Dual monitors offer an excellent way to boost productivity and achieve more in less time. They provide an additional screen space that allows you to multitask more efficiently and reduce the mental effort of constantly switching between tabs. Dual monitors are a powerful tool that benefits both office and remote workers by offering an expanded workspace that streamlines your workflow, enhances multitasking, reduces distractions and cognitive load, and provides on-the-go flexibility.
If you’re tired of constantly switching between tabs on your cramped laptop screen, a dual monitor can be of great help. With more screen space, you can spread out your work and reduce the time wasted searching for windows, thus improving your workflow efficiency. This is especially useful when you need to juggle multiple documents, code, designs, and more, as it minimizes disruptive transitions.
Dual monitors also make it easier for your brain by reducing the cognitive load of constantly recalling information from hidden windows. This setup allows you to process information side-by-side, reducing errors and keeping you sharper for longer, enabling you to take your productivity to the next level.
At the end of this article, you’ll find a list of recommended monitors for 2024. I’ve curated this list from Amazon, focusing on excellent value.
Who Benefits Most from Dual Monitor Setup?
Software Developers
Challenge: Juggling code, documentation, testing outputs, and debugging.
Software development is a complex process that involves writing and managing code, referring to documentation, running tests, and identifying errors. However, developers often face challenges due to limited screen space that can cause chaos and inefficiency in their work.
How Dual Monitors Help
- Expanded Code View: Having two monitors provides an expanded code view that eliminates excessive scrolling within code files. This helps developers to quickly grasp the overall structure of the code, navigate dependencies, and easily spot potential errors.
- Dedicated Documentation Screen: A second monitor dedicated to documentation, API references, or online tutorials streamlines the process. No more switching between windows or losing your place in the code while searching for information.
- Real-Time Testing & Debugging: Having automated tests and live debugging output visible alongside your code editor on a separate monitor significantly speeds up the identify-fix-retest cycle. This makes it easier to spot issues instantly without the disruptive context switching of checking a separate window.
Productivity Boost:
These benefits can lead to a significant boost in productivity for developers:
- Faster Debugging: With better code visibility and real-time test output, developers can identify and resolve bugs more quickly.
- Streamlined Workflow: The constant context switching is massively reduced, allowing developers to focus on coding rather than finding the right window.
- Improved Code Quality: The ability to see more of the codebase at once, with easy access to documentation, leads to better decision-making and fewer oversights in the code itself.
Designers (Graphic, UI/UX)
Challenge: Iterating on Designs with Constant Cross-Referencing.
Designers often face the challenge of iterating on designs while constantly cross-referencing various elements. The design process is rarely a straightforward one. It involves a constant referencing of inspiration, feedback from clients, brand guidelines, and often, comparing multiple design iterations. Toggling between programs and windows on a single screen creates workflow bottlenecks and hampers creative flow, making it difficult for designers to work efficiently.
How Dual Monitors Help
- Design Canvas + References: Having a dedicated screen for your active design software (Photoshop, Illustrator, Figma, etc.) can maximize your workspace. Secondly, the second monitor can be utilized for displaying inspiration boards, style guides, or source images, keeping them visible throughout your work.
- Side-by-Side Comparisons: Designing multiple iterations or variations simultaneously becomes much easier with a dual monitor setup. You can easily compare different layouts, color schemes, or UI elements side-by-side for faster and more informed decision-making.
- UI/UX: Real-Time Prototyping Feedback: Having a live prototype or website preview on one screen while wireframing or making adjustments on the other can help streamline testing and iteration. This allows for instant assessment of how changes translate to user experience.
Productivity Boost:
Graphic and UX/UI designers can greatly benefit from the following:
- Streamlined Process: The reduction in context switching enables designers to stay in the ‘flow state’, allowing them to work uninterrupted for longer periods, which in turn boosts their creative output.
- Improved Visual Accuracy: With the ability to view designs alongside references, designers can rely less on their memory, leading to fewer errors and better adherence to design guidelines.
- Enhanced Client Communication: Dual monitors make it easier for designers to showcase iterations, walk clients through design choices, and incorporate feedback live during presentations.
Editors (Video, Text)
Challenge: Managing Footage/Text Alongside Tools and Notes
Editors, whether working with video or text, often have to deal with a lot of material, tools, and notes all at once. Managing all of these elements on a single screen can be overwhelming and can slow down the editing process.
How Dual Monitors Help
- Video Editor: For video editors, dedicating one screen to the timeline view can help them see more of their project and navigate it more quickly, while the second monitor can house the effect controls, color grading tools, or preview windows.
- Text Editor: For text editors, having a dedicated reference screen for research, outlines, style guides, or tracked changes can save them endless tab-switching and mental effort.
- Real-Time Feedback: Editors often work collaboratively. Having notes, comments, or a live chat window open on the secondary monitor allows them to incorporate edits and feedback instantly without obscuring their primary work.
Productivity Boost:
Productivity can be improved through faster editing, fewer errors, and enhanced storytelling/accuracy. These benefits can lead to significant improvements in an editor’s work.
- Faster Editing: There is less time wasted navigating multiple windows or searching for tools in cluttered interfaces, enabling quicker project completion.
- Fewer Errors: Fewer errors occur when workspace visibility is increased, and side-by-side references are available, thus improving accuracy in text editing (e.g. detecting typos or inconsistencies) and video editing (e.g. identifying subtle jump cuts or color grading issues).
- Enhanced Storytelling/Accuracy: The editor can maintain a broader view of their project while fine-tuning the details, whether polishing a manuscript or editing a documentary, through the use of dual monitors. This leads to a more polished and cohesive final product.
Business Professionals, Students, and More
Dual monitors can provide significant productivity gains not only to software developers, designers, and editors but also to other professionals.
- Business professionals who need to multitask and pay attention to detail can use dual monitors to display presentations with speaker notes, reference spreadsheets alongside reports, or manage client calls while referencing relevant documents.
- Students can use dual monitors to keep their primary writing workspace uncluttered on one screen and utilize the other for research sources, outlines, or note-taking apps, reducing distractions and improving organization.
- Financial analysts can compare datasets across multiple workbooks or track real-time market data alongside their analysis tools.
- Content creators can benefit from expanded workspaces and streamlined reference management while writing scripts, managing social media, or editing audio/visual assets.
The key takeaway is that anyone who needs to juggle multiple information sources, cross-reference documents, or switch between programs frequently is likely to see a productivity boost from a portable dual monitor.
The Science Behind the Benefits
The productivity gains offered by dual monitors aren’t simply anecdotal. They’re rooted in well-established cognitive science research. Here’s a breakdown:
- Cognitive Load Theory: Our working memory – the part of our brain that holds information for immediate tasks – is limited. When we try to juggle too much mentally, it leads to strain and decreased performance. Dual monitors reduce this cognitive load by externalizing some of that workspace, freeing up mental resources for the task at hand (Sweller, 1988).
- Attention Studies: Constant distractions and task-switching fragment our focus. Dual monitors help us stay on track by providing dedicated space for relevant secondary information. This reduces the need to constantly switch windows and refocus (Czerwinski et al., 2003).
- Increased Visual-Spatial Processing: Our brains are remarkably adept at processing visual information. Dual monitors leverage this strength by letting us compare and manipulate data visually side-by-side. This is particularly impactful in fields like design and data analysis:
- Design: Being able to view iterations, references, and the design itself simultaneously lets designers make visual comparisons and adjustments more quickly and intuitively.
- Complex Data Analysis: Spreadsheets, charts, and visualizations become easier to understand and correlate when viewed side-by-side, allowing for faster pattern identification and insight generation.
SOURCES:
Sweller, J. (1988). Cognitive load during problem-solving: Effects on learning. Cognitive Science, 12(2), 257-285.
Czerwinski, M., Cutrell, E., & Horvitz, E. (2003, April). Instant productivity with dual-monitor display systems. In CHI’03 Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 832-833).
Note: This research paper was presented at a computer-human interaction conference.Final Thought
A dual monitor setup can greatly enhance your productivity. This technology offers a powerful solution for developers, designers, editors, and business professionals who handle complex tasks. With two monitors, you can streamline your workspace and process information more efficiently.
Dual monitors provide a range of benefits that can transform the way you work. They expand your digital canvas, allowing you to visualize more of your project at once. This leads to faster insights and better decision-making. Enable you to compare and analyze data side-by-side, which minimizes the mental fatigue that comes with constant task switching.
The best part is that this productivity upgrade is not limited to your desk. Portable dual monitors offer the same benefits and allow you to work smarter wherever you go. For instance, you can check out this one:
Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases through my links in this content.
Lepow Portable Dual Monitor 14″
Lepow Laptop Screen Extender, 14″ Portable Dual Monitor with 1200p FHD, 360° Foldable Design, Compatible with Windows & macOS, Triple Portable Monitor for Laptop
Alternatively, you can select your monitor from the five recommended monitors that I have curated from Amazon.
Best Monitors to have in 2024
Here’s my selection, with a focus on value:
