Do Big Screens Make Employees More Productive?

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.

Answer is

[MECC]

"Do Big Screens Make Employees More Productive?"

yes.

Moving files?

[maxwell demon]

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.

I don't really care...

[Ibanez]

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

*copies link, sends to boss.*

Idiotic example

[Vengeance]

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.

Re:Wanna make employees more productive?

[maxwell demon]

This way productivity will go down, because it adds the time needed to circumvent the ban to the time used to browse Slashdot!

Monitor Size

[tds67]

I spit on this male-sponsored study. Size doesn't matter...it's what you do with it that counts.

A 30'' monitor at work

[Rik Sweeney]

would make sneakily watching porn a lot more worthwhile.

Re:Moving files?

[JonathanR]

Yes, but if you can touch type, you can move your files and read s;asjdpt at tje sa,e to,e...

29.3 Seconds?

[shoolz]

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...

[lixee]

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

Re:Answer is

[dp_wiz]

Please write text with a larger font. It is very difficult to locate it on this 45" panel...

Re:Depending on what you're doing, yes...

[gEvil (beta)]

I thought it was a fancy way of saying he makes carts...

Re:Refer to Amdahl's Law

[The-Bus]

50% and 1%? So you're saying there's a 51% speedup! Excellent! I'll forward your request right down to purchasing and you'll have two monitors on your desk on Monday. I hope to see 102% improvement!

Signed,

Rich
(your manager)

I'd like to debunk this 2 screen thing now

[baggins2001]

I have spent four-five hours trying to get 2 screens hooked up to my linux system. So far no luck. So I figure I'll spend at least 2 more hours.
I have the 2 screens but so far I haven't been any more productive.
The screen with "Check Signal Cable" bouncing around, isn't really doing me any good right now.

Re:Depending on what you're doing, yes...

[0110011001110101]

I thought he took pictures of cars... *damn*, right when my dream job was at my fingertips.. stupid maps!

Re:Depending on what you're doing, yes...

[clickclickdrone]

You should worry, I thought race relations meant you worked for Formula 1, hanging out with the blonde chicks, top drivers, parking the F1 cars after the race, that sort of thing.

Re:Answer is

[orangeyoda]

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 .

Re:Depending on what you're doing, yes...

[evilduckie]

I'm a cartographer myself too and somebody did once tell me she thought I took photos of cars for a living... Doesn't sound like a bad job though, maybe I did make the wrong choice... ;)

Re:Answer is

[hcob$]

Maybe 30" is really TOO big

Please turn in both your "Geek" and "Man"(if you actually have them) Credentials at the door!

The Deeper Issue

[august sun]

Is anyone else appreciating the rich irony of forwarding a story to your boss about how to marginally improve worker productivity which we all read on /. during business hours*? Because I'm loving it and I'm sure my boss would get a kick out of it as well. Right before he added /. to the verbotten list.

*at least here in the US

Oblig Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead

[BMonger]

Rosencrantz: I don't believe in it anyway.
Guildenstern: What?
Rosencrantz: England.
Guildenstern: Just a conspiracy of cartographers, then?

SHUT UP!

[wonkavader]

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.

Re:Quite a bit more...

[JesterXXV]

so I threw up a linux box

You had to swallow it to smuggle it in, didn't you?

Re:Answer is

[Sax Maniac]

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.