Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Triple Monitor Portability

Ever wanted to take a three monitor / triple monitor workstation on the road? Well , now you can. After spending hours of research, I came up with my compact solution. First you need a small laptop. Currently I use a Panasonic though book CF-19. After the new year, I will probably start using a UMPC, like the new OQO Model 2, which is currently the World's smallest PC.

The next thing you need, are two external usb video cards. There are several manufacturers out there I personally like the SW-8769 which is smaller in size than a deck of playing cards and supports DVI.
There is always something we have to compromise on, falling short of waiting a decade for paper thin monitors which one can fold up like a newspaper.

For now, my solution is to find some slim Lcd displays. I personally found some inexpensive LG Flatron L1970hr's . These monitors are a little older but I found that you can fold three of them up and stack them on top of each other, giving you a total height of 8.5 inches with of 13.75 and a length of 16.5.

All this stuff can fit in a #1610 Pelican case if you do a little clever modification to the internal foam padding.




As a final note, if you’re like me, you like to work with a typical keyboard and mouse -the new Microsoft Bluetooth Wireless Entertainment Desktop 8000 is a perfect solution if one ignores the large charging station which comes with the keyboard. The keyboard and mouse can operate for approximately two months with a fresh set of regular or rechargeable batteries if configured in power save mode.



If you are not exactly like me and like the keyboard on your laptop but hate the finger pad, get a wireless Mogo mouse which can be charged off a regular laptop pc card slot.


Happy hunting.