It’s only a matter of time before just about everyone at work will have more than one monitor on their desk. (I’ve got 5.)
It’s unbelievably handy — you can use one monitor for a document you are working on, and another monitor for looking at other documents or doing research on the internet. You can even open the same document on both computers — this saves a bunch of time and aggravation, for example, if you’re revising a document and need to look at page 22 while editing page 50.
Years ago, I had two PCs on my desk, and I used a KVM switch so that I could use the same keyboard and mouse for both computers.
However, there is a far more elegant solution — the extended desktop. In effect, the desktop of the primary computer is stretched across one or more secondary computers. You can move your mouse cursor seamlessly between the monitors, and you can also drag individual windows from one monitor to another. The keyboard is operative in whatever window is the “active” one, regardless of which monitor it is located on.
The easiest way to create an extended desktop is to connect a monitor to your laptop. (Just about every laptop or notebook has an external monitor jack.) Assuming you’re using Windows, you can go to “display properties” and select “extended desktop.” Your desktop now extends across both the notebook’s built-in monitor and the external monitor. If you like, you can also hook up an external mouse and keyboard to your notebook — that way, you can position the two screens any way you want.
Another way to create an extended desktop is if your graphics card has a second monitor jack. (Not all graphics cards have a second monitor jack, but it’s worth a look.)
A third way to create an extended desktop is to place a second PC and monitor on your desk, network the second PC with the first PC, and then install Maxivista multi-monitor software. The basic version costs $39.95, and is worth every penny. (If nothing else, it will keep your old PC out of the landfill.) In addition to an extended desktop mode, Maxivista also has a “remote control” mode that allows you to control the second PC with a keyboard and mouse connected to the first PC.
I’m a PC guy, so I can’t speak for Apple computers — the extended desktop is so awesome, though, I can’t imagine that there isn’t some way to use a Mac to drive multiple displays.
