I’ve seen mention of a couple studies that show that dual monitors increase productivity [20-30% increase; 44% increase]. Note: how much would your productivity need to increase to go justify going “dual”?
As the title implies, I’m currently of the school that believes that dual monitors are a bad idea, even though I use them (I have three earlier posts on dual monitors).
Why my change of heart? I did the math.
I have dual 19″ wide monitors. If I was to rotate them to a portrait orientation, whip out the Pythagoreans theorum…the combined diagonal is 25.6 inches (on my particular screens).
Hmm…
The cost to go dual 19″ (if you already have a 19″) = cost of second 19″ monitor + cost of dual head video card + labor/time to install and configure.
Compare that to the cost to buy the cheapest 25″ monitor Amazon sells: $229.
Do the math… As the price of monitors drops, dual monitors don’t make as much sense as HUGE monitors.
If you really wanted to do it right, you could go with a 30″ monitor (but the price skyrockets):
- $1800 -Apple Cinema 30-inch HD Flat-Panel Display
- $1700 – Dell UltraSharp 3008WFP 30-inch Widescreen Flat Panel Monitor with Height Adjustable Stand
By the way…I know a couple people that own 30″ monitors (one the Dell, one the Apple), and they both go on and on and on about them. Perhaps someday I’ll join their ranks. 
Related posts:
I’m a dual monitor (20” screens) user – and actually wish I had three! Then I could devote one to Outlook and use the other two for other work.
I prefer multiple monitors instead of a single large one because (1) of cost and (2) it’s more difficult to arrange multiple open programs in the latter.
BTW, the people I know that typically rave about a large monitor do graphic design-related work.
You compared square inches, not number of pixels even though it’s the number of pixels that controls how much data you can display. If the native resolution of the 30″ monitor is no greater than a 19″ monitor, you’re not going to display any more information; it’s just going to be bigger.
Two monitors are very dumb if you don’t have a use for them. The productivity you want to increase has to be able to benefit from a dual-monitor setup.
I don’t understand the post or the reasoning behind it. Ask a graphics professional, a programmer, researcher, engineer…many would find it ridiculous not to have two. A large image or mechanical drawing unobscured by tool palettes, communications tools visible and not hidden, seeing two detailed screens at once, etc.
What were you trying to accomplish with two monitors?
As 2:31 pointed out your logic is flawed if you go with the 25″ monitor. You’ll lose 640 pixels. You’ll be ok if you go with the Apple Cinema 30″. It will cost you an arm and a leg though. Stick with two monitors. Rob has probably never used two monitors…
If you have two monitors that’s still a lot more resolution than a large monitor. Large monitors are great for videos, but multiple monitors are better for productivity. I just don’t agree. I use six monitors on my PC and I have grown a multi-million dollar business virtually all by myself!
I have a dual monitor setup, and just this last week stopped turning on my second monitor after realizing I hadn’t used it for weeks. The thing is, I use desktop switching software (aka virtual desktops) (native in Ubuntu Linux, where I spend much of my time, and also available on OS X and XP where I spend the rest of my time). Once you get into multiple desktops, multiple monitors is a redundancy.
mlsamuelson
I have seen a few people that use virtual desktops claim that multiple monitors are not necessary, but it all depends on how you intend on using the 2nd monitor.
I am a great example of who Rob was talking about in his post.
As an electrical engineer, I spend a lot of time drawing schematics. This is what my working environment looks like with a single monitor.
http://www.ednc.com/product/image/dxdesigner.JPG
On my dual monitor setup all of the extra windows are moved to my 2nd monitor where they are always in view but don’t take away from my main working area. How would virtual desktops benefit me here?
Dual monitors are also great for web development. I can have Firefox and Firebug open on one monitor and my HTML editor open in another. I am constantly copying things from one to the other, making changes in the editor and reloading the browser page to see the results. Having to tab back and forth instead of just glancing at the other screen gets very tiring.