Multimonitor setups

It can easily drive triple and quadruple monitor setups and offers a good selection of output ports, including a trio of DisplayPorts. You can mix and match different monitors depending on your needs, but you need to make sure that your computer can handle all of them.

Below are important aspects to consider when shopping for the best monitors for a multi-monitor setup. Larger inch and inch displays are best used as the central screen, with one or more smaller monitors flanking them. They offer more screen space especially inch displays , which is good for productivity, but they take up more space. If you have enough space or plan to use a multi-monitor stand, you can go for multiple large monitors.

Ultrawide monitors also make for good main screens. They are especially great for video editing, sound editing, and financial trading.

They are also great if you want your central screen to be an all-around unit for productivity and regular gaming. On the other hand, ultrawide monitors take up more desk space than regular widescreen monitors, not to mention they are usually more expensive.

When it comes to resolution, the screen size is also an important factor. For monitors smaller than 25 inches, p resolution is recommended. A higher resolution on a smaller screen leads to harder-to-see texts and icons without proper scaling.

For inch displays, p is often considered the sweet spot, with 4K resolution also being a good option if your computer is powerful enough. For widescreen monitors larger than 30 inches, 4K resolution is the ideal resolution for a high pixel density.

TN monitors boast very fast response times and usually feature a high refresh rate, both of which are beneficial for gaming. They are also cheaper than IPS monitors. On the other hand, they have poor color reproduction and limited viewing angles. While they are decent enough as secondary screens for internet browsing and other general tasks, TN monitors are best used as the designated competitive-gaming screen in your multi-monitor setup.

VA monitors have the best contrast ratio and offer better overall picture quality than TN monitors, but they are not as good as IPS monitors regarding viewing angles. They are also the slowest in terms of response time. Although they are decent for office work and general tasks, VA monitors are best used as the entertainment unit in your setup, with their superior contrast ratio translating to more vibrant images in games and movies.

They also usually feature more input options, with some FreeSync monitors also allowing for variable refresh rates when connected via HDMI. While they are not as premium as their G-Sync counterparts, FreeSync monitors are more versatile.

They offer native support for AMD graphics cards and also allow for variable refresh rates when connected to certain Nvidia graphics cards although not all FreeSync monitors support this feature.

Including budget p monitors and an ultrawide display, the products below are our recommended monitors when building a multi-monitor setup. All monitors listed here feature a x mm VESA mount interface for easy mounting to a multi-monitor stand. The products are arranged according to screen size. You can use it as a secondary monitor for communication tools, watching YouTube clips, and internet browsing.

It has decent overall picture quality, with decent brightness and wide viewing angles. Compared to most budget TN monitors, the XG has decent overall picture quality. You can also use it as a secondary monitor for general tasks such as internet browsing, but its narrow viewing angles can be a problem.

The good news is that it has a fully adjustable stand, which makes it easier to change the screen position for better viewing angles.

The Dell UD is a great monitor for a multi-monitor setup, especially if you want a daisy-chained setup for tidier cabling. You can use it either as the central screen or as a secondary unit to an even larger screen. A suitable monitor for different tasks — including photo editing and web development — this Dell product has good overall picture quality, with excellent color accuracy, wide viewing angles, and good brightness.

It has a DisplayPort Out as well, which means it can be used as a primary or intermediary monitor in a daisy chain setup, making it an even more appealing product for a multi-monitor setup. You can use it as the central screen in your multi-monitor setup. A perfectly-formed multi-monitor setup! Well, not so fast. Setup is easy, but there are still a couple more steps. This will take you to a screen where you can configure the options you have for multiple monitors in Windows.

Here, you can confirm that all your monitors are detected. Click Identify , which will cause a large number to appear on each of your displays, so you can determine which screen is which. A drop-down menu lets you choose whether to duplicate your desktop or extend your desktop across all the screens.

Right-click your desktop and choose either the Nvidia or AMD control panel depending on your graphics card , and find the Display section, which will offer similar options as Windows. Each display will be numbered to help you identify them more easily.

To see which number corresponds to a display, select Start , then type settings. A number appears on the screen of the display it's assigned to. If you have multiple displays, you can change how they're arranged.

This is helpful if you want your displays to match how they're set up in your home or office. In Display settings, select and drag the display to where you want.

Do this with all the displays you want to move. When you're happy with the layout, select Apply. Test your new layout by moving your mouse pointer across the different displays to make sure it works like you expect.

After you're connected to your external displays, you can change settings like your resolution, screen layout, and more. Windows will recommend an orientation for your screen. If you change the orientation of a monitor, you'll also need to physically rotate the screen. For example, you'd rotate your external display to use it in portrait instead of landscape.

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Tips and Warnings. Related Articles. Article Summary. Make sure your computer can support a second monitor. While Windows 10's settings allow for multiple displays, not all graphics cards support more than one monitor at a time.

You can quickly determine whether your desktop or laptop supports a second monitor by looking at the video output connections: [1] X Research source Desktop — On the back of the desktop's tower, look for a free video output port. If you see one next to or directly above the port that's currently being used to connect your desktop to the primary monitor, you can use a second monitor.

Laptop — Any laptop with a video output port e. Determine the connection needed for the second monitor. If you have an older computer or monitor, you may find a VGA connector, which is a colored, trapezoid-shaped output. If you have a free video output connection which matches a connection on the back of your second monitor, it's best to use a cable that fits both connections.

If your computer uses a different connection than your monitor, you can buy an adapter cable e. If you want to extend your primary monitor to use your second monitor as extra screen space, you'll want to place your second monitor to the right of your primary one. If you're duplicating your primary monitor, it doesn't matter where you place your second monitor.

Attach the second monitor to your computer. Plug one end of your video cable e.