Do Big Screens Make Employees More Productive?

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Do Big Screens Make Employees More Productive?

Posted by ryuzaki0 on Thursday October 12, 2006 @12:54AM from the or-at-least-gets-them-to-mmorgs-faster dept.

prostoalex writes "If your company uses 17" or 19" monitors, 30" monitors will make the employees more productive, Apple-sponsored research says. MacWorld reports: "Pfeiffer's testing showed time savings of 13.63 seconds when moving files between folders using the larger screen — 15.7 seconds compared to 29.3 seconds on the 17-in. monitor — for a productivity gain of 46.45 percent. The testing showed a 65.09 percent productivity gain when dragging and dropping between images — a task that took 6.4 seconds on the larger monitor compared to 18.3 seconds using the smaller screen. And cutting and pasting cells from Excel spreadsheets resulted in a 51.31 percent productivity gain — a task that took 20.7 seconds on the larger monitor versus 42.6 seconds on the smaller screen."" Calling such task-specific speed jolts "productivity gains" seems optimistic unless some measure of overall producivity backs up that claim, but don't mention that on the purchase order request.

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Answer is by MECC · 2006-10-12 00:55 · Score: 5, Funny

"Do Big Screens Make Employees More Productive?"

yes.

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"We are all geniuses when we dream"
- E.M. Cioran
1. Re:Answer is by orangeyoda · 2006-10-12 01:54 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  Two moniters is much better than a bigger screen, I currently have four on my work machine, and two at home. My friend projects his home machine through a homecimema setup onto his livingroom wall, it's about 6ft x 4ft , any performance gain is lost on neck pain after trying to find My Computer somewhere near the air vent .
2. Re:Answer is by CastrTroy · 2006-10-12 02:04 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  It only helps to have 2 monitors rather than 1 large monitor because the window managers handle 2 monitors much better than 1 large monitor. The maximize feature becomes useless if you're using a 30 inch monitor. Maybe we need new window managers to take advantage of the larger screens. I think the fact that they used Macintosh machines definitely changes the results, because the maximize button doesn't really maximize. WHich makes a lot of sense if you have a 23 inch apple cinema display, but doesn't make much sense if you use a 17 4:3 resolution monitor.
  
  --
  
  Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
3. Re:Answer is by twistedsymphony · 2006-10-12 02:47 · Score: 5, Insightful
  I think it really depends on the task you doing. For instance:
  
  Dual Monitors:
  
  Programing/Coding
  
  some forms of 2D Graphics
  
  Stock trading
  
  database development/management
  
  some forms of word processing
  
  General Multi Tasking
  
  Basically any scenario where you're doing a lot of side by side comparisons, moving data from one place to another or Channing something on one end and watching the results somewhere else. Multi monitors helps keep you from constantly switching between things.
  
  One Large Monitor
  
  3D Graphics
  
  Gaming
  
  Media (movies/slide shows etc.)
  
  Some forms of word processing
  
  some forms of 2D Graphics
  
  CAD solidmodeling/drawing
  
  Basically any scenario where you need to do a lot of comparisons of the same object on both a large scale and a small scale, or just getting a large view of something that fills your vision. Any scenario where you're constantly zooming in and zooming out will benefit from a single large monitor by allowing you to leave it mostly zoomed in and using your eyes to move around or change focus to the whole picture instead of your mouse. Games and media benefit from this due to giving you a good immersive feel by filling your vision.
  
  There are other scenarios, and hybrid scenarios: like the gamer who keeps an IM client and stock ticker open or the person who likes to play a movie in the background while they do other work. But the type of display that works "best" changes depending on what you're using it for. Perhaps the best universal scenario would be a 30" main display with a 19" secondary.
  
  I would definitely agree that there's a point of being too big, but I don't think you could associate an actual size with it. 30" might be too big if you're only sitting 20" from it Similarly I've got a projector in my basement that's got a 114" image but I can comfortably use that from my couch 180" away. So size is relative to how far away you're set from the screen.
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4. Re:Answer is by Sax+Maniac · 2006-10-12 04:09 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  It depends what you are doing. I |###|do a lot of music editing, and going to a 24" Dell has been a go|###|dsend. Maximizing a score means I can see more staves/measures at|###| once, and spend less time scrolling. If had 2 19" monitors, there woul|###|d be an unpleasant bar right down the middle of my score, and invar|###|iably that would bisect a measure which makes things a lot harder t|###|o read.
  
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Moving files? by maxwell+demon · 2006-10-12 00:58 · Score: 5, Funny

The time I need to type mv file /some/new/destination/ may depend on the size of the keyboard, but surely not on the size of the screen.

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The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
1. Re:Moving files? by JonathanR · 2006-10-12 01:09 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  Yes, but if you can touch type, you can move your files and read s;asjdpt at tje sa,e to,e...
I don't really care... by Ibanez · 2006-10-12 00:58 · Score: 5, Funny

...what you all think regarding whether it's truly a jump in productivity or not.

*copies link, sends to boss.*
Idiotic example by Vengeance · 2006-10-12 00:58 · Score: 5, Funny

Sure, I'll agree that big screens can make one more productive. In fact I'd rather have two big monitors than one attached to my machine. More real estate is a good thing.

But the given example, of dragging and dropping files, has got to be the stupidest thing I've read today, and I'm already at work.

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It was a joke! When you give me that look it was a joke.
Refer to Amdahl's Law by DrDitto · 2006-10-12 00:59 · Score: 5, Interesting

Apple should refer to Amdahl's Law to see that a 50% speedup of something that only accounts for 1% of your overall time really ain't that big of a deal!
Depending on what you're doing, yes... by evilduckie · 2006-10-12 01:00 · Score: 5, Insightful

One of my clients, involved in cartography (making maps), showed me his brand new 30" screen and said he had upgraded from 20" because on one single project, he was losing about 25% of his time scrolling around. So I'd have to say it not only made him more productive, but it also eventually paid for itself.
29.3 Seconds? by shoolz · 2006-10-12 01:10 · Score: 5, Funny

Anybody that takes 29.3 to do a file-copy operation needs treatment for their Parkinson's disease, NOT a bigger monitor.
Re:Suprisingly enough... by lixee · 2006-10-12 01:20 · Score: 5, Funny

In other news, a study sponsored by Phillip-Morris says smoking makes you look cooler, thus attracting the opposite sex.

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Res publica non dominetur
SHUT UP! by wonkavader · 2006-10-12 02:34 · Score: 5, Funny

SHUT UP! Everybody just SHUT UP! This is NOT the time to examine or question these results! This is the time to show your boss this scientific, scholarly article and get him to decide to give you a great honking big expensive Apple screen!

Now Sshhh! Sshhh! Quiet.

Print. Walk to office, walk through door, show boss article, exit through door, walk back to desk, sit down, go back to reading slashdot.