anyone using dual monitors?

[livin4lax09]

I'm thinking about getting another monitor for my macbook, just for photo editing. I'm going to get a cheap CRT monitor, since everything I've read/heard says they are more reliable for editing. I'd be extending my desktop, so I can run both at the same time. Anyone else doing this? Think it's a good idea?

[walterick]

I'm using two monitors with my Dell, but not for photography purposes. For that, it's not really helpful at all. Each monitor has a slightly different color cast which I'm not too excited to get worked out. So I leave it.

Are you saying you're adding a monitor to your laptop, or adding a second monitor to your desktop?

Rick

[livin4lax09]

adding a monitor to my laptop. I'll do image editing on the CRT so that I can be more assured of the correct balance, since as you probably know, LCDs are a pain trying to find the perfect viewing angle with.

[Frog]

When our crt died last year, the local circuit city only had a couple of them to buy.
They're way cheaper than they used to be so that's good news.

[mjs1973]

I hooked my desktop CRT monitor to my laptop when I first got it last year. My intentions were the same as yours. Once I got them hooked up, and noticed the major color difference, I unhooked it. I don't have the resources to calibrate my monitors like I should, so I'm sticking with my laptop since I think the color looks better.

[berrywise]

I have been running two or three monitors for a few years now and don't see how anyone could use anything else I have one screen that I use for photoshop and that's the one I take the most time keeping calibrated to my local printer. The other screen I don't worry about as much and just keep it close. I use it for surfing the web while I work on photos etc.

Used to have a larger 22" monitor hooked up as well but the lack of physical desktop space outweighed the extra virtual desktop space

[walterick]

Okay, gotcha. When I bought my dual crt's, I found a guy through Craigslist who was a computer supply wholesaler. He had crateloads of 19" flatscreen crt's he was selling for $40 each. That made the transition to dual monitors easier. You might look in the phone book for guys selling used computer supplies and see what they have.

GL!
Rick

[zrfraser]

I work at Office Depot and we are slowly getting rid of our CRT's which means you can get one for a steal right now. Yesterday, by boss, had one that didn't have a box and was selling it for $30. Three weeks ago we had the same CRT for $9.50 after a mail in rebate.

Z

[Asylum Steve]

I'm using two monitors with my Dell, but not for photography purposes. For that, it's not really helpful at all...

Hmmm, not true. I've been using dual monitors primarily for my photoshop work for years, and I can't imagine not working that way. Toggling the palettes on a single monitor to see what you're editing is a very ineffecient (and frustrating) way to work.

With CS2, having Adobe Bridge span a two-monitor desktop is also a big plus, as you can see more (or larger) thumbnails of your files...

Each monitor has a slightly different color cast which I'm not too excited to get worked out. So I leave it.

This is not really a bad thing. My image files are always on the one, larger monitor that's calibrated, but I intentionally have slightly different color, brightness and contrast settings on the smaller monitor so I can see how web graphics might look on different viewers' systems.

[livin4lax09]

oh, that's a really good idea for the setup. I saw a really neat set-up which involved running parallels on the mac and one screen was XP while the other was tiger, and you could move things back and forth. But I like that photoshop setup AS.

[SmartWombat]

I used to have dual 17" LCDs, until they were taken away and I got a 24" single LCD instead.

Dual monitor has a big advantage, you can maximise a window on one monitor and it stays within that monitor. It's far harder to divide up a 24" widescreen by drag & hope.

Dual monitor needs a more expensive graphics card with a colour lookup table on each output, cheap dual head cards hae only one LUT and so you can only fine adjust the colour on one monitor.
Dual monitor usually hs different colour renditions on the two screens, drove me nuts working with that.

Dual monitor usually gets you more pixels for less monry, but not usable for one large image. But remember your screens do NOT have to be the same size.

So I'd go for one or two 17" (or 19") panels for normal work and a 24" wide flat panel for the main image display.
I'm working on getting two Dell 2405 (or 2407) displays at work. I'll let you know how it goes...it would support 3 monitors

[livin4lax09]

well the CRT I was looking into turned out to not be compatible with my macbook, but we have luck. My old 17" LCD monitor (from when I had my mac mini) snapped off its stand a month or so ago (cheap plastic wore out over time) so I just had the display. So, what I decided to do was just to prop it up in the corner of my desk, and I saved money from buying a new CRT. I realized I don't really have room for a CRT on this desk anyways. Now I'm just waiting for the mini DVI to VGA adapter to plug the monitor into the MacBook. I'll post details and photos when I'm done.

[Tom_Proctor]

well the CRT I was looking into turned out to not be compatible with my macbook, but we have luck. My old 17" LCD monitor (from when I had my mac mini) snapped off its stand a month or so ago (cheap plastic wore out over time) so I just had the display. So, what I decided to do was just to prop it up in the corner of my desk, and I saved money from buying a new CRT. I realized I don't really have room for a CRT on this desk anyways. Now I'm just waiting for the mini DVI to VGA adapter to plug the monitor into the MacBook. I'll post details and photos when I'm done.

edit* nevermind, saw you got the dvi to vga

[Ronnoco]

One of my older machines has two monitors. One displays the software editing buttons and menus etc., while the other displays the full screen image which changes as you work.

Ronnoco

[livin4lax09]

got the adapter. I must say, this is pretty cool. The only frustrating part is that my 17" monitor is taller than my macbook monitor, so I have to sometimes move up the left side of the screen if I'm trying to move back to my macbook, because the bottom left part of the screen doesnt connect to the macboook. Get what I mean?