Monitor Panorama

I have been looking around for about the past twelve months for a good solution to mounting my lcd's. Sure, the default lcd stand might be fine if you only have one, but what if you have three? Not only is it nice to have them neatly aligned, but positioned at a good head height. Some stands that lcd's come with are ok and adjustable, but generally the stand is the cheapest aspect of the monitor. Often not offering to much in the way of configuration. The design behind my Samsung's is good for transporting, as the stand folds up nice and flat. But they aren't as high as what I would like. Furthermore, positioning three of these adjustable stands to align the panels together is very difficult. The commercial monitor racks and stands I had looked at were generally priced between $400-$500 upwards.

Note: Dual monitor mounts are much cheaper.
It's when you step up to tri and quad setups
that it quickly becomes expensive.

As I am always building and upgrading other aspects of my pc's, I would prefer to not dump such a large amount of money into monitor stands. Like most tech junkies, I would rather spend that money on improving performance! Thus, for twelve months I had to make do (with it bugging me all the while longer). After finally succumbing to the realisation that I was still not ready to part with this sort of money for a commercial rack/wall mountable solution. I approached my father! After discussing some ideas two options quickly became apparent that would affect the overal stand design, mobility and alignment. A single stand solution would allow all three panels to be aligned together in a nice rigid structure. Probably allowing for a slightly better lineup then that of singular stands. Mobility however would be poor, as you could not easily move one monitor. Single stands would make moving out a monitor or two much easier, possibly comprimising on how well aligned they could be (as separate entities). Having decided that mobility was slightly more important to me, we decided an individual approach would be better. With some careful measuring and alignment, good results would still be achieved. DIY material costs? About $20 for the timber and screws. Dad's labor? priceless! The question then arises 'can you ever have too much screen real-estate?' No. More the better. Verdict Mobility - 5/5 Can easily detach the panels from the stands and the stands can easily be moved around individualy. Or if needed, removed altogether. Alignment 4/5 It's not perfect, but it's not bad either. In fact, with a bit of patience you can get them pretty well lined up. Cost 5/5 ~$500 - $20 = $480 saving. Panorama Utility So what can you do with your own little panorma setup?

• Watch a widescreen movie across two panels whilst playing a game on the 3rd.
• Instant Messaging (IM), downloads and web browsing on one screen, a game on another screen, tv episode on the other.
• Documents, pdf's and other reading material on one screen. Code development on another screen and runtime/form development on the other.
• One panel switched to a server pc (or another pc) with two monitors on the primary pc. A program called Synergy helps with this.

I have and do all of the above :) A tri setup is three times as good! A special thanks to my Dad for saving me a hole in my wallet and producing some nifty stands. Now they just need a coat of paint.