“Providing employees with 30-in. computer monitors can boost worker productivity at companies where 17- or 19-in. monitors are typically used, according to a French consultant hired for a study sponsored by Apple Computer Inc.,” Todd Weiss reports for Computerworld.
Weiss reports, “The study, which evaluated Apple’s 30-in. Apple Cinema Display, concluded that large screens can offer gains of up to 50% to 65% in productivity on a variety of specific office tasks and can earn back their extra costs in time savings over several years. The 30-in. display costs $1,999.”
Weiss reports, “But other experts say those conclusions are wrong, arguing that the productivity improvement estimates are too high and that using two monitors side by side would likely be a better productivity booster than one larger monitor. The 40-page study was conducted by Andreas Pfeiffer, principal of Paris-based Pfeiffer Consulting, for Apple, which paid for the research.”
Full article here.
Pfeiffer Consulting’s 40-page study “The 30-inch Apple Cinema HD Display Productivity Benchmark” (PDF) is here.
MacDailyNews Take: Was a study really needed? Experience alone tells us it’s the increased screen area that matters, not whether that area increase is achieved via one monitor or multiple monitors; at least with a Mac. With the more inefficient Windows’ constant need to bring application menus along with each open window and it’s insatiable, vacuous lust for taking over the entire screen wherever possible, we can see where multiple monitors vs. a single large one would matter.
Mac users who are forced to use the doltish WIndows at work understand all too well. If you’ve ever seen the average Windows PC user trying to interact with multiple programs and the Windows OS, you know what we mean; it’s a frustrating experience for us to watch and for them to go through (even if they are blissful in their ignorance of the better Mac way). We prefer not to watch.
So, for a Mac, we believe it’s more about just increasing the screen area by whatever means possible, but for those handicapped with Windows, increasing the screen area with multiple monitors would probably work better than getting a single larger monitor.
And, yes, multiple 30-inch Apple Cinema HD Displays do trump all other options. However, that setup really does spoil you. You’ll long for them when on the road with just a “tiny” 17-inch MacBook Pro screen.
Related MacDailyNews article:
Apple cuts prices across entire Cinema Display line – August 08, 2006
Marlboro sponsored study finds cigarette smoking is GOOD for you.
MDN, I’m glad that you were able to re-interpret this studies results and explain to us all what they “really meant.”
Afterall, I’m sure that the study of “Steve Jack” is far more accurate than the study of those other experts..
MDN, I’m glad that you were able to re-interpret this studies results and explain to us all what they “really meant.”
Afterall, I’m sure that the study of “Steve Jack” is far more accurate than the study of those other experts..
I work for a large engineering firm and was one of the first to utilize a dual monitor setup and my productivity shot through the roof but I hate windows with a passion and do not want to run bootcamp to run autocad on my next new Mac. Hello Autodesk………
Wow. that banner ad for the red iPod at the top of this page sure does look an awful lot like a Target ad.. The red and white click wheel looks just like their logo. Perhaps a black or grey background might have been a better choice for a red iPod.
I had to turn off Adblock Plus on Firefox to even see the ads. To my surprise the whole page has ads all over it that I never even saw! I wish Safari would implement something like that.
To Gil: Does Autodesk work on a Mac? I have no experience with this at all but my cousin is in architecture school and she’s been roped into a Gateway by her school. I’d still like to find Mac friendly alternatives to feed her but I don’t know what’s available. Any thoughts?
Resolution and widescreen vs. square screen really makes a difference too. I have a Dell at work that is 19″ and a 17″ iMac at home. I have more screen space on the iMac due to the video card and the widescreen aspect of the computer. I have a much easier time dealing with multiple programs when on a Mac.
However, it should be noted that expose also makes the mac vastly superior to windows when using multiple programs. I wish windows had something like it so my work life would be much easier. Don’t start with the 3D flip thing in Vista. While the 3D thing looks cool it wouldn’t be as useful as expose when doing any real work. Seriously, one button click on my mouse to show all open windows (mac) vs. having to do a scroll through my open windows like a rolodex (windows).
Because a cigarette company sponsored an ad pushing their product, and because Apple did the same thing, both results are necessarily bogus? Here’s a clue. Why don’t you look at the findings instead of attacking the messenger? It’s called critical thinking. Try it sometime.
not to disagree… but do you think they would publish the resultes if the outcome was different ?
You can comission a study to come out with whatever result you are looking for. Period.
Now that’s not to say that larger monitors are not a boon to work… but I would question the motivation behind the study sponsered by Apple.
Calm down, BustingTSOI.
I’m just playing.
I have a larger than normal screen and when i switched to it i sped up 2 fold. So I whole heartedly agree with this theory.
I was just poking fun at the MDN headline.
Safari will NEVAR have ad blockers built in. Ads are money. That is the realm of plug-ins.
I think two screen works better than a large because I can keep one directly in front and the other tilted towards me otherwise you have to look at everything on the right at a bit of an angle. I also have no more problem working on a mac vs. a pc in terms of managing multiple windows. Both OSX and Windows gets unwieldy when you have 10 programs running. I’m not certain that expose makes a huge difference.
To: Cap n’ Obvious:
Yes, I too have seen that study. However, Marlboro prefers to use the term “Health-Sticks” rather than the often maligned “Cigarettes”.
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Oh me oh my!
The iPod is gonna fry!
My Zune’s the goon
to change the tune
of everyone’s favourite music playah.
I can’t stop eating!!!
I can’t stop eating my zunes!!!
Yours truly,
Steven Ballmer
(Head of Microsoft)
Oh, and since i prefer a 15″ laptop, I intend to substitute Leopards multiple desktops (Spaces) for a large screen.
“And, yes, multiple 30-inch Apple Cinema HD Displays do trump all other options. However, that setup really does spoil you. You’ll long for them when on the road with just a “tiny” 17-inch MacBook Pro screen”
Really. I was under the impression that Dell offerings were brighter, better and cheaper.
I had to turn off Adblock Plus on Firefox to even see the ads.
OK, I’ll bite. I looked all over Firefox (have latest version) and I don’t find anything called AdBlock Plus. Where is it? email me please gathurm@aol.com
Here is the demo of Spaces… SWEET!
http://www.apple.com/macosx/leopard/spaces.html
Alex:
Dell sucks. Consistently. For example:
In its November “Annual Electronics Issue” Consumer Reports, the independent nonprofit organization has published reliability data for flat panel televisions. The Consumer Union found that during the first year or two of use, LCD and plasma TVs have been just as reliable overall as picture-tube TVs, which historically require very few repairs. Consumer Reports latest product reliability survey shows no repair issues during the first year or two of use for LCD TVs from JVC, Panasonic, Samsung, Sanyo, Sharp, Sony, and Toshiba. Dell LCD sets have had higher than average repairs.
http://www.digitalhome.ca/content/view/1605/98/
Sammy- go to floppymoose.com, which has an excellent solution to safari adblocking which is a stylesheet which blocks out all ad images. Problem is the flash ads are left behind, but there aren’t many.
War- Yeah, I’ve got a 12″ iBook with an old 17″ CRT attached (screen spanning doctor) which gives me quite a wide aspect which I find is good because you can have two windows that are the full height of the screen and the logical width is right – with 2 monitors or a widescreen. And the 12″ screen is OK for a lot of things-its the number of pixels that count
MDN – I saw this study AGES ago on apple’s website. It isn’t really news. But I do find I’ve been a lot more productive on my computer since I got my first Mac 1.5 years ago. It’s the little things that all add up to make the big picture-and exposé is priceless. On windows everyone seems to have their windows ‘maximised’ and they seem to minimize at random when you switch to other apps. But all the other problems with windows make it a basically unusable OS. But one addition I’d like in OS X is for the menubar to be repeated in a dual monitor setup so you don’t have to move all the way to the other screen-although I agree having a separate menubar on each window is stupid and a waste of space.
Yeah spaces should be another of those sort-of-little things in OS X that add up to make it the best OS currently available.
Wouldn’t this be obvious? Like saying a faster CPU improves productivity (or like using Mac OS X improves productivity). Hopefully, the survey provides details like the extent of productivity improvement.
And of course 30″ monitors for all wouldn’t hurt Apple’s revenue at all either.
“The Consumer Union found that during the first year or two of use, LCD and plasma TVs have been just as reliable overall as picture-tube TVs […]”
Wow! So, during the first two years, there’re no problems!
Let’s see…the CRT TV in my apartment (27″ Toshiba) is 12 years old. Think those LCD and Plasma TVs will still work after 12 years?
My Mom has an old Apple 1705 Display that runs like a champ. I’m on my second LCD after five years.
Reliability of both LCD and Plasma is well below any CRT.
Just about to add a second 30″ above my existing one.
Does anyone know if I can “stack” them to behave as a 26″ W x 32″ H monitor?
Heh. Saying “who needs a study when we have experience” is like saying “screw the scientific method, I know it works”. Of course, that’s the attitude that had physicians denounce the practice of handwashing between patients.