Dual Monitors Increase productivity by 44 percent

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[Brainonska511]

Even though I'm a student, it would help me in some ways. I could have a PDF open on one monitor while typing something up on another. But that's about it.

 

[Ns1]

Sure does

I used to do work on one monitor and play ikariam on the other

Result? Ns1 > DLG

lol

 

[rivan]

I didn't read, but I can tell you in job, it's almost impossible to work without them.

One monitor = palettes, the other contains work.

 

[spidey07]

While I'm sure it does increase productivity...it's not 44%.

"In a study commissioned by the electronics company NEC" In this "study" people were told what to do so of course they are going to have them do things specifically where 2 monitors is a great advantage so they can sell more monitors.

 

[FeuerFrei]

Riiight. Because switching between open applications consumes 44% of your time on the pc.

 

[dbk]

Originally posted by: spidey07
While I'm sure it does increase productivity...it's not 44%.

"In a study commissioned by the electronics company NEC" In this "study" people were told what to do so of course they are going to have them do things specifically where 2 monitors is a great advantage so they can sell more monitors.

hahaha good find

 

[Jeff7]

So would basic computer skills. My dad's told me about some of the stuff he's encountered where he works, and these people use computers for nearly the entire day.

- Someone freaked out when he found his monitor turned off to save power. He still doesn't trust turning off the monitor, for fear it will erase everything he's working on.

- Quite a few people, when told, "Please open Excel quickly to check a file for me," they will close their ONE other open application, and open Excel. They have actually been told by the IT director of the company (whose area of expertise is mainframes) to only have one program running at a time.


The place could get a huge boost in productivity by improving the basic skills of their employees. I doubt many of them would know how to use a second monitor.


Windows also needs some better window management methods. It seems to love Maximize, which kind of negates some of the benefits of multitasking. And when a program opens again, it tends to open at some arbitrary size, and also with an uncanny tendency of opening right in front of an in-use window.

 

[Kadarin]

While I intensely dislike working with 2 monitors, I do find that I do well with the single Dell 30" monitor...

 

[Shawn]

I think that's crap.

 

[JMapleton]

Depends on the job. People however who do not believe in this study do not realize that not everyone can switch between screens as fast as they can.

 

[SagaLore]

I agree with this. If it weren't for my laptop, I'd have 3 screens. Right now I just have 1 larger one hooked up to supplement my laptop screen.

 

[TallBill]

Originally posted by: Shawn
I think that's crap.

 

[gsethi]

I wish I could afford dual monitors when I was a student (Having 2 CRTs on a desk take too much space) and a generic 15" LCD was ~300+ at the time. I had one 20" CRT and one 17" CRT at my desk once and had practically no room for anything else.

It does help a lot but not by 44% though. Now, I have a Dell 24" and dont really need 2 monitors at home

 

[ChaoZ]

Originally posted by: FeuerFrei
Riiight. Because switching between open applications consumes 44% of your time on the pc.

It does if you have a lot of programs opened. I waste most of my time just by clicking the wrong program on the taskbar.

 

[TridenT]

LIES. Higher resolution increases productivity!

Although I do want another 1920x1200 24" LCD because, damn, I really need one to increase my productivity

 

[bignateyk]

I prefer one large screen. At home I have a 28" widescreen LCD. At work I have dual 19" 4:3 lcd's. Both have different advantages and disadvantages, but in the end, the one large monitor is my preference.

 

[Fox5]

I used my laptop with an external monitor for a while. It helped quite a bit, and I would gladly take dual monitors over 1 large monitor for productivity. At least with Windows anyhow, Linux provides a bit more customization when it comes to window arrangement allowing me to more effectively partition my screen. Even then, dual monitors is still better.

 

[GoingUp]

I completely agree.

I have a triply monitor setup, two 20s with a 24" in the middle. 5120x1600 resolution.

It saves me so much time when I'm working on something that I can compare items side by side and not have to flip between programs.

Edit: Its not that the switching programs takes time, its that it makes your work longer because its hard to compare or reference things side by side. You have to remember everything you just said and keep going back and forth.

 

[0roo0roo]

The authors concluded that a large projection screen may be an effective, inexpensive substitute for a very immersive experience. Another line of research [2,11] explored gender effects observed when wider fields of view were available on very large display surfaces during 3D navigation tasks. In a series of studies, it was observed that females benefited significantly more from the wider fields of view accommodated on large displays than males, although the wider fields of view also helped males to a smaller degree. The studies demonstrated that when users navigate with large displays and wider fields of view, the typically observed gender difference between females and males is ameliorated. Both of these studies are intriguing in that they demonstrate benefits of large displays in immersive, 3D environments. However, the complementary user studies of normal office computer productivity work in 2D applications are lacking.http://209.85.173.132/search?q...gl=us&client=firefox-a

 

[Red Squirrel]

I believe it. Also it's pretty much a must for programming. Don't know how I'd do without dual monitors.

 

[Queasy]

I either need a bigger monitor or dual monitors at work. I'm constantly switching back and forth between what I'm writing and my reference material and it's annoying as hell on my 17" LCD.

 

[Triumph]

I don't know how I ever did CAD work without it. Just got dual monitors at work, and it is a huge benefit when working on multiple mating parts. It's also good for a simple reason - our computers are so bogged down with security crap, simply switching between windows can take 10 seconds. I can read a document on screen A while internet exploder is opening on screen B. Yes it takes that long to load that it makes it worthwhile.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Originally posted by: Triumph
I don't know how I ever did CAD work without it. Just got dual monitors at work, and it is a huge benefit when working on multiple mating parts. It's also good for a simple reason - our computers are so bogged down with security crap, simply switching between windows can take 10 seconds. I can read a document on screen A while internet exploder is opening on screen B. Yes it takes that long to load that it makes it worthwhile.

I hate how some work places give the most horrible computer hardware. Thankfully they're fairly good where I work but I've seen some places and it's retarded how the computers are so freaken slow. I went to this one business. No joke, it took 10-20 minutes just to boot up. Opening the start menu took about 1 minute. That's a huge loss of productivity.

 

[Eli]

Originally posted by: ChaoZ

Originally posted by: FeuerFrei
Riiight. Because switching between open applications consumes 44% of your time on the pc.

It does if you have a lot of programs opened. I waste most of my time just by clicking the wrong program on the taskbar.

Alt-tab?