I need Second Monitor Suggestions!

[DrGravitas]

I am sick and tired of having so little screen space while I'm working! I don't even have room for all of my communication applications anymore (that's a new one for me...) especially if I want to watch vids while I work!

I did a little looking into a second monitor and have discovered that I know longer have any idea what I should look for in a good monitor.

Before, I tended to look for very short refresh rates (I hate ghosting and was big on gaming when I got my last one.) Now, I feel like good, accurate color might be more important for my 3D work. Course, I still feel like I should want good Black-to-Black speed. The most irritating part of this monitor (which is my first LCD, I held on to CRT for a very long time) is the distortion of colors when I view it from too great an angle. At 27inches, the discoloring starts to be noticeable at the top/bottom just while sitting in a comfortable position; I hate having to adjust my seating when I really need to get a good look of colors applied in the farther corners of my images. This is my current monitor for reference. If I get a new one, it will probably become my primary monitor with the current one becoming the secondary.

What should I look for in a good monitor?

I haven't dealt with multiple monitors in a long time, what can I do to set it up so I can switch between which screen is applied to which monitor with a keystroke?

What are good brands? My last couple have been Viewsonic and I've been fairly happy with them, but are there better choices?

[Zytan]

Jesus wept that's crowded  I find ASUS good for colour quality at an affordable price, and they do some that can be rotated 90^o for if you ever have a really tall window you want to view more of.  (The rotation feature isn't unique to them of course.)  You can find the pricier brands easily enough with better colour gamut. 

I'd recommend a matte finish on the screen too, otherwise images are going to appear oversaturated and the sun's going to turn it into a disco ball.  

There's some good 1440p monitors out there that don't cost a disgusting amount to cram that bit more onto the screen too, I find 1080p a little crowded with how 'minimalistic' everything's gone now (go figure).  Finding one that's not gaming oriented (g sync, 1ms, etc, etc) might take some time but it'd save you a lot of money for that extra window space.  27" or larger's good if you have the desk space.

I've never done multi-monitors before so I can't say much on using it, but I hope the above helps!

[Onnes]

If you're after color accuracy then you'll want to look into color calibrators. One of the big things to look out for is poor backlight uniformity, in particular with CCFL backed IPS monitors, since that will screw up color calibration and possibly drive you insane once you start noticing it.

I'd also recommend at least 1440p for 27" and larger monitors. It just tends to be easier on the eyes once you start packing the screen with increasingly small elements.