New to Multi-Monitors? Don't Make These Mistakes

Multi-monitor setups boost your productivity and deliver a more immersive experience. However, it's easy for a novice to stumble while assembling the setup and make mistakes. Here are some of the most common ones and how to avoid them.

Neglecting Monitor Placement

Proper monitor placement is a significant part of the multi-monitor setup, and it plays a crucial role in enhancing your comfort and productivity. Simply slapping two monitors next to each other won't cut it. To ensure you get the most out of your monitors, consider placing your primary monitor directly in front of your sitting position. This will reduce the discomfort caused by constant neck turning and allow you to focus on your work more effectively.

The secondary monitors can be adjacent to the primary display, angled slightly toward you for easier visibility. Increasing their angle toward you can also increase the level of immersion, which will be particularly helpful for gamers. One notable detail to remember while placing the secondary monitors is the viewing angles. Depending on the display panel on your monitor, any off-center viewing can cause color and brightness shifts.

Moreover, overly wide configurations are not a good idea as they require excessive head turning.

While some of the bundled monitor stands are pretty ergonomic, you can upgrade to monitor arms for more flexibility, granted your monitor has VESA mounting holes. These are standard holes on the back of most monitors that allow you to attach them to various mounts and stands.

Mismatched Monitor Heights

Mismatched monitor heights not only look bad visually but also aren't good ergonomically. While it's best to have the same monitor models, it's not the end of the world to have monitors of different sizes. You can align the top of different-sized monitors for a better experience. Additionally, your body will thank you for keeping the top of the monitors at or slightly below eye level.

If one of your monitors is significantly smaller, and you do a lot of coding or reading, it can work great in portrait mode.

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Skipping Display Configuration

If you have different monitor models in the same setup, you could encounter display inconsistencies. For a more cohesive experience, it's best to adjust the resolutions, scaling, and refresh rate of each screen. For example, if one of the monitors has a higher resolution, you can adjust its scaling to match the text size and interface on the other monitors. This way, you don't sacrifice the crisp and clear image offered by the native higher resolution.

When you have monitors with different refresh rates, particularly one having a higher refresh rate, such as 144Hz or 240Hz, and another limited to 60Hz, things can be slightly challenging. However, modern operating systems and graphics drivers are better equipped to handle such scenarios. Still, it's a good idea to make the faster refresh rate monitor your primary monitor, avoid snapping games across multiple monitors, use extend mode when setting up multiple monitors, and keep the drivers and OS up to date.

If you don't care about the faster refresh rate, you can limit all displays to 60Hz for better consistency.

Ignoring Cable Management

With each additional monitor you add to your setup, the number of cables increases, and you risk having a mess. While you can reduce the number of cables if your main laptop or desktop has video ports supporting Multi-Stream Transport (MST), you'll still have to deal with multiple power cables and video cables daisy-chaining the monitors in your setup.

All these tangles are not just tripping hazards, they can also disrupt the flow of your work and make it harder to keep your setup clean. So, it's essential to consider cable management for a cleaner and more professional working environment. Investing in cable ties, clips, sleeves, and trays can help you maintain a tidy and organized workspace.

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Overlooking Port Availability

When you're considering adding more than one display to your desktop or laptop, it's ideal to confirm which video ports are available on your machine. Each computer has a finite number of included video ports, and the selection is particularly slim for laptops. More importantly, the included video ports can differ depending on your machine.

So, it's also crucial to check if the ports on your computer are compatible with the monitors you are buying. While adapters and dongles can help, those should be the last resort if things can be helped.

Forgetting GPU Limitations

Aside from the port selection, it's crucial to consider the limitations of your computer's GPU when shopping for monitors. This knowledge will help you avoid potential performance issues and ensure a smooth experience. Be sure to check the manufacturer's specifications to know exactly how many monitors, of which resolutions, and at which refresh rates your GPU can handle. While discrete GPUs are more powerful in this regard, the onboard graphics can be limited, depending on the processor model.

GPU limitations become particularly important when connecting multiple high-resolution displays, such as 4K monitors. Moreover, if you want to push high frame rates to these monitors, a low-powered GPU may not be up to the task.

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Incorrect Monitor Distance

The monitor's distance from you is a crucial factor in any computer setup, but it becomes even more critical in a multi-monitor setup. This will minimize unnecessary fatigue on your eyes, neck, or shoulders.

From the right distance, you can comfortably view all your displays without straining your body. While the right distance can vary from person to person and depending on your hardware, a good general guideline is to place your monitors at arm's length. Experiment with different monitor distances to find out which works best for you.

Ignoring Color Calibration

If you work in graphic design, photography, video editing, or any other professional field where color accuracy is crucial, it's vital to calibrate all the monitors in your setup. Otherwise, you risk encountering color inconsistencies across the monitors, which will hamper your work. However, if you plan to use one specific monitor for creative work, it's acceptable to calibrate that monitor.

You can ignore calibration if accuracy isn't essential to your work.

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