Enhancing Productivity with Dual Monitors

Dual Monitors Are Twice As Nice: Expand Your Screen Real Estate and Get More Done Faster

There’s an easy way to eliminate double entries, significantly decrease errors in filling out forms and paperwork, and get a lot more work done: just add a second monitor to your desktop.

 

Studies have shown that no matter how you measure productivity, you’ll get a boost by adding a second monitor to your desktop. Why? Because you’ll spend a lot less time flipping between documents and applications and more time actually working. Consider the fact that the average monitor displays about the same real estate as an 8 ½ x 11” piece of paper. Multiple monitors allow you to look at more than one piece of paper at a time – a bit like what your physical desktop allows you to do in the real world already.

 

Those same studies show that users adapt very quickly to multiple monitors. And newer operating systems are well equipped to adapt to multiple monitor hookups. According to New York Times writer Ivan Berger,

 

Recent Windows and Mac computers (and some Linux systems) can operate with multiple monitors; with my computer's Windows XP operating system, it took only a few keystrokes and mouse movements to set things up. Once I saw how it improved my productivity, I was an instant convert.

 

… With a single monitor, I could jump between applications with a mouse click or a keyboard command (Alt-Tab, in Windows), but not nearly as fast — and small delays add up when you repeat them dozens or even hundreds of times a day. With my dual displays, I simply sweep my mouse from one screen to the other. (“The Virtues of a Second Screen”)

 

Particularly for people in professions like insurance, accounting, or other detail-oriented industries, dual monitors can increase productivity and decrease the likelihood of error because you’re more likely to immediately spot discrepancies between documents.

 

With the price of flat-screen monitors falling every day, now might be the time to make a small investment that could reap huge productivity dividends. If you’re wondering if a multi-monitor setup is right for you, call CMIT Solutions. We’ll let you know what hardware upgrades you’ll need (such as extra graphics cards) and help you set up and configure your new, improved workspace!