dual computer monitors

[neptoon]

so, a few of you guys are running dual monitors on your computers...as someone who knows squat about neither computers nor recording setups and is about to start up, how exactly does one go about setting up two monitors on one pc? i understand that not all computers are created equal, but i'm pretty sure XP allows for having a dual monitor setup...are ther any pc out there that come with this capability, or does one have to buy another video card...also, for the dual head video cards, do you have to use two identical ports to run the monitors, or could one use like a multi pin connector for monitor 1, and like the s-video port for monitor 2? i'm clueless...oh yeah, i haven't bought the computer yet, but i was thinking about grabbing a used one (with an enormous hard drive, firewire connections and at least a gig of RAM) and two 17" or 19" widescreen monitors for running mulitple applications...if this proves to be way too much trouble, i may just opt for a big ass single monitor...two looks so cool, though

 

[Dave]

I would try and get a computer with a video card that supports it out of the box. S video isnt near the quality of using the normal hookup. The video cards to do this are not very expensive though, so dont let that scare you if you need to buy one. I use a laptop and the the monitor out and it looks awesome.

 

[Eddie95Z28]

Dual Monitors in XP is very simple. You just need to have a video card with dual outputs (easy and cheap). Or, two video cards (little less easy and cheap). Oh, and two monitors. You can use the S-video output on MOST cards, but I wouldn't recommend it since it is usually at a much lower resolution. Just about everything software related is taken care of by windows XP. You just have to click the checkbox for "Extend my windows desktop onto this display". For your secondary graphics card.

That's the simple version. But in reality it is that easy.

EDIT: I type to slow. There was no respnse when I posted.

 

[Dave]

EDIT: I type to slow. There was no respnse when I posted.

 

[labgnat]

at work i have 4 set up on mine, some have as many as 8 but i have no idea how they do it. seems like it's just 4 cords coming out of the back of the pc to the monitors tho

 

[TheButler]

Most modern cards will have dual DVI on them. I think that Eddie summed it up pretty well

 

[neptoon]

cool...thanks!

 

[AdlerAugen]

make sure you either have two or more video cards, or one card that you can run two monitors off of. What I want is 3 monitors now. I know you can have at least 3 monitors in XP, but 4 or more I don't know.

 

[FL Knifemaker]

I love my dual monitor setup. I do my CAD drawing on one side, CNC programing (CAM) on the other. VERY handy. Being able to look at several websites at once is nice also. Once you go dual, you cannot go back.