Is bigger (monitor) better?
A few months ago I bought a Apple 23 inch LCD monitor. Within hours of installing it I started to regret something.
I started to regret not having bought one of these large monitors years earlier! Within a few weeks I had persuaded my partners to buy a similar monitor and now everybody in the office works on a large monitor.
This morning I read an article titled “Is bigger (monitor) better?“, on Web Worker Daily, questioning a research project funded by Apple on whether a bigger monitor increases productivity. I am sure this is true and can speak from experience. If I have to do serious work I just wait until I’m behind my big monitor.
At the keynote speakers diner the night before the Next Web Conference we talked a bit about this subject too. I explained how I felt more relaxed and in control behind a large 23 inch monitor. Then Kevin Kelly spoke up and told us he actually uses TWO 30 inch Apple LCD monitors hooked up to one Mac creating a 60 inch workspace.
Respect…
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3 Responses to “Is bigger (monitor) better?”
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ah, but also interesting, i believe there is a productivity curve linked to screensize. When is your workspace to large to be productive?
I like working with multiple (smaller) screens, as it helps me organise my windows in a way one really large screen really can’t.
I’m still waiting for the moment that the LCD technology is so cheap that i can build a room with LCD displays as walls. That would create a room where you can dedicate a wall to every project you’re working on. Whether it’s music, art, developing work or a graphic presentation of a business plan you can lay every bone of the project on a spot on the wall and leave it there.
I think the best way to be more productive is to put every element of your project on a spot of your monitor and leave it static for some time. Having two 30 inch displays certainly helps you with that but it’s expensive. http://www.apple.com/nl/macosx/leopard/spaces.html could be a good solution for people without 4600 EUR to spend on displays.
[...] Apple’s announcement that recent research indicates that computer users are more productive when they use larger monitor has spawned quite a bit of discussion on the web. Om Malik disagrees arguing that he finds a larger monitor detracts from his work due to his head shifting back and forth. I tend to agree with Dutch entrepreneur, Boris Veldhuijzen van Zanten. When developing web application I often wish I had a larger monitor so that I could see more of my code in the editor I develop web applications for the LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, Perl or PHP) stack and my IDE is normally Vi. I usually work with several Linux terminal windows open to maximum size. Recently I have using the Eclipse open-source IDE and with the various resource side bars open I have significantly reduce screen area devoted to the editing window. Thus I find myself scrolling back and forth a lot more often. A monitor larger than 17 would greatly increase my productivity. Ideally I would say 20-23 inches. [...]