Does anyone do 3 Monitors? Would love feedback

I made the switch to 3 monitors last year and I really like it. I have a laptop with a 1920x1200 screen, a Dell 19" widescreen in portrait mode to the left (1024 x 1280) and a 17" CRT to the right (1024x768). I purchased a product called VTBook. Unfortunately it is PCMCIA and I understand Dell's new desktop replacement notebooks do not have a PCMCIA slot. The only thing that would be better is my 1920x1200 screen being either a 24" LCD monitor or a 17" laptop screen. At 15.4", the text is pretty small. But the screen real estate is great!

At work I have my 24" Dell at 1900x1200 or something like that and my PowerBook running side-by-side... That seems like plenty to me. Three monitors sitting on a desk seems too day-traderish to me. ;-)

I have three monitors on my desk... Two on one computer, and the third connected to a KVM. The third monitor gets seriously neglected at this point in time. The most efficient three-monitor setup I had was where Email/IM was on the third monitor, but even then it was mostly unused (except when email came in).

Given the expense, I'd stick with two. Consider getting two widscreen montiors (Dell has 20" widescreens for like $260 now) instead.

For development work (especially Flash or other apps that have "panels" that can be moved around) three monitors is better than two. With Flash I normally use one monitor for preview/browser, another monitor for code, and the third monitor for IDE, windows explorer windows, text files, etc. I do see a productivity gain when working on three. I do less switching between apps/windows, less hiding Flash panels, etc. 19" LCD monitors have gotten downright cheap, so go for that third one. You won't regret it.

Also look at cost per square inch of monitor space and right now the sweet spot is in the 17" or 19" LCD. 20+" models are much more expensive per square inch.

I can work on two monitors, but working on one is just painful. I've tried 4, but it was overkill. I found that I really only used 3 most of the time and the 4th was just taking up extra space on my desk.

Here's my take on it..
http://oddhammer.com/index.php/site/comments/us...

I've used two monitors for years, and when adding a second PCI-Express video card, hooked up the additional two monitors. It was a painful experience:

http://www.webapper.net/index.cfm/2006/11/17/Mu...

Definitely use three, it's a similar nirvana-ish experience. My ideal setup of screen sizes would be a single big 21-inch-plus widescreen for the center monitor with 19" regular-dimension screens on the sides. I'm running three identical 1280x1024 19" monitors now.

I was using 3xMonitors since Matrox had Parhelia. And when there was the first Intel SLI i upgraded to 4 monitors. Definately worthwhile. I think my efficiency improved at least 20%. Now i cant even imagine working on 2 monitors.

http://www.stockcentral.gr/nsi/3xMonitors_Flash...
http://www.stockcentral.gr/nsi/3xMonitors_VS.jpg

This is how it works for me. I use 4th one for outlook, browser etc. Very helpfull to read on the browser and at the same time your code/project etc.

I run 4 X 17" HP flatscreens. I use 2 dual monitor video cards Radeon 9250 I went from 2 screens to 4 and It is great