Two monitors = 44 percent increase in productivity

Fri Jan 16, 2009 1:07PM EST

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Nothing in cube-farm corporate America seems quite so decadent as having two monitors on your desk. Who is this important person who needs to work on two screens at the same time? Must be some kind of bigshot, eh?

Not so, posits the New York Times, which cites research that -- on certain text-editing tasks -- users were 44 percent faster using two 20-inch monitors instead of a single 18-inch screen. While there are no hard data points in the piece regarding other applications, it's not tough to see how users in all manner of industries and all types of tasks could benefit from having the extra LCD real estate. Anyone who has to flip back and forth between multiple windows in order to access information rather than keeping it all on the screen simultaneously should be able to get a productivity boost from having an extra display.

The Times' Farhad Manjoo put multi-monitor work to the test in his own workspace and notes that -- no matter what configuration he put them in, and even if he just went to one large monitor instead of two smaller ones -- he found his productivity improved significantly. The big benefit? Always being able to have your primary task visible and not covered up by off-topic windows like web pages and IM sessions. Says Fanjoo, "A huge desktop didn’t remove all distractions, but it blunted their force. Now I could keep my e-mail and the Web open on one screen while my Microsoft Word document ran on another. This kept me on task. Even if I did go off to the Web, my document was always visible, beckoning me to come back to work."

I've experienced similar results myself, though usually I use two or three separate computers side by side instead of just a bunch of monitors. Maybe I should rethink that strategy. Hmmm.

For a total maximum investment of about $500, Manjoo says he's convinced that the multi-monitor setup is more than worth the investment. Now let's see what your boss thinks about the idea...

Comments on Two monitors = 44 percent increase in productivity

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  • 6 Posted by baracksux on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:02PM EDT Report Abuse

    Great, if I worked at a company that required text editing. But that would mean I probably worked at a publishing house or newspaper. Both are on hard times. Glad I don't work there!

  • 7 Posted by jrivera64 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:42PM EDT Report Abuse

    Dual monitors have been the standard in engineering drafting and design for a long time. I remember the first dual monitor CAD machines over 20 years ago.

  • 8 Posted by leafsmegafan on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:58PM EDT Report Abuse

    Working in the financial industry, this is standard. Some people at work have 3 or 4+ monitors. I have 2 and sometimes feel I need a 3rd. Excellent article!

  • 9 Posted by t_2da_y on Thu Sep 3, 2009 10:26PM EDT Report Abuse

    I've been using a dual monitor setup at home for months now and I can honestly say I get a lot more done now.

  • 10 Posted by rkywong_1 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 8:43PM EDT Report Abuse

    I am surprised when people dock their laptops, but then shut off the laptop screen.

  • 11 Posted by bruno_fus on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:14PM EDT Report Abuse

    You people need to join a union, before you know it they will have you working in front of a wall of monitors without any increase in pay or benefits. Yay for corporate America!

  • 12 Posted by dacruses on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:34PM EDT Report Abuse

    Actually having dual monitors or multiple monitors sometimes is better than one large monitor because you can maximize an application on one monitor without overlapping the other applications you are working in. This way you don't lose things in the backgoround. It seems that only time you really need one large monitor is if you are working on CAD, huge spread sheets, or graphics where you would need to see as much of the document at one time without having to scroll (saving lots of time)... I have used dual monitors and loved it...

  • 13 Posted by magicalpossibilities on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:03PM EDT Report Abuse

    I'm a web designer and getting a second monitor sure did make my life easier - switching back and forth between windows does get tedious. Productivity, well, if I get stuck in goof off mode, the screens allow me to surf the net and play games all at the same time... ;-)

  • 14 Posted by penguin_152 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 8:06PM EDT Report Abuse

    I've been using 3 monitors for a couple of years now. Eventually you get so used to it that using only one is a huge pain. One question though, does anyone know of a way to view multiple monitors while using remote access? I have 3 monitors at work and two at home, but I can only expand my remote desktop view to one screen.

  • 15 Posted by va_rebafan on Thu Sep 3, 2009 10:32PM EDT Report Abuse

    Once you have two screens, you'll never go back. I have a terrible memory so it helps me more than most people. I have a hard time remembering things long enough to read them on one screen and then flip to another and type that infomation in, especially long numeric values. It really is worth the extra little investment.

  • 16 Posted by gcheves on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:07PM EDT Report Abuse

    I use 5 monitors and I can't seem to get any work done

  • 17 Posted by gcheves on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:07PM EDT Report Abuse

    I've been using 5 or more monitors and the more monitors I add, the less work gets done.

  • 18 Posted by tcthomas4 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 9:58PM EDT Report Abuse

    I am the tech for a company and have been pushing this idea on my boss for a long time. Finally, I have everybody on dual monitors with a nice stand and great video cards. About $700 investment for everything per person. I can tell you that productivity is through the roof now, with less errors and happier employees. You will make up the investment in just a few short weeks with the additional monitor.

  • 19 Posted by fallettajoann on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:58PM EDT Report Abuse

    Funny, I recently just switch from single to dual monitors the other day. Wow, this article hit the nail right on the head (actually i think its more like 43.9% increase).

  • 20 Posted by tcttw on Thu Sep 3, 2009 9:58PM EDT Report Abuse

    absolutely agree, very useful for checking colors having the different monitor settings

  • 21 Posted by louwilgirl on Thu Sep 3, 2009 6:57PM EDT Report Abuse

    I'm an executive assistant and I've been using 2 monitors for a year now. Life is so much better! I can have my boss's calendar up on one monitor, with my email that has several potential dates for a meeting on the other one, making it easy to check availability, I can have the web up researching and still have task pads or contacts up, etc. In general, it has increased my productivity, lessened my frustration and made heavy meeting scheduling a breeze! I highly recommend this to anyone who has to multitask all day.

  • 22 Posted by librasd on Thu Sep 3, 2009 6:50PM EDT Report Abuse

    CURVED MONITOR - that's the way to go. It goes beyond multiple monitors and would increase your productivity even further. Working with multiple monitors would cause eye fatigue as your eye would have to refocus each time you go from one monitor to the other, but with the CURVED MONITOR the focal point is always the same. This is OK for many but might not be for some. IN that case, you should check out the CURVED MONITOR at www.ostendo.com & www.necdisplay.com

  • 23 Posted by blakespot on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:09PM EDT Report Abuse

    I brought my OWN 2nd screen in to the office to keep the dream alive at work. I actually have three screens on my laptop at work...but one is a serial terminal. :-) http://www.flickr.com/photos/blakespot/2968210374/in/set-72157608229267141/

  • 24 Posted by gingerhoy on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:09PM EDT Report Abuse

    My employer placed dual monitors on our desks a year ago and it has increased productivity.

  • 25 Posted by ozzieandgracie on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:47PM EDT Report Abuse

    Approximately 8 months ago I switched to a dual monitor set-up at work. This has increased my efficiency tremendously. The increase in efficiency isn't because of a larger amount of monitor space available to the user, rather it is due to the fact that when you need to reference material from, let's say another document in an archive, you can have that on one monitor. You can have your current document on the other monitor. It is much easir to copy information from the archived document because you do not have to ALT + TAB all the time to get your info. Just look at your second monitor and type. it is so much easier, not to mention it has saved me many many typing errors because I don't have to ALT + TAB to the archive and memorize what I need to type the ALT + TAB back to my document and hope I type it correctly. Dual monitors are the only way to go.

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