Double the Productivity: What You Can Do with Two Monitors

Having two screens is now more accessible than ever before. Whether you have a laptop and just want a larger display or if you have a desktop and are tired of switching between apps, dual monitors can dramatically improve your productivity.

You’ll need to see what kinds of connectivity options your current computer has for adding a secondary screen. Depending on its age, you may need an additional graphics card. Many newer laptops have provisions for HDMI and other types of video out modes. You’ll want to ensure you have the correct cables to match with the monitor you’re connecting.

Once you’ve figured out how you’re going to connect a second display, you’ll likely need to configure your computer to best utilize that screen. Optimizing those screen settings to take full advantage of the second screen and you’ll also want to ensure that both screens are similar in brightness and colour so you may need to make adjustments in either the display settings on your computer or actually on the screen itself using the buttons that are typically below or behind the screen – they also usually have some form of on screen menu for making adjustments.

Now that you’re all set up, how do you want to utilize that new screen? Dedicate one screen for work applications and the other for fun or social applications? You could use the other for full screen YouTube or Netflix while you work negating the need for aTV nearby. Have all your email and social media on one screen while your browsers are on the other.

Modern operating systems should also remember where you arranged your applications and how you’ve laid out the screens. So next time you reboot or dock your laptop with the second screen, everything should just appear where you left it.