Boss, I Need a Bigger Screen. For Work Efficiency, of Course.

[DainBramaged]

FOR those of us easily dazzled by technology, a trip to Google’s sprawling headquarters in Mountain View, Calif. — with its replica of SpaceShipOne, its computerized toilets and solar-cell-covered parking lots — can be a delirious experience.

Yet what caught my attention on a recent visit was something pretty pedestrian: the programmers’ desks. Specifically, their computer monitors.

I recently met several software engineers who work on Gmail, and each sported a spectacular configuration of screens. Some paired wide monitors with tall ones, others had huge screens married to small ones, and still others used several displays in series, giving the impression that in addition to building a Web-based e-mail system, they were helping Norad keep tabs on the nation’s airspace.

For years, I’ve been reading about the psychic benefits of hooking up more than one monitor to your computer. A host of studies by specialists in human-computer interaction suggest that combining two displays, or using a single huge monitor, can significantly enhance your productivity. The theory is simply that the bigger your monitor, the more of your work you’ll be able to see and the more you’ll be moved to do.

In a study commissioned by the electronics company NEC, researchers at the University of Utah recently asked office workers to perform several common tasks using various monitor configurations. They found that people who used two 20-inch monitors were 44 percent more productive at certain text-editing operations than people using a single 18-inch monitor.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/15/technology/personaltech/15basics.html?8dpc

[TahitiNut]

1. I'm considering (salivating) doing that when I finally replace my ancient Win98 machine.

I've had to replace the original CRT monitor with a 22" LCD display ... and I'm intrigued by the idea of having two displays. If I get a 64-bit machine with the appropriate video capabilities, I could use the second display for movies, TV, and slideshows when I wasn't in "work (hobby) mode." The old techie in me is almost resurrected thinking about it.

[Shardik]

2. I use a 27" and a 24" currently.

And have to agree with improved efficiency. I can have Firefox, Dreamweaver, Illustrator and Photoshop all running and visible allowing me to drag and drop between the four.

[boppers]

3. I've been working dual screen for years.

The productivity gains are real, for a number of reasons... screen real estate that can be "glanced at" when needed (Chats, status messages), screens can become "spaces" (email screen, code screen, web screen) etc.

At work I use two side-by-side 22 inch LCD's, with 2 virtual desktops (Ubuntu).

[anigbrowl]

4. Yep, it's awesome. And easier on the eyes. And right now, they're cheap.

[yewberry]

5. I'm a two-screen worker.

Seriously, when I started in my office I thought I wouldn't need the two screens.

Wrong-O.

I use two screens routinely now, and I find it very hard to work with just one. It's crazy. Seriously, the difference is stunning. The theory about seeing and so doing more work is bull--for me, the reality is that I can use different data sources concurrently without switching screens. It slows me way down when I'm at a different (one-screen) work station.

Try it for a while.

[EarlG]

6. I'm using three monitors at the moment

And loving it.

Bit of a fluke really - I had this old 19" 4:3 LCD monitor at home, and I snagged another old one that I used to use in the DU office with the intention of setting them up side by side at home. My computer has onboard graphics (no additional graphics card), so I picked up a bottom-of-the-line nVidia PCI express card with an analog and a DVI output, I think it was $30-40.

I hooked up both monitors to the new card only to discover that the one from the office had some dead pixels. Bummer. I tried a bunch of tricks to "unstick" them but no luck. Then when I turned it on again the next day there were a whole lot more dead pixels - all the way down the center of the screen in fact. Basically the monitor was FUBAR.

So there I was with a nice new dual-head video card and only one monitor. I decided that since I'd already gotten excited about using a dual monitor setup, I would buy a new monitor to go alongside my old one. One problem - it seems that finding a 4:3 monitor is not easy these days, everyone is making widescreens. And I didn't want a widescreen next to my 4:3 monitor, it would be weird.

A few days later I was in Staples and noticed that they had some SUPER cheap monitors - eMachines 19" widescreens. So I bit the bullet and picked up two (I think it was cheaper to get both than it was to get my old 4:3 monitor back in the day), thinking I would just have to get rid of my old monitor, which was a shame because there was nothing wrong with it.

But once I got the new monitors home, I thought, hang on a minute - I've got my new graphics card with the dual output, but I also have the onboard chip sitting there doing nothing. Would it be possible to drive two of the monitors from the graphics card, and a third monitor from the onboard chip?

As it happens, it is possible! It took a lot of finagling though. For example, my onboard graphics chip is ATI whereas the card is nVidia, so you have to get the two sets of drivers to play nice. Then there was the multiple screen resolutions problem. Also, I was fortunate that my BIOS had a setting which allowed me to select which monitor to start up with - I don't think it would have been possible without that. But after a lot of research, mucking around with drivers, and restarting the computer about 200 times, I got it to work - two 19" widescreen (1440x900) monitors side by side directly in front of me, and a 19" 4:3 (1280x1024) monitor off to the right side.

I think it has definitely made me more productive - I can have Dreamweaver open with one monitor for design view, one for code, and one with browsers open for testing. I can stretch Photoshop across three monitors and use all that screen real estate. Putting the Top 10 together is much easier now I can see what I'm writing and what I'm researching at the same time, without having to keep flipping between windows from the taskbar.

Plus I have my old 19" 4:3 TV off to the left side so now when I sit down to work I feel like I'm flying the U.S.S. Democratic Underground.

My wife thinks I'm nuts by the way.

[DainBramaged]

7. I have 2 4:3 20" monitors, Westinghouse, side by side (this system) and love them

and I JUST got an ATI TV card so I can window TV while I work/play. I got the monitors at Target. I like 4:3 better than the wide screens too.

[dkf]

8. When the company told us we were entitled to dual monitors

I volunteered to give my extra to a co-worker, but instead I gave her my old one and kept the two new ones and now she has dual monitors too. Thank goodness I tried it out. Now I can copy from excel into access instantly, and can reference one screen to type information in the other.

I have no idea how I did things without it.