I have read several blogs in the past talking about how 2 monitors make you more productive, but ... I didn't have 2 monitors - so I always would think -> “one of these days”. Well at my new job, all developers have 2 monitors setup on their desks! It took me a couple of days to start to use the extended desktop more efficiently, but let me tell you ... it makes things so much faster!
What do I mean by faster? Think of this scenario: You are working on a block of code and come across something you want to bring the MSDN documentation up and look at an example:
1 Monitor -> you alt-tab from one program to another
2 Monitors -> you bring the MSDN documentation up on the other monitor. This allows you to look at the example and your code at the same time!
Think of how many situations you have the same problem - flipping between two programs - back and forth - back and forth. Now it is just a glance, not an alt-tab.
I know what you are thinking ... “no kidding Jason, of course you can”. To me this wasn't obvious until this week. This morning I set up my monitor (of my desktop that I hardly ever use) as an extended desktop for my laptop...makes reading my blogs in rssbandit - and opening links in IE easier too!
Now I'm thinking of “Swordfish” - 7 monitors!!!