PC for work, want a triple screen setup

[RandomJord]

Right, moving to the snazzy new office soon so I want a snazzy new pc! I currently use a MacBook pro to do it all but I'm soon to be switching from basic spreadsheets to tailor made systems that I don't really want on it and also means that I'd spend forever switching between documents and stuff.

So I think a triple screen set up should cover it! The PC doesn't have to be anything fancy, just be good for the MS office stuff, Sage and a system called moveman. An the monitors, just basic 19" squares that display things!

So.... Who can recommend a nice reliable and cost efficiant set up? *COUGH JAY*

Cheers in advance!

Jord

[RandomJord]

Ps, no tech speak, I'm a thickish person!

[Guy]

i'd keep it simple if i were you buddy... bit of alt+tab switching should see you right

or for the amount you'd spend on screens you could easily get a 21" imac with a clean and simple professional looking set-up, trackpad gestures for switching between screens (saves having to buy more screens), compatibility with all your other apple products and a bit of cloud computing with lion thrown in so your documents can be with you wherever you are.

i know the pc boys won't like this answer but I know you like apple stuff which is why I am suggesting it

[Jay]

I'd suggest other things too if this is going to be your accounts/payroll machine, as a minimum:

RAID - to ensure the machine is more resilient to hard drive failure.
A offsite backup solution to protect your data from a disaster.



How much you looking at spending is the question?


Problem is Guy, most of the proper business software doesn't run on OS/X 

[RandomJord]

Yeah unfortunately guy jay's right, moveman for one won't run on a mac. 

An as little as possible but reliable enough to have a lifespan of say 3 years atleast

[Guy]

Yeah unfortunately guy jay's right, moveman for one won't run on a mac. 

An as little as possible but reliable enough to have a lifespan of say 3 years atleast

thats a bummer 

[DubFan]

You're still gonna need a decent system, particularly if you want it to last and will be using it all day everyday.
You'll probably want at least an Intel Core i5 or i7, Minimum 4GB of RAM if not 8GB, RAID harddrive solution for data (I would have a single non-RAID drive for Windows and then 3 or 4 drives in RAID for data).
Then to run your 3 monitors, you have 3 options:
1) install 2 graphics cards and run a bit of software called SoftTH which will span your desktop across the 3 monitors
2) buy a proper Triple/Quad Head graphics card like this: Matrox M9138
3) to run a decent graphics card into the Matrox TripleHead2Go, which takes a single screen input and splits it properly for 3 screens.

Matrox have been making multi-monitor video cards for years and are rock solid, trusted by business and the media industry. They're not cheap and they're not going to set the gaming world alight, but they're very good at what they do.

[Jay]

Get a workstation from the likes of Dell with 3yr warranty and stick in a graphics card like DubFan suggested.

Just spec'd one up on the Dell Website and shat myself 


If you want a quote on one that you can plug in and install your Sage/Moveman/Office etc and have 3 yr next business day support pm me and I'll get one for you that'll be cheaper than Dell, even for the same kit 

[RandomJord]

Cheers dubfan, an yeah jay basically I want a 'plug an play' kinda deal!

[bobotheclown]

I too was going to recommend the matrox triple head.