Dual Monitor Setup Recommendation?

[phykell]

I need to spec a monitor setup for work and I'm just looking for some advice on ideal setups. I have a 17" WUXGA laptop which is pretty good but my 24" WUXGA screen (at home) is obviously much better for general use. What's the ideal though? I've seen some people using their laptop and a second, larger monitor. Would I be able to use a dual monior setup instead and do I need dual link DVI for that? What exactly is dual link DVI anyway? Can I use a different res on my laptop to a second monitor?

[mok`]

OK probably best to split this into chunks:

Originally Posted by phykell

I need to spec a monitor setup for work and I'm just looking for some advice on ideal setups.

IMO the best dual-screen setup is 2 average-sized monitors (17 or 19", non-widescreen). I prefer using a desktop to a laptop too if truth be told, mainly due to the limitation of the laptop keyboard and not being able to position the screen.

I have a 17" WUXGA laptop which is pretty good but my 24" WUXGA screen (at home) is obviously much better for general use. What's the ideal though? I've seen some people using their laptop and a second, larger monitor. Would I be able to use a dual monior setup instead and do I need dual link DVI for that?
What exactly is dual link DVI anyway? Can I use a different res on my laptop to a second monitor?

Not completely sure if many laptops do support DVI-I or DVI-D. DVI-I/D allows you to drive 2 monitors from 1 DVI-I port and the port generally has 24 pins. There's a good breakdown on wikipedia with pictures of the various DVI connectors. OTOH the only laptop I've seen that could do this are Powerbook G4's with ADC or the previous generation MBPs. You should be able to drive a separate monitor at a different resolution to your laptop screen if you use spanning mode rather than mirroring mode.

Hope this helps!

[phykell]

Cheers!

Just looked at the 24" monitors at Overclockers and they look pretty good value. I'm only planning to use the display I choose at work so I don't need anything that's incredilbly fast or does HD and DVDs particularly well. I also like to sit well back from my monitors so the bigger the better I guess. The 30" panels are still prohibitively expensive

I didn't know about the different types of DVI sockets and apparently my laptop can do dual link DVI though only through the optional docking port which I have. In total I can access three video ports - HDMI on the laptop, DVI and VGA on the docking station.

[Mark]

I'm reluctant to make any recommendations for fear of you buying from the company concerned and them promptly going belly-up.

Sounds like you've got the right idea though. I went with one Dell 27incher (from Overclockers, as it happens), and I loved it so much I asked work to buy another.

[phykell]

Originally Posted by Mark

I'm reluctant to make any recommendations for fear of you buying from the company concerned and them promptly going belly-up.

It all started with a horse called Spartan Missile that was guaranteed to cross the line first, until I (actually someone did it for me) placed a bet on it that is. Other things I am responsible for may or may not include the LastMinute.com debacle and Friends Provident share prices - the latter received a double whammy as I had shares and a pension with them

As for the credit crunch, that can be explained by the fact that my company recently moved into our first office with a view to taking on staff