Matrox TripleHead2Go

The Matrox TripleHead2Go is a unique product to say the least. As stated earlier, this is not the first multi display unit from Matrox, but it is the first to allow the user to use 3 displays not in a card form. The unit is light and extremely portable should you ever want to use three screens at work and then take it home for some gaming fun. I am torn on the uses of the TH2Go though.

When productivity is concerned, this unit cannot be beat. I love the fact that I can have an open word tablet, a folder of pictures or documents that I can reference quickly as well as a web page to reference as well. Now you can mix and match these windows as you see fit but when I am writing a review or doing work at home, the use of three screens cannot be compared to anything that I have used in the past. Gone are the days of Alt+Tab for me. All I have to do is move my mouse cursor to another screen and select what I want.

When it comes to gaming, there is the problem of the bezel in between each screen. While this is a necessary evil, some might be turned off by it. I want to be the first to say however, that I have gotten used to them and do not notice them at all now. When I say gotten used to them, I want to note that it did not take any time at all to get acclimated to the bezels in between the screen and I can operate now without paying them any mind at all. When gaming, the middle screen is obviously the main display with the left and right acting as peripheral screens. This came in handy in the FPS games that I played.

When playing Rise of Legends, the extra screen real estate was borderline nirvana. It was a beautiful thing to be able to select vast amounts of units and control them all at once. Yes you can do this on one monitor but to be able to see them all at once is incomparable. Yes there are frame rate issues when gaming at such a high resolution. Even my SLI system was barely able to produce playable frame rates. This is at no fault the TH2Go, but when you get into these resolutions, low FPS come with the territory. One also much consider that anyone willing to shell out 250+ per monitor for three displays will have a pretty robust PC to begin with. This is just my assumption but I would consider it a fair assumption.

All in all, gaming with TH2Go is pure bliss. Words cannot describe how wonderful it was to have Rise of Legends sprawled out across 3 monitors. The uses for this are not purely for gaming, all though I would assume most people here with us at Techgage would use this primarily for gaming. No, the boost in productivity for me was astounding as well. This has seriously reduced the time it takes to write a review considerably.

I also want to note that the community behind this product and others like it is strong. There is a forum called widescreengamingforum.com that I suggest anyone with an interest check out. The members there are dedicated to modifying games to run on the TH2Go and so far, they have been very successful.

You can find the TripleHead2Go at most all e-tailers around the $299.00 (US) price range. If you are in the market for something unique, give this a try, I dont think it will let you down.

Pros
• Small and compact
• Easy to install
• Strong support from the gaming community
• Frequent software updates from Matrox
• Increased my productivity immensely
• Solid software
• Just that damned cool
• Very responsive tech support

Cons
• Could be cost prohibitive
• Requires a strong video card to game at max resolution (I suggest SLI)
• Limited support for ATI cards with no support for CrossFire

When taking everything into consideration, I am giving the Matrox TripleHead2Go a very solid 9 out of 10 with an editors choice award for good measure.

Special thanks go out to Jennie with Matrox. Her quick replies to emails helped make this review as thorough as possible.

I am leaving you with 2 pictures. One is of my setup at home and the other is a screen shot of my desktop at the time of completing this review. Note the 3 different windows. A wonderful thing for productivity!

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