Is three screens too much/overkill at a workstation?

I do. Most of us here at my work do. I use 1 screen for Outlook (too much email here at work) and then the other 2 screens for productivity of excel/word/whatever other application I'm in at any given moment.

I've done three before when I had a laptop with a docking station and a dual monitor set up. I usually just docked it and closed the lid, but every now and then I would need the space. When working with excel, our GL program, and our reporting software at the same time, it came in handy. Also when going back and forth between PDF, excel, and GL.

I think that'd work if I could set framing. The thing I like about the separate monitors is the ability to drag and resize and automatically fitting the screen. There's also the cost standpoint, as I'd be asking my company to purchase another monitor.

quote:

---

There's also the cost standpoint, as I'd be asking my company to purchase another monitor.

---

If you save yourself as little as 15 minutes per week, then the cost of another monitor pays for itself. That's 3 minutes a day. Don't worry about cost when it makes you more productive.

When I was trying to get my department to have less in paper files, I had to convince my boss that it was worth the cost of getting the full version of Adobe. The amount of time and cost of paper that it saved us over the next year was tremendous. That cost savings grows every year as we have less boxes in storage with prior year files.

I've done two with a laptop. Key for me is to keep the lesser used one off to the side (main two at 11 and 1 o'clock, ancillary at 10) instead of splitting them evenly.

After using two, it is so hard to go back to using just one monitor. I don't know how people do it

When I was in accounting I had three screens and sometimes I wished I had four. I used a docked laptop with the screen open, and had two additional monitors. It was awesome.

Monitors aren't that expensive, it could be well worth it if it helps productivity.

I currently run 2 screens and fits my current needs fine, I couldn't imagine going down to just 1 for work purposes.

Have a laptop with a docking station and dual monitors. I usually just keep the laptop closed and use my 2 dual monitors; but every now and then, I will use the third to space things out and add a little organization.

quote:

---

I'm a software developer

---

I really wish I had some formal training in this. Currently I'm trying to teach myself SQL, visual studio, app development in xaml with c# code behind...but it's just for one project. It's not as easy as I thought it would be, and that's an understatement. My boss wants to set up a database that will create reports from piping/vessel inspection data and I just so happen to be the guy who solves the hard problems...this one though, damn.

I had/have zero background so it's a real bitch, any advice?