EVGA InterView Dual Display LCD Monitor

Working on dual displays can boost your productivity, particularly if you need to hopscotch through multiple open windows. EVGA's InterView includes two 17-inch displays on a single device; and the monitors are attached to a single arm in such a way that you can rotate each of them 180 degrees--for example, to share your work with someone sitting opposite you. Still, $650 is a steep price to pay to for extra flexibility.

Setting up the InterView took a little more effort than we expected. When we hooked it up to a monitor-testing PC configured to run Windows XP, our graphics driver software detected both displays but would output to only one of them at a time.

When we switched to a newer PC running Windows Vista, the system detected and used both displays; but in extended desktop mode, the secondary display's image was at first rather misaligned (the left and right third of the monitor would show an image, but the middle third wouldn't).

Changing the refresh rate fixed this problem, however, and we got both displays to work satisfactorily in both extended desktop mode and mirrored display mode. Just be aware that you may have to spend some quality time with your video card to get the InterView up and running--and the documentation probably won't help much. You may also find that the two screens feel small, especially if you're used to working with 19-inch or larger displays.

The InterView performed fairly well in our image quality tests. Text looked sharp on a screen of multisize fonts, so the monitor would likely do well handling text-intensive tasks. In some photos, colors looked slightly dull; in a photo of a picnic, for instance, the image appeared slightly dark and some colors didn't look quite realistic. In our motion tests, the InterView fared well, flickering very little.

With its screen's unique ability to rotate, the InterView offers an adjustment that other LCDs lack. The screens move smoothly, and they turn back and forth easily. The display does feel a bit wobbly, though. To balance out the slightly cumbersome display and prevent it from tilting, the InterView includes a foot that you can pull out for balance. The display's height isn't adjustable, nor can you adjust the screen in any way except for brightness. Though the InterView comes with three built-in USB ports and a microphone, it lacks support for HDMI or any other video inputs.

Given its unique capabilities, the InterView would certainly fit in well in a corporate environment, in which sharing work is a necessity; and the built-in 1.3-megapixel Webcam and the display's support for DVI-I, DVI-D, and VGA ports are nice touches. But ultimately it may makes more sense to buy a pair of 23-inch Dell ST2310 displays for $240 each or a pair of ViewSonic FuHzion VX2265wm displays for $300 each, and get more screen real estate for less money.