Oct 19 2008

Productivity Revelation

Published by at 12:17 am under random

O…M….G

I thought upgrading to a 22″ monitor was pretty indulgent, but hey – a girl puts in so many hours in front of the damn monitor, may as well make it a biggish one, right?

Well, I splurged on a second one. Yes, I now have twins – two ViewSonic VA2226w’s scored for less than $300 each. Maybe I’m a bit behind and and all the cool kids have dual monitors, but I’ve got to tell you it is simply Awesome!

My six year old surmised that I could now do twice the work. I said that I hoped I could do the same about of work twice as quickly. Well, not quite, but it has made such a huge difference! Think of every time you minimise an application or flick between tabs/applications. Need to reference something, while writing something else. Copying and pasting. It makes it so simple.

I think everyone is sick of hearing me rave about it. It’s not at all confusing. Just. Simply. Awesome.

If you can justify the indulgence, convince your boss…. whatever – just do it! I doubt you’d ever go back.

17 responses so far

17 Responses to “Productivity Revelation”

  1. Kelleyon 19 Oct 2008 at 12:20 am

    MPS has it and it is truly awesome.

    I am on a laptop so a little difficult! But at work, OMG that would be bliss…

    You got a bargain there babe. Lets hope you can do the work in half the time and get some time to play :)

    Kelley’s last blog post..Moo speaks. And she is a biatch.

  2. Megon 19 Oct 2008 at 12:27 am

    From your mouth…. My goodness you are quick! Caught me while I was still here 😀

  3. Lindsayon 19 Oct 2008 at 2:50 am

    Two monitors are awesome. Many studies have been done on the improvement in productivity. It doesn’t double it but the increase is significant. If just 50% of your work were on your computer and it was just a 4% improvement and want to make all the cost back in one year then the cost of a second monitor (at $200) would make sense for anyone making more than $10,000 a year. And 20-50% productivity improvements seem more common.

    You can see most businesses are throwing away money every year by not providing two monitors to speed up productivity. Obviously the productivity increase depends on the type of work being done but as you see almost no productivity improvement is needed for it to be wise – no I don’t sell monitors, I just have two (at work and at home) and it is great.

    Lindsay’s last blog post..‘Marcia Brady’ Recovers After Drug Addiction

  4. Kinon 19 Oct 2008 at 11:26 am

    Awesome. I’m on a laptop but tied to a desk due to wireless issues. Contemplating hooking up my old 17″ monitor to the laptop and running dual screens that way…. you’ve just convinced me.

    Does that mean we’ll be seeing more of you round here?

    Kin’s last blog post..Dads 4 Kids

  5. Gary Barberon 19 Oct 2008 at 2:12 pm

    Meg

    I have been using dual monitors for years, and it’s amazing the productivity gain being able to see it all at one glance and truly drag and drop between applications.

    But there is more. Dual monitors (even at 22 inches) fills the central vision range. You can step it up again to another screen, to make it 3 screens, This gives you the ultimate panoramic desktop space to work on.

    Gary Barber’s last blog post..9 Skills to Supplement Design

  6. Kinon 20 Oct 2008 at 10:18 am

    Well, I don’t know if it’s made my productivity any higher, but it certainly is easier with two screens. Especially on my 19″ monitor I can have two word documents side by side I’m working on, and leave my web and email apps on the 15″ laptop screen.

    Of course now I look like a total geek, but I can handle it. My laptop does appear to be struggling a little though….

    Kin’s last blog post..Dads 4 Kids

  7. Nicole Priceon 20 Oct 2008 at 1:19 pm

    I never even considered two monitors, but now reading what a great addition it can be, I am tempted; really tempted!

    Nicole Price’s last blog post..Mobile Accessories

  8. Bettinaon 21 Oct 2008 at 11:37 am

    sounds good. Might have to try it one day. :)

    Hope your increase in productivity means more time to play. :)

    Bettina’s last blog post..Menu Plan Monday on Tuesday Complete with Screw Ups!

  9. Armen Shirvanianon 22 Oct 2008 at 12:43 pm

    Having a dual-monitor setup is a time-saving feature as items can be open on both monitors, as you have already pointed out. It is not so much that one can do new things that they could not before, but that any processes are speeded up as one can switch focus between programs quite quickly, or have background process open on the 2nd monitor to reduce constant curiosity-causing maximization of applications.

    Armen Shirvanian’s last blog post..Quality Builds On Itself

  10. Burgoon 23 Oct 2008 at 9:12 am

    Sigh. I can barely afford *one* right now… 😛

    Burgo’s last blog post..So I’m back…

  11. Brendan McNallyon 23 Oct 2008 at 4:13 pm

    Droping off my teenage sons mates after another LAN party I noted that a number have dual HDMI ports. Yes the answer to my question they all run 2 monitors at home.

    Obviously slumming it or levelling the competition when they go visiting.

    Got me thinking of all those live crosses to financial analysts on TV with their 4 & 5 monitor setups. If they only had one monitor would the financial crisis be lessened proportionately, due to their lack of productivity?

  12. Johnny Coateson 27 Oct 2008 at 1:44 pm

    Wow! having 22 inch monitor is already biggish… hmm.. I want to try that dual monitor thing. Would it be possible to put to use my 1998 monitor? LOL!! if it would be, then it would be great to bring my old buddy into life!

  13. Jenniferon 28 Oct 2008 at 11:11 am

    I’ve never worked with two monitors…but you’ve made me want to now!

  14. Michael Leeon 03 Nov 2008 at 8:06 pm

    At our work it’s hard enough to get biros…

    Michael Lee’s last blog post..A walloping in Kingston

  15. Stephen Croninon 04 Nov 2008 at 10:24 am

    Hi Meg,

    Wow, two 22’s… I’m afraid I’m a little old fashioned, a single 19 inch will do me.

    I tried dual monitors, but they drove me crazy – when I go to click the X to close a window, I actually move my mouse all the way to the right, past the boundary of the screen. When I had dual monitors, the mouse would end up halfway through the right hand screen, no where near the X. It annoyed the heck out of me, so I went back to single (the second screen was my laptop screen, so it didn’t cost anything).

    Stephen Cronin’s last blog post..JobsInChina.com Brings You … Jobs In China

  16. John Walterson 05 Nov 2008 at 12:55 pm

    I have a single 24″ monitor. It is amazing. The fact that you can have two things open and on-screen at the same time is a real improvement. If I were to go dual screen I would definitely use two monitors the same. I would not like to have two screens showing different colours and at a different brightness.
    John

    John Walters’s last blog post..Earth4Energy

  17. Prizetasticon 06 Nov 2008 at 9:26 pm

    OH wow, I saw a Frank Kern video and he was using 2 or 3 monitors and it made me really want to back then, it looked so great… I don’t have the room on this desk to do it though and hubby would probably think I’d gone nuts!! He thinks I’m crazy enough as it is LOL :)

    Prizetastic’s last blog post..Winning Competitions – My Past Wins – Pink Motorola Razr Mobile Phone