Can I plug two external monitors in to a MacBook Pro?

I'd like to use two external monitors for some excels, coding, email, not games or video content.

Can someone please explain how I can go about using two external monitors with my MacBook Pro, and realistically, how good will the performance be of the 2nd external monitor?

In order to attach two or three monitors, you could use a third party device like Matrox GXM (Graphics eXpansion Modules) - you can connect two or three monitors from your Display Port, however, there are some limitations (like the OS does not know natively that there are two or three monitors connected and treats it like one). The price is about $350 for the Tripplehead and around $220 for the Dualhead one.

Here is the GXM homepage.

If you don't yet have the monitors, the cheapest solution is to get a USB monitor (for example, Display Link). Performance is fine for your uses. Display Link sells a monitor with HD (1920x1080) resolution.

If you have both monitors already, and they are VGA or DVI, then you can buy adapters for them. Performance should improve somewhat.