Since April 2014, my workstation at home has used five monitors. While working on Unprecedented, I have actually found myself one screen short. Often I have to have open at the same time three chapters, plus several reference materials. So, in the next evolution of my workstation, I added a sixth monitor via USB Display Link. I was able to put it on a rolling file cabinet, so it fits low enough to below the monitor furthest to the left, but high enough to be at eye level.
Here is my setup from April 2014. I had four 24″ HD LED flat-panels, mounted on two Dual-Monitor Desk Mounts. I rotated the one on the right, as it makes reading cases and document easier. And no, the palm trees are not native to Houston, but they make for a nice backdrop.
From December 2012, during a brief period I kept two MacBook Pros rocking, and I added (yet another) monitor.
In case you are wondering, each screen has a dedicated function. My MacBook Pro screen is always trained on my gmail. The screen furthest to the left holds my Tweetdeck and Instant Messaging. The next screen to the right holds whatever document, or documents I am reading. The main screen in the middle contains whatever I am typing. The screen furthest to the right contains my Google Reader. My old Macbook Pro is used for ancillary stuff or testing things, and sometimes I will play a video or something on my Nexus 7 Tablet.
From August 2012, when I moved to Houston, still with three monitors:
Here is my three-monitor display, which I had from June 2010, back in Johnstown, PA until 2012. Note that I still had paper. I’ve gone completely paperless, and it is amazing. Also, since then I’ve gotten rid of my Blackberry, and Google Reader is no longer with us.
On my laptop screen, I keep my e-mail window open. On the far left monitor, I have Pandora open (playing some catchy Lady GaGa song), Tweetdeck (featuring 2 twitter accounts and facebook), and Adium Chat. In the middle monitor I have Microsoft Word open (working on an Op-Ed for McDonald v. Chicago). On the monitor on the right, I have Google Chrome open (tuned to Google Reader). And, my blackberry keeps me posted with text messages and BBM (blackberry messenger for those uninitiated).
