Multi Monitor Setup Efficiency

I always look around my office and ask what would be the most efficient setup. Once I sit in front of a computer and concentrate, the surrounding doesn’t really matter. What does matter is how the monitors are setup. There were times when I was satisfied with 15 inch CRT Monitors. Those days are long gone.

I started using multi-monitor setup since my college years. I had three 19 inch lcd monitor side by side. At that time, even 19inch LCD cost around $500. It was well worth it’s price. At that time, multiple(more than 2) monitor setup was widely used in Flight Simulations and Stock Brokers. I was neither but it definitely raised my efficiency.

Single 24inch setup

As LCD price dropped and bigger screen came out, I changed to a single 24inch monitor setup. Around the same time, all the laptops ditched regular screen ratio and started going wide screen. People were noticing the benefit of the extra space on the sides. Although 24inch gave me more than enough space to do all my work/gameing, I wanted more.

Dual 24inch setup

At this time Dual 24inch monitors were supporting 3 Mac and a PC. This wasn’t truly dual monitor setup since they were hooked up to different machines. I used Synergy to move my mouse and keyboard from one computer to the other but I was never satisfied with it’s performance. Considering the distance from my eyes to the monitors, dual 24inch monitors were perfect.

Triple Monitor setup

I had dual 24inch monitor + 20inch on a side. Having a rotated 90 degrees made reading PDF and coding efficient. I used this setup for 4 months, but I realized I never used the left most screen. 24inch widescreen is wide enough, it wasn’t just my eyes moving, I had to physically move my neck around to see the screen.

5 Monitor setup

Yesterday, I decided to change my office around. Hmmm…. what if I take all my monitors and surround myself inside? That is exactly what I did. I am sure there are people out there thinking this would be their dream setup, but for me this is very inefficient. This setup won’t just make your neck move, you will have to move your chair. If you are a gamer or a stock broker, you might love the setup. This is definitely an over kill for me and probably same for most people.

Dual 24inch setup(current)

This is that I what I consider the most efficient setup for my workstation. Simple Dual 24inch monitor setup. I don’t have to move my neck nor move the chairs. I rarely use the PC on the left so I don’t have to move when I am working on my Mac.

Couple pointer when making a multi monitor setup

• Try to use same model (looks nicer and less distraction)
• Do you need more pixels or bigger screen? (not always the same)
• Can one bigger monitor replace multiple?
• Calibrate the colors on all the monitors
• Where do you want your center to be?(between the monitors or on the Primary monitor and secondary on your left/right)
• Try to look down on the monitor rather than up.
• No more than two wide screen monitors side by side

I tried setting up monitors on top of the others, but unless I have a chair and a desk that can support the comfortable viewing angles with less strains on my neck, I would pass.

Tagged as: dual monitor, multi monitor, work station