Size Does Matter — Bigger Monitors Save 2.5 Hours a Day

Whoa! That screen’s giving me monitor envy.

My personal productivity increases since I have to use less ALT+TAB while working will larger monitors – just by reorganizing windows. Also, with small monitors it is harder to understand, which icon should I click on the taskbar – I have to roll over the icon and read the text. So, “up to 2.5” hours per days seems to me quite possible.

i’ve used the Dell 24″ in portrait mode for a few years. but recently i went with dual 24″ portrait mode Dells. and it’s blowing my mind. it’s like swimming in details. like flying high over the problem. there are some tasks that go faster. but there are also other uses. for example, people gather for work meetings, and it’s a good collaborable environment, because we can all see the details. i’m trying to determine what tasks are remarkably accelerated or more possible with such a configuration so i can possibly shift my contracting focus to capitalize on the advantage. the 24″ is under $400 delivered on ebay.

I agree – big monitors are a benefit, especially if you (or, I) are develping software. I’ve been using atleast TWO 19″ monitors for the last 6 years or so, mostly because a 24 was too expensive at the time. The extra space is well worth it.

I think two monitors make sense on windows, with maximised screens, where as one big one (24″, 30″) makes sense on a mac with expose and the general trend of none-maximised windows.

going from that to a 13.3″ panel however, thats painful 🙂

It’s the ability to be able to see more data at the same time without having to switch between the documents or scrolling in a document. A dual display setup will probably have a very similar effect.

You could have a spreadsheet with the data open in one area (or one display) and a presentation you are working on in another area (or on the other display). That way you can actually see the data while writing your analysis.

I often have my browser with information about a topic I’m writing about open on one display and my editor in the other one (I work with a two display setup). Being able to see the information while writing my own thoughts is very helpful.

I suspect it’s only a second or two every time you switch between documents or scroll in a document, but as with any of these tiny units they add up very quickly.

Just had a quick look at your link to Expose. On PCs, you can use a keyboard shortcut to close all the open windows and show the desktop – it’s ‘windows key’ + ‘M’. I use it all the time.

I think it’s simply having a bigger “desk”. It’s called a desktop for a reason… Would you consider doing desk work at a desk the size of a single manila folder? Of course not — you’d spend way too much time digging through the stack of papers to find the one you want. Same thing with a small “desktop” — how many windows can you have open at once and still see part of each? If you can’t see it, you have to go looking for it.

I generally don’t have full-screen windows because of this. My largest window (typically firefox) takes up at most 4/5ths of the screen. That leaves me a strip of open space in which I keep the edges of other windows I may want to switch to quickly, and it leaves me a little space to keep the icons for other apps I may want to start up.

I don’t think it’s the time spent in each app that makes the difference. The difference is being able to switch back and forth a little — not too much! Multitasking doesn’t work well. But when there *are* interruptions, it’s nice to be able to pop one window to the top, do something in it, and then go right back to what you were doing before.

A 17″ (diagonal measurement) monitor is roughly 13.5″ by 10.4″. That’s 141 sq. inches. A 19″ monitor is 15.2″ by 11.7″, which is 178 square inches. 178 – 141 = 37, 37/141 = 26% bigger!

That’s right, a 19″ monitor is 26% bigger than a 17″ monitor.

By the way, Tim, I think carrying a 24″ monitor around the world will get tiring. 🙂

Tim,

I don’t think it’s just a matter of scrolling/scratching faster. The majority of the population thinks visually. Larger screens allow you to see more and therefore process more at once. So you’re not just scrolling less, you’re thinking faster 🙂

Cheers,

Stef

We can scroll faster than we can read. Generally people spend most of their time copying or referencing data from one document and pasting or interpreting it on another. Rarely does anyone generate totally unique content purely from the mind. The ability to display both documents in their entirety reduces time clicking between the documents and finding the place on the page they where looking at.

Also the lag time between documents increases the likelihood of forgetting what you where looking for. This has much the same effect as being interrupted by email, only more frequent. By having the document you are typing in open, it also acts as a reminder telling you what you are looking for.

Vista basically has the “expose” feature. It’s right near where the “start” button use to be.

It turns out my 22 inch was an investment ^_^

For me, more important than a big monitor is having 2 monitors. I couldn’t work without it anymore.

Many tasks on a computer involves 2 windows, so 2 monitors avoid the constant switching between windows. Think about copy-paste. Think about drag’n drop.

Also, I find very convenient to put the applications I use to work on my main screen, and all the secondary applications (e.g. music player, internet browser, email client) on my other screen. I can focus better on my work.

I want to skip a song? no problem, I still have my work under my eyes. I follow a tutorial? Perfect, I can read it on my browser, and do the actions on my main screen.

Another important thing I have noticed is that many people open too many windows, there is this “fear” of closing a window because you think “hey that is important I will have a look at it later”. At the end, they have dozains of cluttered windows and can’t find what they are looking for. Think GTD. If something can be done within 2 minutes, do it. And never keep your windows open as a reminder for later, close everything that you are not using at least once every 2 hours.

To finish I would say that the worst idea was to create those side widgets in Vista, they are just gadgets that distracts you, and add unnecessary clutter on your screen, so get rid of them if not yet done.

I’d be more likely to stress screen resolution. I believe I work much better at 1280×1024 compared to 1024×768. I would bet that a larger screen itself would make little difference. Of course in many cases larger screens mean larger resolutions but not always..

I used to have 3 monitors hooked up to my Mac Pro (1 Dell 30″ and then two 20″) but found the 30″ to be all I needed. The more screen space you have, the more tempted you are to leave distracting things like email and IM in them.

If your system can support it, get a single 30″ monitor and remove all distracting applications. Multi-tasking is a myth.

-dan

The main advantage of a bigger monitor is the ablity to have multiple documents open at a readable size without overlapping.

I was doing some accounts the other day where I was referencing information from 4 different sources, I must admit my head started to spin from flicking back and forwards between these different apps.

Counterpose this to an old school method where you have the physical documents sitting in front of you i.e bank statement etc, it’s actually a lot easier just to look back and forwards at the different items that need your attention.

Adrian

Another factor not mentioned here, or in Calacainis’ recent post on 17 money saving tips for startups (where he talks about multiple, large monitors) is the concept of having multiple applications open and “at the ready”. Realizing that having your email up and running is not the best, if you have it up, you don’t wait for the browser to open. Same with whatever applications you use regularly. My belief is the added screen real estate (along with plenty of RAM to handle a lot of stuff running simultaneously) allows you to have your multi-tabbed browser window going, word processing, etc. I tend to usually need a graphics program regularly, access to my server to develop code (along with two or three note pad 2 docs open for editing). Other times, I may have Windows Movie Maker open on one monitor and Audacity sound editing up on the other.

So, it’s not just the screen real estate that makes you “save more time”, but again, I believe the fact that you aren’t constantly opening and waiting for applications to start up!

Personally I regret getting rid of my 30″ (2560×1600) Dell. I sold it and went with a 24″ (1920×1200) and am really missing the extra resolution. It does help a lot when working with digital photos, spreadsheets and databases.

I also agree with Tim in regards to expose. I couldn’t live without it.. whenever I’m forced to use a windows machine I always need to install an expose equivalent.

The brain is a spatial processor. That’s why the palace of memory works as a mnemonic device. The more space the brain perceives, the more information it can process. Up to a point (there are diminishing returns) adding more computer screen real estate is similar to adding RAM to a computer.

Big screens are helpful, but dual monitors are even more helpful. It’s helpful to have applications launch in separate screens this way you don’t have to resize them to make them easier to read on the same monitor or have to alt-tab between the two. I didn’t believe it until I saw it in a production environment.

As someone who uses two 22″ monitors, for a long time I’ve suggested to people that the first step toward greater productivity is increasing the resolution on your monitor and/or getting a bigger one and/or getting a second one. It’s great that this idea is spreading more since productivity on the computer isn’t just for geeks.

One thing that’s important to note though–if you do get a bigger monitor, use its native resolution. Don’t make the text/pictures bigger. A lot of people make that mistake and lose the potential productivity gains (and they hurt their eyes)

As a side, Lifehacker discussed this study in depth earlier this week here . One of the points that was brought up was that the study was funded by a monitor manufacturer. Nonetheless, multiple or giant monitors are definitely the way to go (especially based on the points of Allen and Blaine).

From a women’s perspective size matters. But it’s also how you use your monitor. 😉 I am a graphic production artist by trade and my experience says bigger, as well as, two monitors at the same time is better. Two at once baby! All of your menus, overflow & extras that you may need for a project are on the other screen while you stretch out on your main screen. I have to say I have a problem with both screens when it takes an extra second to toggle between programs but c’est la vie.

Are you becoming George Clooney, bachelor with a pig? Kiss piggy for me!

Hugs,

Jen

I think dual (or more) monitors are much more relevant to productivity than monitor size. I would take two smaller monitors over one huge one any day. The ability to have a “reference” and “work” visual area at any moment is invaluable, and while one can argue that a wide, large monitor can easily replicate the function of two smaller ones this is simply not true; it’s a lot easier to move/maximize a window on its own monitor.

That being said–I have a 24″ widescreen monitor at work and every evening when I return home to my measly 19″ standard I feel something is missing. I think it does indeed have to do with being able to visualize more information at once. In my particular case as a programmer I use many software applications that have multiple horizontal areas–3 most of the time, a “menu” area on the left, a large work area in the middle, and a “navigation” area on the right. In this situation a high resolution widescreen makes a huge difference and has an undeniable impact on productivity.

Finally, I think we are mostly visual beings, and the more screen area the better. I would speculate that the relative lack of success of mobile devices (and success of the iPhone?) can be attributed to screen size. I don’t want to read news, stock quotes, watch videos, or do anything else on 2″ screen. I’ll wait until I get home or can pull a laptop out.

Hi Tim.

My first post on your blog. I really liked 4HWW and dig the blog quite a bit. Although I have been known to peruse blogs that have multiple posts per day, I like your format and lower frequency and feel that it helps me scale back on my information overload, as you say.

Regarding multiple monitor, I am a big fan. To me, multiple monitors feel a little like working in a room with a 10 or 12 foot ceiling as opposed to 7 or 8 feet. You don’t necessarily use all the extra space above you but it makes your work environment feel more open.

What I would highly suggest is looking at an Apple Cinema Display. Your mention of Expose leads me to think you may use a Mac and an Apple display is really the only thing that does the sharpness and colours of the user interface justice. And they work with PC’s too, of course.

I have a 20″ Acer since I first balked at Apple’s perceived increased cost when compared to other monitor of the same size. Hell, Apple displays can be twice the price of some models on the market that “seem” to have the same resolution, refresh rate etc, but you just have to use one to see the difference. I just ran a 23″ Apple Display beside my 20″ Acer (same specs as the 22″ Acer you mentioned) for a week and I couldn’t believe the difference in brightness, contrast and sharpness (which means less squinting and work for your eyes).

If you have the chance, check ’em out. I won’t use anything else anymore.

Keep up the good work with the website.

Regards,

Ian Creelman

Tim,

My husband purchased the Acer monitor you mention for himself at his (law) office. He found it made such a difference that we then purchased one for home. The critical factor — and why those few inches over the 18″ make such a difference — is that you can have two complete documents or applications open and navigate back and forth seamlessly, not hunting around for the window or tab you can’t find amidst all of the other clutter open on a computer at once. It seems like a minor issue, but with as much cutting and pasting, linking, researching, citing, etc., that the typical user might do, it does increase efficiency a great deal. And the price of monitors has come down so much that the couple of hundred dollars at issue is well worth it. (Full disclosure: no affiliation with any of these monitor companies.)

I’m a software engineer and usually need 10 or more windows open for all of my tools. Having that many tools readily accessible is not particularly unusual in most industries.

I use 2 x 19″ monitors and that seems to work pretty well. I also have a program called Synergy that allows me to share my keyboard and mouse between my Mac and PC, which sit next to each other.

I also have a laptop, and when I’m on the road there is only one thing that keeps me productive: the new Mac Spaces feature (http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/spaces.html). The trick is to organize your applications into groups based on what you do with them. You can even assign certain applications to ALWAYS open in a certain space. It takes a few days getting comfortable with using your keyboard to switch between spaces, but it’s a huge time saver.

Make sense. Just like it’s much faster to skim a newspaper than to read it on-line.

Size = More Pixels!

22″ (1680×1050) = ~$250 for el cheapo, ~$350 for a nicer one.

24″ (1920×1200) = ~$400-$700

27″ (1920×1200) = ~$1000

30″ (2560×1600) = ~$1200-$2000 * Requires DVI-D video card (aka Dual Link) which adds to cost if you don’t already have it.

the 24″ & 27″ are the same resolution which is no gain in real estate. Bigger is not necessarily better in the 27″, only bigger. 27″ not recommended unless you have bad eyes.

Never run a monitor at a resolution other than it’s true resolution… looks like crap, will be fuzzy pixels.

If you want to be happy with your purchase… answer these 3 things:

1. What do you want? Make sure you get the specs you want. Otherwise you won’t be happy with your purchase.

2. #1 is base on what you can afford. You don’t want what you can’t afford. Get it?

3. Don’t get what you don’t need. For example, in cars, power seats can cost an extra $1000. Is it worth the cost for something you rarely use? Think about it!

Tim,

Based what I know about you and what I’ve read that’s important to you (blog, book). You’re a guy who wants to be satisfied in life. You’re efficient. Economy is important… but only based on satisfaction.

Sly’s Advice:

Get the 24″. You get the most space for the cost. the 22″ is cheaper, BUT, the extra resolution will matter to you. We all know you can afford whichever monitor you want. That’s not an issue. Though the 30″ is cool and you’ll like it. It’s more than you need… especially for the costs. It’s not in sweet-spot for cost vs. performance.

So which brand? Other people have already done the work (reviews, these comments) Trust them with your 80/20 rule. 80%, you’ll experience the same satisfaction as the rest of the reviewers. Which it worth it base on the time you’ll save in research.

Remember there are two kinds of reviewers, Pro and Consumer. 1st, find the editors choice from tech mags (PCMag, PCWorld, CNET). Take their top 24″ picks, then look at user reviews. Base great ratings, and if the price is right, buy it.

Want to save more, buy a refurbished from the manufacture if they have them… it’s been fixed, checked, and still has the warranty. It might not be brand spanking new, but once you take a brand spanking new one out of the box, it ain’t new anymore from that moment on.

Don’t waste time. Get what you want. Get a good deal. Done.

The editors choice from the top 3 mags I listed above for a 24″ is the Dell 24″ UltraSharp 2408WFP (2405 & 2407 are older versions) includes built in USB hub and flash card reader. If color gamut and image quality are important, this is a well spent $700. I own this and love it!

If not, go for their 24″ Dell E248WFP. No USB ports or card reader, and people say the picture isn’t as sharp. But for $379, you can’t beat the size for the price.

Good luck,

– Sly 🙂

If you won’t want to spend $700, for for the other 24″ they have for

I wish I was SuperGeek enough to be able to contribute to this. Alas, I am content with my 20″ iMac running Leopard and Spaces for now.

Tim, I have something I want you to read before anyone else does. I’ll send you an email. Please keep an eye out for it.

Hey just wanted to let you know I’m off to my first mini retirement. Your book has changed my life. I bought it in November. Since then, here’s what happened:

1. Hired two people to work at my studio (I’m a wedding photographer): a studio manager and a wedding album designer. They work together now so I don’t have to be the bottleneck.

2. Hired a worker from India to make an online referral system for me. Now when I have a photo shoot, I just send a link to the referral system and the word gets spread faster than a wildfire. It has generated lots of new business. I can tell you all about it, but for now that would take more time than I have.

3. Filled my Entourage with “signatures”. They are email messages that answer common questions I get, so I spend less time on email. I just hit reply, select the appropriate signature, and send.

4. Started a new online business and declared it my “experiment in lateral thinking”. It payed for itself within 3 weeks of going online.

5. I’m leaving tomorrow for a short escapade to the Swiss Alps. I’m leaving my laptop at home and going solo.

6. I created an account at http://www.couchsurfing.net and found a place in Lucerne. The guy who lives there is a ski instructor. He made last minute plans to ski Zermatt and is no longer going to be in town. So he is leaving the key to his apartment in the mailbox for me. He told me sorry for not being there and told me to make myself at home.

Total cost of the round trip flight and lodging: $565

I have no agenda. I’m going to do whatever I feel like doing each day I am there, but I look forward to every second of it. I’ll be documenting the entire trip with photos. Let me know if you want to see them when I get back.

My future is looking much better since reading your book. Thanks for telling me how to live life to it’s fullest potential, it’s truly the greatest gift any book could ever give.

P.S. I watched your 3 minute slow carb bfast video and have been doing that every morning since. Like this morning for example. Two tupperware containers. In one I put quinoa (leftovers from dinner last night) some tomato paste, a little olive oil. In the other, egg whites. It was actually very good, and the tomato paste (licopene) is awesome for you.

Later!

Hi Tim,

I have a 17″ Macbook Pro Laptop with Expose and keep coming back to it no matter what. I have two PC laptops with a 24″ and 19″ monitor on them and can’t get as much done, as seamlessly, as with my 17″ laptop and expose! Rock on!

🙂

Jason

About a year ago I started using a 24″ Dell (2407WFP) attached to my 13″ MacBook.

Wild horses couldn’t tear me away. I can have so many things open side-by-side. It’s not just about size, it’s about widescreen.

Oh, and the built in USB hub is way handier than I would have thought. And the built-in card reader is the fastest I’ve ever used. This is the only Dell product I’ve ever owned; I’m a diehard Mac fan, but I love it!

2.5 hours! I reckon you’ll find a bigger screen will just encourage multi-tasking. What is ‘massaging’ spreadsheets’ all about? Also I recall a comment you made once about being able to close a laptop to get that literal and mental closure when you’ve finished work which I totally agree with.

For more desktop space on a smaller screen try using a desktop manager like Microsoft;s Virtual Desktop Manager for XP. YOu get multiple desktops to switch between, I find it creates 4x the headspace. Yom’d/Deskspace looks a little nicer and perhaps better for visual based thinkers.

What a popular post!

I have a Mac 24″ cinema display, and one 19″ monitor on each side of it for three monitors. IT ROCKS!!!

The biggest productivity increase is that when I’m doing something in photoshop, I have room to have my photoshop working window showing in full on my main window and I can have my palettes open on the side monitors and I don’t need to keep resizing my window to or using shortcut keys to go to palettes. They’re all there.

When building web sites, I can have my development IDE (Eclipse) open in my 24″ monitor with a terminal on the left and a browser on the right. I can see all three without having to go back and forth using alt tab.

Using this with expose and spaces has increased my productivity well over 2.5 hours a day – but that’s with 3 monitors.

Next time someone asks you how to upgrade their computer to increase productivity, don’t say RAM, say a new bigger monitor!

Tim,

One thing that I’ve found very helpful is having multiple computers, each connected to a monitor and then controlled by a single keyboard/mouse using synergy. For example, you can have a Mac as your main computer, then a PC as the supplemental one off to the side. Synergy lets you fling your mouse back and forth, even copy and paste text between the two computers. This can be invaluable if you have programs that are Mac-only or PC-only, or if you run across annoying websites that require Internet Explorer on the PC.

Great Post!

I have always been an advocate of increased monitor size, but not only monitor size but also monitor quantity as well!

You don’t necessarily need to go out and buy an expensive 24 inch monitor to increase productivity. You can also go out and buy a couple of 17 or 19 inch monitors with a cheap second video card in your desktop computer to get the same productivity increase. If you already have a monitor then buying a cheap second monitor is much more cost effective than spending upwards of $350 for a 24 inch monitor.

It helps with editing documents, or chatting with friends while working. You dont have to constantly minimize documents to move to another task. I believe that Minimizing and maximizing take a lot of time over an 8 hour day. This is not exactly solved just by getting a 24 inch monitor.

I have 3 19 inch monitors at home and a 24 inch monitor at work and prefer 2 or 3 monitors over 1 larger monitor any time.

Dont be scared about opening your desktop to install a second video card, Ask your kids and most laptops have a monitor output for a second monitor for multi tasking.

Ciao!

I LIVE on my Macbook pro with BootCamp and windows. I travel a lot with her (my laptop).

BUT….

When I am at home I hook up a second external monitor to where I can scroll my mouse back and forth between them.

With my second monitor I find that I am a LOT faster on the following types of tasks.

* XL spread sheet work 1.7 times faster.

* HTML coding for my web site ideas 2.4 times faster.

* Research (Opening several web sites and comparing) 2 times faster.

* Creative writing. Only about 50% as fast.

(So if I am writing a LOT I unplug monitor 2.)

(I also find creative writing goes even BETTER in coffee shops.)

* Business structure type planning. (Same speed 1 or 2 monitors)

* Anything with a LOT of cutting and pasting. (many times faster 2 monitors)

I think that multiple monitors is faster then just a larger one because you can then go full screen in each application.

Tom

Purchased a 22″ Benq LCD for AUS$286. Works fantasically and extra space is used while using 3 or 4 windows.

There have been a bunch of studies on how larger screen sizes increase productivity. I’ve linked to a few of them at:

http://www.eekim.com/blog/2007/11/23/workingbigspatialawareness

I use a 42 inch samsung HDTV (I converted into a monitor). Love every second.

I have been using multiple monitors since the days of shared machines and VT100 terminals. I’d have two or three VT100s running the vi editor.

Closing one program to open another is quite time consuming. Microsoft Windows has an airplance seat metaphor, not a desktop metaphor. For many years (going back to pre 1.0) linux had X window managers with a true desktop metaphor. FVWM had a virtual desktop that was 9 times the size of the screen. You could stretch an x terminal across several screen sized panes — good for looking at 256 char wide data dumps. Your monitor was like a window looking at a virtual desktop that was three times the size in each dimension.

With such a virtual desktop, a larger monitor is not that critical. With old fashioned xterms and bitmap fonts 1024×768 is plenty of resolution. You could fit four reasonable sized terminals on one screen.

With Microsoft Windows, even a pair of 21″ monitors is cramped. Windows is a screen hog.

I hear the latest Mac OS has finally implemented a virtual desktop. Haven’t seen it yet.

In a similar vein; I study Mathematics at university and when I’m trying to solve a hard problem prefer to use a blackboard rather than paper. You still have room to write down all your details but when you get stuck you can walk back two meters and see the entire problem dissected before you. Sometimes being able to see and connect all the little hints your work has unearthed so far lets you see how to finally get the solution out.

I’ve been using a 24″ monitor since late 06. it’s great to spread everything out. Edward Tufte has the theory that if we treat monitors the way we treat our actual desks, with our work spread before us we’ll have a more calm and logical workplace. It has less to do with scrolling and more to do with not constantly switching between windows.

I’m rebuilding my machine with the idea that I’m going to work with 2 24″ monitors side by side. This will allow me to have reference materials open on a consistent basis without flipping through windows and having to reorient my eye to a new layout each time I need info.

I would not recommend the Acer. I came form a company that had purchase Acer LCDs for their workstations and they quickly lost thier luminosity and the screens became very cloudy. I switched them over to the syncmaster line from samsung and they have performed much better.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824001261

They are little more expensive than the Acer but well worth it.

Many people buy the Apple Cinema Displays with the impression they will outperform any monitor. I’ve found Apple monitors are great for those who do graphics, photos, and video. If you don’t do these things buy a less expensive monitor, because the average Tim wouldn’t know the difference.

Lee Rodrigues, M.Ed.

Technology Coach, Comic

“The less we know, the longer our explanations.”

Ezra Pound

WOW! This is incredible.

I’m so happy someone suggested I read this blog because in a few months I’ll be upgrading my computer and I was going to buy a 19′ … my … I’ll have to start looking at a larger monitor … because 2.5 hours over one year is 912.5 hours of your life over one year that you will NEVER get back … that’s like loosing 38 days (if my calculations are correct over 12 months) … bottom line … that’s a LOT of time wasted.

Great find!

Miss Gisele B.

use a projector, i do and my screens currently 2metres by 1

I must absolutely agree. BIGGER IS BETTER. I have a huge monitor and everyone is envious at work. They dont believe me when I say that I save time with the larger monitor as I don’t have to scroll and scroll and scroll to see stuff… pow there it is on my biggie monitor.

I love it.

I am not prejudice as I love my small-one when I travel. Its to big to lug the monster monitor when I travel so I bring the laptop and use the little guy and it works well for quick projects that dont take a lot of work.

But my regular monitor is the one that makes me feel the most comfortable.

I have thought about getting a larger screened laptop and would appreciate any suggestions about the best places to find a larger monitored laptop.

Warm Regards

Julie

I invested in a relatively high end Samsung 24″ monitor over a year ago. As someone who travels extensively, I can easily see a 25% decrease in productivity when I shrink down to my Thinkpad’s 15″ widescreen. The single 24″, combined with the extra ‘parking lot space’ of the attached 15″ laptop is an absolute productivity booster!

I use dual 19″ at the office (still 9-5++) and single 24″ at home

15″ laptop or 17″ laptop when I travel

But my must have application is winsplit http://reptils.free.fr/

This allows me to do tileing as well as move screens between computers if I am in dual monitors.

Completely changed the way I work things are much cleaner.

I am thinking of ditching the dual monitor setup as I do not feel it is needed. I pretty much only use it as a reference/reading screen. Less multi-tasking lets me concentrate better on the task on hand, the way I can keep my windows nice and clean with Winsplit also helps me stay focused.

I recently bought a 13-inch MacBook. I also recently became a full-time freelance writer. I found myself feeling a bit cramped by the small screen. I came across this post and instantly started looking for a second monitor on Craigslist. I found a brand new (still in the box) Dell 20″ widescreen for $50 bucks less than retail price. I called the guy immediately and told him I wanted it. He even delivered it for free.

I’m here to say that my productivity level has gone through the roof. I keep all my research/notes on the small screen and move all the writing over to the larger screen. Literally, I went from writing, editing and publishing one page per 1.5 days to about three in the same amount of time.

Great post Tim. Thanks for the info!

As outlined here. I use/recommend 24″ LCD’s, as they have the lowest cost per pixel, and currently have 4 of them running with my laptop+dock. I made it a goal to not scroll or swap windows at all, and even 4 of them isn’t enough.

http://intrio.com/blog/wp-admin/post.php?action=edit&post=8