This past fall I used two monitors for about two months. At first, I thought it was awesome and would help me organize my screen and my day. After a week or two, however, I felt myself using the second monitor just for the sake of using it. At the end of the day, I decided that using one monitor is easier, and makes me more productive.
At first, I used the second monitor just for email, so I could work on the other screen. Bad idea. Having email open all the time is the ultimate attention diverter. At time I felt like I was watching paint dry, just waiting for another email to come in. Big waste of time.
Then I switched to using the second monitor as my “always” calendar. That was nice and convenient, but again, a big attention waster and a waste of a monitor.
Using the two monitors to view two documents was not all that helpful either. One, the monitors were different sizes, different resolutions, and had different contrasts. I found myself comparing the two monitors constantly, rather than actually getting work done.
I have been using one boring monitor for two months now, and I love it. Two monitors may impress people, but when it comes to actually using them, it is not worth the trouble or the cost.
(photo: Scott Kuperus)
Randall Ryder practices consumer rights law in Minnesota and is a publisher of Elder Parent Help. Follow him @randallryder.
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The New York Times did a fairly-in-depth review a few years ago of the productivity enhancement of adding a second monitor.
My sense is that a second monitor may or may not add to your productivity depending on your personal preferences and your particular computer work-flow.
I think the NYT study found that a 24″ monitor is slightly better than dual monitors. The key is being able to have two documents open at the same time, side-by-side. That does not require two monitors, just a big one.
I prefer one big monitor, since I just end up watching Hulu on the second monitor when I have two.
I miss two monitors. My main computer is down and I have just one monitor right now. I know I am not getting as much work done.
I use one monitor to hold my content like photos and articles and the other to design websites or books. Drag and drop is so much faster!
It all depends on how you use the monitors and what you do.
I’ve found that the only GOOD use for dual monitors, was to display specific windows to others – such as Red Light camera videos in the courtroom. Otherwise, as you said, they are a distraction and often cause confusion.
Also, whenever I need to connect to a client that has two monitors, I ask that they disable the second monitor because the view is either distorted or very small.
I respectfully disagree. I just began using 2 monitors and find it has made things much easier for me. For example, I can research on one screen and write a document based on the research on the other without having to switch back and forth. In the end, it depends on HOW you use the 2 monitors. If you simply use the 2nd one to play games or watch video, you don’t need it. However, there are many ways to use a 2nd monitor to increase productivity.
I use two monitors and I find it very helpful. I use one external monitor to read documents and my laptop’s monitor to draft documents. If find that I can work faster if I can look at case law on one monitor while drafting a motion or memorandum on the other. I don’t have to print the documents that I’m reviewing or switch between different windows on my laptpop. It saves me time and paper. I suppose it depends on what you keep open on the monitors. E-mail would definitely distract me.
How you use it is key. I use a 24″ monitor at home with WinSplit, which allows me to have 2 to 4 windows open on the monitor just using the numpad. But at work, I’ve switched all of my editors to dual monitors because we write and edit so much we needed our CALR programs open on one screen, and our XML editor open on the other. We’ve definitely seen an increase in productivity and accuracy over the last few years, but would encourage anyone considering a switch to closely examine their workflow first.
For me, having two monitors increases productivity immensely — and their utility increases even more if you turn them both from landscape mode to portrait mode. That way, you can see 8.5 x 11 sheets of paper in their normal, non-shrunken glory. Add a second monitor, and you can easily compare two documents — with each document maximized to its own monitor. As Sam mentions, you *can* view two docs with one large monitor, but then you have to deal with manually resizing each document to fit. With two monitors, one can simply maximize each window to its respective monitor with a double-click.
Dual monitors are also very helpful for:
- Research (Westlaw/lexis/Findlaw open in one, and the brief in the other)
- Document Review (coding form in one, document being reviewed in the other)
- Calendaring (as Russel mentions)
Regarding Randall’s comment about two different-sized, different-resolution monitors: I wholeheartedly agree. Dual monitors work best if both monitors are of the same size/dimensions/resolution. That way, you can easily drag and drop docs from one to the other (without concerns about screen position). Also, you don’t have to make a choice whether to “demote” a document to the smaller/dimmer screen (with its decreased utility).
With 22″ monitors running at about $140 each, a $280 investment will give you two large, portrait-mode monitors that will make you never go back to a single monitor. You may even want to add a third. You know, for Hulu.
I would have to agree with Jeanette’s last comment: it depends on your usage. The big advantage, I would think (Sam!) would be in a paperless office. My accountant has a dual monitor setup, and uses one monitor for his documents and the other for his tax software and other apps. One monitor is your “paper”; the other is your actual workstation. With larger screens the same setup might be possible without two monitors, but that is just a matter of how you implement the same concept.
I agree with all of this. The only time I have found two monitors helpful is in e-document review. I can keep the doc list on one monitor and the document itself on another and don’t have to switch between the two.
I completely disagree with this post. I agree with Steven. I use the second monitor to view pdf files/discovery, caselaw, prior versions of documents I am working on, statutes, etc… while I use the other as my word processing window. It has been very helpful in avoiding having to print so many things and it would take a lot to make me go back.
I couldn’t disagree with you more. I have one monitor vertical, one horizontal. When editing legal documents, it’s great to have a wide screen flipped vertical. When not editing documents, it use it for calendering and other misc tasks, while my main is used to manage email.
I’m considering a third. Never can get enough screen real estate, but I am a bit of a multitasker.
I’ve been using 2 monitors for the past 2 years and I will never go back to one. In fact, I’m trying to figure out how to fit a third on my desk. When I’m working on a brief or memo and I have a dozen documents open at one time, it’s nice to be able to move them around and have them side by side rather than on top of one another.
I completely agree with Eric Cooperstein. Dual monitors are invaluable when you’re having to refer to one document when working on another document. I try to work paperlessly. So instead of printing out office actions or opposing briefs, I open them in a window. Then I can use another window to write my response. There are many other situations similar to that (e.g., having Westlaw in one window and Word in another or having an agreement redline in one window while working on the agreement in another.)
Yes, you can do the same with a big monitor, but in many cases, two smaller monitors are cheaper than one big monitor.
The complaint, “One, the monitors were different sizes, different resolutions, and had different contrasts” is solved by using two monitors that are the same size. But even if you they aren’t the same size, I don’t understand why that would change anything. Until this past month, my dual monitor setups had always used different size monitors (a laptop monitor and an external monitor).
As others have said, it’s all about workstyles. I keep my practice management software up on the left monitor, with Outlook behind it, and whatever else I’m working on in the right window, usually Word.
I also use dual monitors for document comparison, as Tom and Eric do.
I would never go back to one monitor, not even a widescreen (which I tried first).
One nice thing about Windows 7 is the Aero Snap feature make it really easy to set your screen up for side-by-side editing. I’ve used one monitor for pretty much my entire life, and career. But that’s mostly been for financial reasons. How helpful the second monitor is depends entirely on the nature of the work, the workflow of the person doing the work, and their personal preferences.
Two monitors are great if you need to have references. If you do lots of programming, then two monitors are invaluable as you need to refer to API’s, code samples, while you have your main monitor. No need to alt-tab to different documents and then your main program is blocked at the time.
I’ll pile on and say that 2 monitors is indispensable in a paperless office . . . well, at least in my paperless office. I review medical records in PDF files as a part of my practice and I tend to heavily bookmark these PDF files. Having one monitor rotated to portrait mode (so no need to scroll to see the whole doc in native resolution) is great. You can drag the bookmark tab away from Adobe Acrobat (Professionsal version) and have the bookmarks open in a separate window on a separate monitor. When writing briefs, having a case on one monitor and the brief in the word processor is also a boon to productivity.
As for e-mail, twitter, etc., that’s just a matter of discipline, whether you have 1, 2 or 3 monitors. You have to block out time for concentrated work and stay away from the sirens. When wordprocessing, I love the full screen feature in Pages (I use a Mac) that blacks out the rest of the screen so you focus on the writing. Many wordprocessing programs now have this feature. It’s a great aid to concentration.
I have two and love it. Am planning to go to /3/ monitors someday.
One main monitor, 24″ in landscape mode. One ‘document’ monitor, 17″ in portrait mode. The 17″ in portrait mode is spectacular for displaying whole document pages.
If cost were no object, I’d get the hugest biggest monitor Apple makes and I could do both on one screen, but I don’t have any problems with this setup.
Having your practice management software (or calendar, or Outlook, etc.) open on your second monitor seems like a bad use of dual monitors, and a recipe for distraction. I do think two monitors are better than one small one, but not better than one big one.
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