as* important. (I had a video card with one of each, and was just converting one, to work with my two identical flat panels.)
posted by disillusioned at 9:27 AM on February 19 [1 favorite]

We use USB-VGA adapters here at work. They have a limitation on the maximum resolution and can behave, well, strangely, but they work on pretty much any computer.
posted by fiercekitten at 9:27 AM on February 19

If the existing PC is in good shape, it would be cheapest to just add a video card that supports dual monitors and buy a second monitor. That's contingent on the PC having a free expansion slot. You'd have to determine what interface the motherboard has (PCI, AGP, or PCI-Express) for a graphics card and buy a card that matches. (save most money, spend time)

If you are going to buy a new PC for this, then the choices are either to buy a system preconfigured for dual monitors (save time, spend money), or buy all the pieces separately and integrate them yourself (save money, spend time).

In the former case I would go with something like a Dell Vostro 220 with 2 19" E1909WFP widescreen monitors. I was able to configure a decent one online for around $600 including the monitors.

If I were going to go the later route I'd just get a middle-of-the-road biz PC (not a small form factor case though) and add a couple monitors and sub-$50 video card. They just about all have dual outputs these days. Just make sure you get the right kind of card (PCI, AGP, PCI-Express) to go in the PC.
posted by Liver at 9:30 AM on February 19

This is not directly answering the question, so mods feel free to delete, but I wanted to add that adding a second monitor boosted my productivity more than any other single thing. More screen real estate = more room to work. Just having a second screen where I could drag windows of stuff I wasn't ready to deal with yet but knew I had to handle soon saved SO much time.
posted by BitterOldPunk at 9:47 AM on February 19 [1 favorite]

I think Liver's on the right track here. We have a number of teachers who use 2 displays (one for projector, one for their monitor) and I would never buy a new computer just so they can do this. I go to newegg.com and find a cheap video card with 2 displays, and it's always worked out just fine.
posted by jmd82 at 9:50 AM on February 19

If you were looking for simple and cheap, you could get the Matrox DualHead2Go. It lets you plug in two displays to any recent computer. They make them in digital and analog varieties.

If you're deadset on a new computer, you can get most Dell computers with a 256MB ATI Radeon HD 2400 XT preinstalled. That's what I'm working on right now.
posted by advicepig at 10:51 AM on February 19

I use a laptop on a riser, plus an external flat panel. I keep the laptop open, using the laptop screen stretched across to the external monitor. It makes me feel very important.
posted by theora55 at 12:55 PM on February 19

I recently started using Synergy at work, and I'm quite happy with it so far. It's a free software kvm, and I've got it running between two desktop monitors and a docked laptop. The desktop is running an ATI Radeon HD pro, and I can work across all three screens with the single mouse and keyboard. It's pretty sweet, actually. And the free doesn't hurt.
posted by The GoBotSodomizer at 1:32 AM on February 21