It’s now common place, dual monitors are known to improve productivity, it’s becoming more common to see dual monitors as part of the standard desktop configuration.

A lot depends on how you use the dual monitor, if not, you are just doubling your problems.

A good way to use dual monitors is open your research material (or website) on one screen while using your Word document to type out the information you need or to cut ‘n’ paste. It is surprising that tabbing on a single screen to cut information could land you into paste errors along with a lot of fatigue.So it’s pointless to use a dual monitor if you land up tabbing on each screen.

This does need some breaking of old habits in order to master a better efficiency with an extra monitor.

First you need to decide which screen is your reading pane and which is your writing pane and stick to it.

Remember, its meant to expand your workspace by extending your screen! Open your email on left and the latest movie on the right is not really the meaning of extending your workspace, you’re just dividing it.

For coders it’s really a boon, code on one side and the display on the other side (typically the right side).
I’m sure coders find it annoying when the hit a break point and your UI goes off to the background.
It’s great for cross browser testing, compare them side by side and look for differences or problems.

There is also the benefit of better eye exercise and neck movement which can reduced the effects of keep your head completely motionless.

Gamers can keep their action area on one screen while have info or settings section on the right.

With Microsoft windows you can use the Windows key + Right arrow to move the current window to the other screen.

While the dimension of the screen on a laptop won’t give you optimum sizing its excellent during presentations to keep your detail notes on one side and your content projected on the other.

Look up dual monitors on your favorite search engine, there are many articles on how to setup dual displays and tips on how to get more productive.