Replacing multi-monitors with 1 large one
Discussion
Please respond to anything here as though talking to an old man who knows nothing about tech! (because both are true...)
I would like to replace a present 2 monitor work station with 1 large TV screen which will have dual purpose as a workstation day time and a lounge TV evening.
I have tested the concept on my present TV and the multiple windows when hovering over the top right icon then present in odd formats - ie half a screen on Word, only the conversation rather than "full screen" on Teams etc. This is contrast to present drag and drop onto screens when it automatically sets it to the full application displayed.
Is there a way to alter this? I can see me soon tiring of doing it every time a new application is opened.
The other concern I have is with Teams and sharing windows - which is currently very easy to do without sharing anything else that might be visible to me but I do not want shared - not a deal breaker this one as can run the laptop as a temporary second screen in meetings to hold the "shared" docs, but just wondered if an easy way was possible.
Many thanks in advance.
I would like to replace a present 2 monitor work station with 1 large TV screen which will have dual purpose as a workstation day time and a lounge TV evening.
I have tested the concept on my present TV and the multiple windows when hovering over the top right icon then present in odd formats - ie half a screen on Word, only the conversation rather than "full screen" on Teams etc. This is contrast to present drag and drop onto screens when it automatically sets it to the full application displayed.
Is there a way to alter this? I can see me soon tiring of doing it every time a new application is opened.
The other concern I have is with Teams and sharing windows - which is currently very easy to do without sharing anything else that might be visible to me but I do not want shared - not a deal breaker this one as can run the laptop as a temporary second screen in meetings to hold the "shared" docs, but just wondered if an easy way was possible.
Many thanks in advance.
Drag to partial tiled display should be painless, at least it is for me on Windows & Linux, just drag to edge & get upper/lower/side/quart/full screen with adjustable split afterwards.
Sharing is just something you have to manage, no way around it.
My regular setup is a 4K 42" monitor (Dell, replacing an LG equivalent), plus a pair of 24" 16:10s plus laptop. I sometimes share by window & sometimes a display depending on what's going on.
Sharing is just something you have to manage, no way around it.
My regular setup is a 4K 42" monitor (Dell, replacing an LG equivalent), plus a pair of 24" 16:10s plus laptop. I sometimes share by window & sometimes a display depending on what's going on.
If you don't hover on the little square icon on the top right of a window but click it that window will go full screen - the icon will change slightly to show that the window will revert to the smaller state if you click it again.
As for the The Teams sharing issue you should be able to share just an app window but running a second screen is better.
As for the The Teams sharing issue you should be able to share just an app window but running a second screen is better.
JoshSm said:
Drag to partial tiled display should be painless, at least it is for me on Windows & Linux, just drag to edge & get upper/lower/side/quart/full screen with adjustable split afterwards.
Sharing is just something you have to manage, no way around it.
My regular setup is a 4K 42" monitor (Dell, replacing an LG equivalent), plus a pair of 24" 16:10s plus laptop. I sometimes share by window & sometimes a displa depending on what's going on.
How do you find this?Sharing is just something you have to manage, no way around it.
My regular setup is a 4K 42" monitor (Dell, replacing an LG equivalent), plus a pair of 24" 16:10s plus laptop. I sometimes share by window & sometimes a displa depending on what's going on.
I have an LG 40" 5k2k monitor with a 27" Benq on the left.
It's good but sometimes the LG seems a tiny bit dark. I do mega technical cyber work so the large screen estate is really critical
I've got a Dell Alienware ultrawide, and I too went from two monitors (well, 3 at one stage!) to one.
The Dell has a utility to zone the screen and windows will snap and maximise to them.
When dragging a window - if you shift-drag then the zone you are approaching with the window is outlined in blue. The other zone in orange. When you let go of the mouse that window snaps and fills teh zone. There are loads of choices. Mine is simple - 50/50 - half and half - so when I'm doign work I have one window on the left, one on the right. All very intuitive and works well.
The Dell has a utility to zone the screen and windows will snap and maximise to them.
When dragging a window - if you shift-drag then the zone you are approaching with the window is outlined in blue. The other zone in orange. When you let go of the mouse that window snaps and fills teh zone. There are loads of choices. Mine is simple - 50/50 - half and half - so when I'm doign work I have one window on the left, one on the right. All very intuitive and works well.
The default Windows option works quite well for positioning things easily - you hover over the maximise/minimise icon and it gives you some layouts to choose from, you select where you want your app and then it asks you what apps to put in the other slots. You can resize these layouts and it resizes all the apps at once. It's not perfect, but it's decent.
FancyZones is part of PowerToys and is better, especially as it doesn't interfere with the default Windows options. With that you create your layout for the monitor and then use Shift when you drag a window around bring up the zones for the app to snap into. Downside with FancyZones is that you can only configure one setup per screen and it doesn't let you adjust the apps once they're placed in the same way. With an ultrawide though being able to setup a main area for your work, then have one side split into 4 for music player, calendar, WhatsApp, central heating controller or whatever and the other side maybe split into two vertical panes that you could put Chat GPT into and your Teams Chat. That sort of setup would be neat.
The other thing to think about is that with Windows Virtual Desktops you can turn your one screen into two that you can flick between with shortcut keys. So you could have different zone setups and swap them that way.
FancyZones is part of PowerToys and is better, especially as it doesn't interfere with the default Windows options. With that you create your layout for the monitor and then use Shift when you drag a window around bring up the zones for the app to snap into. Downside with FancyZones is that you can only configure one setup per screen and it doesn't let you adjust the apps once they're placed in the same way. With an ultrawide though being able to setup a main area for your work, then have one side split into 4 for music player, calendar, WhatsApp, central heating controller or whatever and the other side maybe split into two vertical panes that you could put Chat GPT into and your Teams Chat. That sort of setup would be neat.
The other thing to think about is that with Windows Virtual Desktops you can turn your one screen into two that you can flick between with shortcut keys. So you could have different zone setups and swap them that way.
I like a single big screen rather than two but maximising a window is annoying and I don’t find the dragging to top/corner etc as convenient as keyboard short cuts. Hold the windows key and press the left/right cursor key to snap the current window to the left or right half of the screen. If your screen is big enough, windows key and up/down will then snap it to the top half or bottom half of the side it’s on. Worth trying this to see if it feels natural; it works on any screen.
redrabbit29 said:
How do you find this?
I have an LG 40" 5k2k monitor with a 27" Benq on the left.
It's good but sometimes the LG seems a tiny bit dark. I do mega technical cyber work so the large screen estate is really critical
The Dell & LG were both bright enough, not the ultimate in bright panels but I have them at 50% so they're more than good enough. Both are IPS.I have an LG 40" 5k2k monitor with a 27" Benq on the left.
It's good but sometimes the LG seems a tiny bit dark. I do mega technical cyber work so the large screen estate is really critical
Brightness balance between the displays is fine, colour setup on the other hand is a bit trickier to match. Might work better with calibration or using the same supplier for all. The 42" panels were both factory calibrated.
Biggest issue with the LG was edge viewing at an angle - at the border of the screen you could see the backlight is offset & see through the pixels into the panel, not an issue with all panels. It was based on a TV panel with different electronics so probably was fine as a TV but slightly flawed for close work.
With a 42" monitor vs a TV you're paying for the calibration and a very different set of electronics/features. The panels are TV panels, it's the rest that changes. LG was mostly a fixed stand, the Dell has normal monitor type adjustment for height etc which you miss if you don't have it.
I’ve recently gone from a 27” iMac plus 2x32” screens to a single 47” ultra wide driven by my MBA and it’s taken a little getting used to but I’m sure I’m actually more productive with it now.
For the 32s previously I went from a couple of old LG panels to Samsung frame TVs and while decent they didn’t perform as well as an actual monitor and I personally wouldn’t try using a TV as a monitor panel again and I did notice a level of increased eye strain from them - though I’m not sure why that may have been (the blue light output etc were all pretty identical the LGs - may have been refresh rates possibly?!)
For the 32s previously I went from a couple of old LG panels to Samsung frame TVs and while decent they didn’t perform as well as an actual monitor and I personally wouldn’t try using a TV as a monitor panel again and I did notice a level of increased eye strain from them - though I’m not sure why that may have been (the blue light output etc were all pretty identical the LGs - may have been refresh rates possibly?!)
ecs said:
I went from two monitors to a 47 ultra wide a few years ago. I use a Mac so use Magnet app to split the display into thirds (it adds options to the window maximise buttons). I think this is a built in feature for Windows - quick google suggests that it s called Fancyzones.
Doesn't OP want to use it as a TV as well though?I love my 32:9 monitor but it would get a bit annoying as a TV.
I use Fancy Zones on Windows and that is good for splitting the screen up as desired, it definitely is a must for any big screens.
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