Is a dual monitor setup worth it with my laptop?

[Gobbling_Monkey]

Hello. I have a HP ENVY 17t-J100 with a Nvidia 740M and 1600x900 display. I think the screen on the laptop is terrible and has terrible color reproduction and viewing angles. I cant see many details in movies if it is just a tiny bit dark. I can't see other players in games very well. Calibrating the display doesn't help. I have a Dell S2415H 1080p monitor I can use. It has a great display. I am debating between closing my laptop, only using the monitor and having dual displays. If I only use the monitor, I would buy a stand and keyboard, and store the closed laptop under the stand. If I have two displays, I will have to place the monitor next to my laptop. There are a few problems with a dual monitor setup. One is that my desk barely has enough room to have it next to my laptop. It will be very crowded. Another being the fact that since one monitor is so bad, I will using the monitor on the left a lot more. The keyboard being on my laptop, I would have to face the laptop and look to the left, which will be a bit annoying. It will be hard to play games that way. I cannot mount the monitor on my wall, or buy a stand behind it. My laptop monitor also has to be slightly in front of the monitor since there is barely enough room on my desk. My laptop is also not really powerful enough to play any game with two displays at once. There is also a height difference between the displays, so it won't look as nice. I don't want to make my laptop higher. I wanted to ask if you think it is worth it to have two monitors and deal with these issues, or I should just not use my laptop display. Do you think there will be enough of a benefit of two displays? What if I bought a keyboard, switched the spots of the monitor and laptop, so the keyboard, mouse, and monitor will be in front of me, and they all plug in to the left to my laptop? Please let me know what you think. Thank you.

 

[XaveT]

If all you need is games and movies, then single monitor should be fine. I would close the laptop and use the external monitor. Very few games (only one I can think of at the moment is Eve Online) make good use of a second monitor, since mostly what you would use it for would be data. Odd numbers of monitors work better since with even numbers your center point would be right between the monitors or near an edge.

If you use the laptop for any kind of computer work, dual or more displays is the way to go and will increase your productivity. It doesn't sound like this is your laptop's role, so stick with single I say.

 

[GreyCatz]

While XaveT certainly has a point, I suggest you get an external monitor and simply treat the laptop as a "desktop" PC. From your details, it seems you have a TN panel (and a very bad one). I don't know how old your particular HP Envy is, but I couldn't find any IPS panels for after-market installation, so it seems you're stuck with the TN panel.

If space is limited you might consider placing the laptop on the floor, get a keyboard/mouse combo and use a USB hub.

 

[Gobbling_Monkey]

If all you need is games and movies, then single monitor should be fine. I would close the laptop and use the external monitor. Very few games (only one I can think of at the moment is Eve Online) make good use of a second monitor, since mostly what you would use it for would be data. Odd numbers of monitors work better since with even numbers your center point would be right between the monitors or near an edge.

If you use the laptop for any kind of computer work, dual or more displays is the way to go and will increase your productivity. It doesn't sound like this is your laptop's role, so stick with single I say.

Thank you for your reply. I tried switching the spots of the monitor and laptop. The screen was hard to see because of viewing angles, and was too small to see. I decided to only use the monitor. Thank you for your advice,