More Monitors = More Productive. We Could Have Told You That...

So, Gizmodo picked up this story from the New York Times about a study proving that multi-monitor configurations make users more productive. Really? Is that new news? We could have told you that.

The article cites a study (funded by monitor maker NEC) that says having multiple monitors can save you 10 seconds of toggling between windows, for each five minutes of work. Sum total in a day, this works out to saving 15 minutes - enough for a coffee break. Yay! Too bad they missed the larger point...

Problem is, the people conducting the study miss the real benefit of having multiple displays. It comes in easier workflows, quicker workflows, more accurate work, and quicker problem solving. A simple example is pulling text from a Word document or Excel file into a PowerPoint presentation. If I only have one screen, I will be flipping back and forth between my applications repeatedly to ensure I pulled the right number and put it in the right place. Or, I will be doing the same to check which pieces of prose I've pulled from the Word document, and which I still need to use.

Having two screens lets me view the Excel sheet and the PowerPoint at the same time. It lets me view my source material (Word or Excel) and the finished product (PowerPoint) at the same time, proofing and checking as I go. I don't have to waste time doing the same work over and over to produce one presentation.

Same goes for 3-D modeling or engineering work. You can edit your model (in something like SoftWorks or Maya) and instantly see the results on the second screen in real-time. No need to open another window in the program And what about a web designer that has Photoshop open in one place, an FTP program in another, coding app in yet another, and then their browser for preview. When building a website or application, you are juggling many tasks and pieces at one time. You are far more productive, and can produce a far better product in far less time if you can see all the balls you have in the air at once.

Multi-monitor setups like AMD Eyefinity or NVIDIA Surround aren't about saving 15 minutes each day - they are about enabling modern workflows for cutting-edge jobs...