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[JimH]

Support for three is coming.

http://www.matrox.com/graphics/offhome/th2go/home.cfm

Found this on engadget.com today.  Due out in April for $299.

[jgreen]

Does this mean MC is going to do vertical split views?  Those of us with only two monitors are now experiencing Monitor Envy (ME).  But even with only two, I still wish I could get separate view windows left and right+top and bottom.  With 3 monitors showing 3 split views each, that would be 9 views of MC!  Imagine!

[glynor]

That device does look pretty interesting.  Here's a "preview" of it at FiringSquad if you're interested.  There are a few things that are an issue with the device though:

1. It's VGA based (no HDMI or DVI connectors need apply).  This isn't good for HDCP-protected content if you plan to invest in a next-gen optical drive.  If you're the type of person to spend $300 on a device to enhance your video display system in additon to having a separate Video Card (not to mention the requisite 3 monitors)...

2. Resolution.  It's limited to a maximum of 1280x1024 * 3.  That's not a terrible resolution, but it certainly wouldn't look good on any big LCD displays, and it's lower than I like to run games.

3. The last thing that scares me is that it seems that it needs specific support built for individual games.  While the support list now is extensive and covers most current relevant games, it is short on the support for older games (and who knows what the future holds once the device is replaced by the v2 of the product).  It does seem that somehow it will let you build your own profiles and share them, but it remains to be seen how that works and how flexible it is.  There's also some mention on the preview article of GPU support.  It worries me that future video cards could be an issue with the device.

Still the device looks pretty interesting.  If I could afford to ditch my 2 21" Mitsubishi CRT's on my main Computer and pick up 3 nice LCDs I would probably strongly consider this option.  The possibility of running Half Life 2 at 3840x1024 is pretty appealing.  And, the fact that you don't have to resort to any driver-level trickery to manage your desktop as one monitor has some distinct advantages.  I use dual displays on all of my primary machines at work and home, and once you start using it, you never want to go back.  I think my main concern with this device is the resolution issue.  For it to be really exciting, I think it would need to support at least 1600x1200 * 3 (and preferably 2560x1600 * 3 for those 30 inchers).

Now I'm dreaming of getting two of these things, running one of them on each output of my X1900XT with 6 Dell 24" UltraSharp displays.  Mmmm... 

[JimH]

Here's a review of the three screen setup:
http://www.engadget.com/2006/04/12/matrox-triplehead2go-reviewed/

[Mr ChriZ]

During the holidays I work for a Railway Signalling company.
Since train track tends to be long and thin fitting every thing in
usually requires 4 screens.

I've held a full size PCI graphics card (litterally goes from one end of the
case to  the other) which uses a splitter cable to split into 4
adapters.  I think they cost about £2k when they first came out!

Attached to this they had 4x 22" Iiyama Flatscreens.
Seemed really good to start with, but Windows had a tendancy
to open one window on the left most screen, and one on the right most screen,
not good for drag and drop :-)

[enervation]

I don't understand the point of this... you could get a 2nd graphics card for a lot cheaper, it would be less strain on your 1st graphics card, and you'd be able to do things like run video full screen on one while working on the other 2. And I'm fairly sure you can get software which makes it all appear like one big monitor for gaming.

[Mr ChriZ]

I don't understand the point of this... you could get a 2nd graphics card for a lot cheaper, it would be less strain on your 1st graphics card, and you'd be able to do things like run video full screen on one while working on the other 2. And I'm fairly sure you can get software which makes it all appear like one big monitor for gaming.

You think too small 
The obvious reason why you'd get one of these, is in fact
that you wouldn't, you'd get two =)
Then you could start creating a video wall 2 high x 3 across!

[runemail]

The mother of all ME:

http://gadgets.qj.net/Wall-O-Monitors-project-twelve-30-inch-flatscreens-mounted/pg/49/aid/21281

[Mr ChriZ]

Nice!  It will be so nice if they get to a stage where screens actually have
no surround, so you can seemlessly place them together!

[John Gateley]

Another review of the triple screen:

http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,1949998,00.asp

j

[newsposter]

Matrox has always been the king of multiple-monitor setups.  Even back 10 years ago with win3.11 and then into Win95, Matrox has supported 4 or more monitors without problems.  Matrox is the Gold Standard in medical imaging as well as banking/finance/stock trading where such setups are essential.

Even my $100 G550 Matrox AGP 4 cards will let me run a pair of 1280x1024x32bit DVI flat panels on XP.  The high-end P750 (AGP8 or PCI-E) will do 8 panels in 1600x1280x32bit.

[glynor]

Anand just put up a review of the new version of this cool little device:

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2806

Worth checking out, and looks to be improved over the old version somewhat.