Do You Need A Second Monitor?

Are you often working with multiple software programs at the same time and feel that your monitor display is too crowded? It may seem like a good idea to buy a larger monitor, but also consider buying a second one. Not only are two 22” monitors cheaper than most single 30” monitors, but you will get increased screen space too.

Before you purchase anything however, you want to make sure that a second monitor is supported by your PC. You can do this by seeing if your computer has more than one video output. (A second one can be installed as well.) Different connections are okay—you can use both DVI and VGA, as shown in the picture below. If needed, CMIT can help you figure out if your computer supports it already.

Once your second monitor is purchased and plugged in, Windows should recognize them both. If not, right click on your desktop, select “Screen Resolution” and use the “Detect” and “Identify” buttons to configure the second display. Once this is up and running, you are free to arrange your windows however you please. Some people choose to keep email and chat programs open on one screen while working on a document on the other.

You can put them in “Duplicate” mode to show the same display on both screens, or only show one monitor at a time, depending on what you are doing. Press “Windows key + P” to look through all the configurations, or view the options in the “Screen Resolution” control panel. Feel free to contact us if you have further questions about what is best for you or for quotes on any hardware purchases.