Taylord wrote:
animation, modeling, music making etc. does that call for multiple monitors?
They can be helpful. Most software has configurable gui's these days, so you can move all your tools to the second monitor and use the main monitor as a full screen work space while still having the tools visually present on the second monitor. I made a custom desk for myself, I don't use my monitors side by side, I have my main monitor on a vesa mount, about 4-5 inches above the desktop and my secondary sitting almost flat (30 degree angle or so) underneath it. I found looking side to side was much more of a strain than just looking down. If you use this approach your secondary monitor with need a wide viewing angle.
If you're looking at productivity gains (working faster), I'd actually recommend an MMORPG mouse before a 2nd monitor. Razer Naga and Logitech M600 are the two tops in this category. The reason I recommend a gaming mouse, especially an MMO one is that they have 16+ buttons that can be used as key binds (ctrl+c, ctrl+v, etc), meaning you don't really need to learn all those shortcuts in your software: just look 'em up and bind them to the mouse buttons. It'll take a week or two to get used to the mouse, but work becomes much more intuitive when you're clicking a single button than trying to remember several key presses.