Productivity

In a word: Yes.  The New York Times sings the praises of expanding your screen real estate across multiple monitors.  Survey after survey shows that adding more monitors will give your output a considerable boost.

A recent study at the University of Utah reveals there is definitely a connection between computer’s monitor size and employee productivity.  These researchers 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 20-inch monitor, and one with a 24-inch monitor.  The amazing fact was that people working with 24-inch monitors finished their tasks 52% faster than the ones using those with the 18-inch ones.  At the end of the study, they concluded that someone using a larger monitor could save 2.5 hours/day!

• Size: It isn’t everything, and sometimes less is more.  Some monitors are just too big for what you need.  Others are too small.  The point isn’t to buy the largest screen you can afford; it’s smarter to find the screen that suits your work, accommodates what you need to see at one time, and doesn’t strain your eyes.  Think of it like this: having a bigger desk means you can spread out more of your papers.  Having bigger, multiple screens means you can have your documents in front of you on your bigger space.
  
• Adjustable: Some monitors are not adjustable.  You may not be able to change the height and you might not be able to change the tilt so that it more naturally lines up with your eye level.  If this is the case, these monitors are no good.  But ideally, bigger screens will allow documents to enlarge and fit the size of the screen .  Tilt and height become less of an issue and, with a larger monitor, eye strain is not an issue.
  
• Price: Cheaper monitors - particularly CRTs but also some LEDs - can emit a high frequency noise that can cause headaches or just become perpetually distracting and get in the way of productivity.  The price on monitors has come down far enough that you now can buy a quality monitor at pretty cheap prices.  You no longer need to sacrifice quality for price, but you do need to research your monitor to ensure it is what you want.
  

Our advice: Consider getting more than one monitor.  Tasks like moving data between files are ideally suited to bigger or multiple screens.  This way, for instance, you can have your email always open and not have to jump to different projects.  Dual monitors are also invaluable for coding, engineering work, programming, and graphic design projects.  Furthermore, another large benefit we’ve found to multiple monitors is being able to compare windows side by side without the hassle of resizing the windows or organizing them.  It cuts down on time scrolling through documents, spreadsheets, browsers, etc. and lessens the time you have to squint trying to read small print.  With multiple monitors, your workload can now be separated into different large spaces.  You can have every application you’ll need open and it can always stay in the same spot on the monitor so you never have to look for it.  It’s like having multiple giant sheets of legal paper; type a document on one side, read a website on the other.  The possibilities are endless.

Bottom line: We prefer running multiple monitors as it allows us to organize work and windows a whole lot better than on a single screen.  If you agree with us, here are a few monitors that we recommend:

• 4 monitor option - PNY Nvidia Quadro NVS 440, 256MB PCI Express, $400: Mainstream 3D card, capable of driving up to 4 30″ displays at 1920×1200 Digital resolutions (2048×1536 Analog)
• 2 monitor option - MSI NX8600GT-T2D256EZ, GeForce 8600 GT, 256MB PCI Express, $94: DVI-to-HDMI Audio Integration adapter, 1920×1080p resolution.  Read reviews.
• Add to an existing system option - Sewell Direct USB to DVI External Video Card, Hi-Res, 1600×1200 SW-8769 $99: Extend your desktop to 6 additional monitors to any system (including laptops), one display/unit/USB port, easy to set-up plug and play video card (add and remove without rebooting system).  In short, it’s a flexible product since you just have to plug it in and it works.  It’s low tech, so no technician is needed to get it to work with your existing system.  It’s easy to use and it will not slow down your system.  Read more.

Here is another list of monitors that have worked very well for us.  We only use LCD monitors (no CRTs).

• 19″ Samsung 931b, 912n, 192n, 193v
• 22″ Acer AL2223W, X2221W, X249W
• 24″ Acer X243W, X241W

Not everything is so rosy when it comes to monitor selection for us.  Unfortunately, there is a monitor that we just think is terrible: 22″ KDS 2200W.

Final thoughts: Consider what you need most and purchase your items carefully.  If each of the items on your list are high quality and suited to you, you’ll find a massive improvement in your comfort and productivity at the office.  The little things do matter, especially when they all add up together.

Another tip: An easy way to improve how things look on your monitor and reduce eye strain: Set your monitor to its Native resolution.  This is the number of pixels your monitor wants to display and things look the best when you set a monitor to its Native resolution.  The following are most common Native resolutions for the monitors we use:

• 19″ 1280×1024
• 22″ 1680×1050
• 24″ 1920×1200

Another thing to keep in mind is aspect ratio, which is the length of your screen compared to the height.  Regular monitors have a ratio of 5×4, and wide-screen monitors have a ratio of 16×10.  However, the aspect ratio of wide screen TVs and many movies is 16×9.  When watching a 16×9 movie on a 16×10 laptop, you’ll get black bars on the picture.  Now some manufacturers are making their computer screens 16×9.  This means you lose an inch of monitor and will have to scroll down or up your pages more often.  Your screen will seem smaller than you are used to.  We found this to be a problem with the 23″ Samsung 2343BWX.  It was a great price at $220, but we had to return it due to its aspect ratio of 16×9.

Last tip for this blog: Raising your monitors to eye level is great for your back.  Using a steel arm to raise it will help you reclaim desk space.  The following are steel arms, but we haven’t used any of these yet:

• 7Flex LCD Arm for Floating Monitor Above Desk
• LCD Mount and Short Reach Radial Arm 18”

These seem to have more positioning options:

• LCD Mount and Short Reach Radial 45° Forearm - Seems the best deal but check height and mounting
• Innovative Floating Flat Panel Arm
• Innovative 7500-1000 Flat Panel Radial Arm
• ArcView Dual Monitor Radial Arm

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 14th, 2009 at 4:24 pm and is filed under productivity. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.