Bigger is better
Chances are you’re reading this on a single monitor – if you are this makes for interesting reading.
In a study conducted by the University of Utah under the auspices of NEC switching to a 24inch monitor over a single 17inch screen for a company with 250 employees could save that company 2.2 million dollars in increased productivity per year.
What this means for the individual information worker, is that they could be getting to complete their tasks faster with an investment of $200-$400
Now this I admit – that I don’t know the underlying methodology for extracting these figures – how much the monitor cost, aptitude of the computer user etc. But I challenge anyone who is using a single 17inch display to go to a 24inch monitor for a week or two and then willingly go back to using that single 17inch display.
View the study here: http://www.necdisplay.com/gowide/NEC_Productivity_Study_0208.pdf
View some graphs below from the study:
Update: Joe wanted me to post my current set up – please note that the main monitor is a Dell ST2410 24inch screen – just acquired – I will be adding the same monitor again to have a dual 24inch set-up. This is once I find a decent USB-VGA adapter.
How do I get a 24″ monitor? I have a 19″ and I am one of the lucky ones.
Hey Andrew, thanks for the comment! Unfortunately I got my screen out of my own funds – Dell were having a “Cyber Monday” sale – $184 for the screen + free shipping.
The screen right now is $189 – it seems to fluctuate between starting price of $259 and $189. Neither of my screens had any dead pixels and I’m very happy with them so far.
Check out http://tiny.cc/71yAm
I had a dual monitor setup until IT stepped in and took the second one away from me. I totally agree with this study – it’s so much easier to multitask with two monitors – the extra landscape makes a huge difference.
And I am jealous of your setup. Nothing like the old 15″ HP laptop screen!
Thanks for the comment Steven, yeah sorry about losing the extra monitor – hopefully you can get some dual screen monitors going again soon. Will keep you post on improvement from 15, 17inch dual monitors to 24inch.