Need suggestions for a multi tasking laptop
 

Hi guys, I am looking for suggestions on a laptop that is good for displaying content in 2 windows side by side whereby you can see everything necessary in each window without bunching. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Pat you are better to have a KVM switch and run an external monitor as well as your laptop, or plug in two external monitors to the KVM switch and keyboard and mouse, so you are just running off the laptop internals, but using independent externals.
A KVM switch is less than $50.00 and available at most good computer retailers.
Either it's going to get bunched or the fonts will be tiny doing it on a standard laptop.

My preference is to use a LCD tv with RF input and load that with the laptop.
You can have a massive screen cheaply these days and easily place two pages side by side.

Depends on which you prefer.

Pat may be sunning himself in the Bahamas or somewhere and may not want to lug one or two LCD screens around with him and may only want his laptop on his lap top.

Having said that I don't have any suggestions.

And there I was thinking a KVM switch was for sharing two+ computers with one set of Keyboard/Video(screen)/Mouse, not the other way around.

I read it that the OP was after suggestions for a widescreen lappie.

You can do it either way around depending on the type of KVM.
There are plenty of widescreens available on the market from a MAcbook to an ASUS or Toshiba, but he still won't get two full pages side by side without squeeze or reducing the font size though.
If someone else has a suggestion, I'm all ears.

Just go with the widest screen available, but it's not going to do justice for an arber.

Google, some basics
http://www.wikihow.com/Set-Up-Two-Computer-Monitors

But if you only have the one computer, W T F would you need a KVM?

You can plug the peripherals straight into the lappie, surely?

Yes a laptop will run 2 monitors in any configuration with no extra bits needed, unless he has a new laptop he may need an adapter to run the second monitor depending on the plug, more than likely it has HDMI out so make sure the monitor has an HDMI port and you are sweet.

If you need to be portable you could try this.

http://www.laptopmag.com/reviews/mo...sus-mb168b.aspx

Because he's an arber and wants the pages side by side in his direct vision without having to move his eyes away from the first screen.

Pat sounds like you want a screen with very high resolution, so that you can display side-by-side windows as they would look on a typical screen. If you're a hipster you would go for a MacBook Pro with Retina display (2560x1800 resolution), otherwise a Dell XPS 15" like this one:

http://blog.laptopmag.com/dell-xps-15-hands-on

The Dell has 3200x1800 resolution. In fact with the Dell you could display 3 windows side by side and they should still layout correctly.

Don't forget to post a picture of yourself arbing on the beach. :)

Found Pat with my drone....

Have been eyeing off that Dell for a while Fred, a colleague has one & the screens are brilliant.

Position it side by side with a decent widescreen could be what you are after Pat.

LOL CP. He's just missing a gold medallion around his neck. :)

stugots did you find the text too small in some programs? Too much squinting for someone like me who is past his prime. I would love to get one of those new 32" 4K monitors instead.

Fred I hear you on the squinting issues, & for many two large widescreens probably is the best way to go.

The setup I have used for a few years now is a laptop & widescreen side by side, with my bot on one & speadsheets/bookie/tab sites on the other. Works well but the bigger screen that Dell has would improve it considerably. Is a bit expensive tho.

Thanks for all the suggestions. I should have made it clear that the whole idea would was the convenience that comes with a laptop. Something that will do the job and I can move around easily without cords and extra screens etc.

I use an LG 29" LED monitor with my desktop and that does the job - if only there were a laptop-style equivalent!

Hahaha classic. This is the ideal situation ;)

Just off the top of my head I can't think of being able to do it, not conveniently anyway with a laptop. As already mentioned using 1 screen means the writing will probably be too small and if you set up multiple monitors your just as well off having a desktop (in my view).

I'm probably a little biased though as I'm a gamer.

My setup is dual screens, a 19" monitor and a 24" widescreen.

A story for those of you interested, I actually won the 24" widescreen (worth $550 at the time) playing computer games at a national competition in Sydney which me and the team I played for at the time attended. This was while I was at uni and I don't attend the events anymore but for the space of 2-3 years actually got to travel australia a bit on some weekends and during holidays playing computer games in the capital cities.

I won't hi-jack the thread any further but if anyone is interested i'll post some links to pictures/videos of some of these events in a new thread. It's quite amusing for non-gaming people as most of the events have commentators etc etc.

Anyhow good luck with finding a setup that works Pat!

Yeah there's nothing really on the market I can see hey. Might just forget about it.