Get a Larger Monitor, Become more Productive
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I’ve always said that having more space makes you more productive, but now someone has proved it.
Working late? Blame your computer screen. A new study finds that bigger monitors make people more productive.
Researchers at the University of Utah tested how quickly people performed tasks like editing a document and copying numbers between spreadsheets while using different computer configurations: one with an 18-inch monitor, one with a 24-inch monitor and with two 20-inch monitors. Their finding: People using the 24-inch screen completed the tasks 52% faster than people who used the 18-inch monitor; people who used the two 20-inch monitors were 44% faster than those with the 18-inch ones. There is an upper limit, however: Productivity dropped off again when people used a 26-inch screen. (The order of the tasks and the order of computer configurations were assigned randomly.)
The study concluded that someone using a larger monitor could save 2.5 hours a day. But James Anderson, the professor in charge of the study, tells the Business Technology Blog to take that result with a grain of salt: It assumes that someone will work non-stop for eight hours, which no one will, and that the tasks they perform will all benefit from a larger screen, which isn’t always the case. But things like moving data between files are ideally suited to bigger or multiple screens. Anderson, who uses a computer with two 20-inch screens and one 24-inch one, recommends that businesses take the time to match employees with the proper size screen based on job requirements.
Story from The Wall Street Journal
Right now I am using a Soyo 24-inch LCD (I finally let the Dell 20.1-inch go) and I have a smaller 20-inch screen that I use for instant messaging, twitter, pownce, and IRC. So I have all of my work on 1 screen and the 2nd screen is used for chatting etc. I really think that having a larger screen does make you more productive, which in turn makes you more money.
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Right on, man. I miss my dual monitor days. If I had more room on my desks, I’d be running triple or even quadruple monitors! Fortunately for me, though, Ubuntu and most other Linuxes have Compiz, that window manager that does all the crazy effects you’ve seen on YouTube and whatnot. Compiz has a feature which allows a user to switch between virtual desktops with a keystroke or flick of the mouse wheel. Middle-clicking makes it go 3D, and you can move the mouse around to look for the window you want, or there’s an Expose-like feature which shows all of the desktops in a HUD. I’ll show it to you some time.
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Nice setup. I bought the 24″ Dell 2407WFP last year
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I’d love to have a dual monitor setup, but my deskspace is limited. I think a 24″ monitor would fit rather nicely.
I work more efficiently at school with dual monitors, even though they’re only 15″.
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Working with large monitor are great! Make us able to stay longer in front of it. But for now I used 17″…I think it’s enough as now I don’t work with computer quite long.
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Hmm, I never thought of this lol. I’ve always wanted a big lcd monitor to look cool and have better colors, but I guess there are other reasons now. I’m still using a 19″ CRT…lol
-Mike
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It’s great to work on a big, flat screen. Now a days you get such great monitors that makes you feel like working more. Even televisions screens come in great sizes now and totally flat screen. I have changed my monitor recently to a 19″ flat screen. It’s just awesome to work on it.
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I think you are right Bob. Bigger is better and if it brings more money…I am in! I have a 21″ but it does seem a little small at times. These are the small things that make a huge difference in productivity. Great post ; )
~Mom~
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Bob, do you have any really good large monitors that you prefer?
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