Dual Monitors are so ‘03
on 04.26.06, 06:39am in microsoft • comments (12)
In Scoble’s latest post, he says that Microsoft should buy everyone a top of the line machine and two monitors. "I’ve seen the productivity benefits that dual monitors can bring. Every
employee who has them says having two monitors is transformational."
Feh. Dual Monitors are so 2003. For almost 2 years, I ran with 2 18" dual NEC 1830’s - and sure the productivity gain was amazing - you have more real estate to work with. I swore by them.
That is, until I got my hands on a 24" widescreen last year for work (and boy, I’m drooling over the newer 30" screens). I had to sell my duals and get a widescreen at home, and my latest laptop is a widescreen. Never again would I go back to duals - my productivity is even more with a widescreen. And yes, Vista looks gorgeous on the 24" Cinema display.
I also don’t agree with Scoble’s statement that we should "buy every employee a top of the line Dell". I say we should buy every employee a Macbook. Know your competition well, and understand them. There’s far too many times I read people’s analysis of the iPod or Apple, and they have no idea what they’re talking about. As Guy says, "truly understand your competition. You cannot drive your competition
crazy unless you understand their strengths and weaknesses. You should
become your competition’s customer by buying their products and
services."
(side note: As an added bonus, it’s always fun to see people’s expression when you walk into a meeting with a Mac laptop.)
As for the rest of the article, Matt Goyer does a good job covering the rest of it.
JeffMc (April 26, 2006 @ 8:49 am)
I have to agree with you Steve. I traded in two 19″ dells for a 24″ WS Dell on my desk at work. At home I am still running dual 20.1″ WS panels, and I agree, the 30″ is looking nice!
The 24″ at work seems to be the sweet point. I like much better than the dual 19″ panels.
John (April 26, 2006 @ 9:29 am)
Meh. I still stand by dual monitors. More resolution always makes me more productive. A good widescreen is better than a 4:3 monitor however. The trick is to be able to see at least 2 normal sized windows at once. At home I run a dell 20″ and 24″ in multimon.
As I remember Steve’s original argument it was mostly driven by fact that he wanted to switch to a Laptop and couldn’t find a good laptop dual monitor solution. That is a good point if it is your only machine. I know matrox makes some sort of external monitor splitter: http://www.matrox.com/graphics/offhome/dh2go/home.cfm. I don’t know how well it works though.
For me one of my main complaints with multimon at home was that Remote Desktop didn’t support it. So even though I had two monitors at home I could only use one when connecting to work. But now the new remote desktop client in Vista supports /span mode! Ahh, remote desktop to work and fill both monitors. (The new client binaries will also run on XP btw). Viva MultiMon.
JeffMc (April 26, 2006 @ 9:39 am)
The Dell Laptops we use , when in dock, allow dual screen via DVI and VGA outputs on the Dock. But then again it is not a MacBook Pro
Jeff Atwood (April 26, 2006 @ 9:40 am)
It’s a reductio ad absurdum argument. If *one* widescreen monitor is so great, wouldn’t *two* of them be even better?
Anyway, Scoble is absolutely right: dual monitors should be a minimum standard spec for developers.
Three monitors is ideal; it’s how Larry Page and Bill Gates work:
http://blogs.vertigosoftware.com/jatwood/comments/1444.aspx
Steve (April 26, 2006 @ 9:56 am)
Actually, I did find out that by using the dock for the thinkpad model I had, I *could* do dual monitors. I’ve ended up moving from the thinkpad to a Macbook, so the point is moot. In fact, I switched away from duals almost a year ago.
Two widescreens? Sure, but man that’s alot of desktop room. I dont agree that “dual monitors” is a “must” for every dev, however a single 17″ just doesn’t cut the mustard. I *personally* like the widescreen better than the duals.
Heck - I’ve even been thinking about getting a low-cost projector instead of a monitor latetly.
Lou (April 26, 2006 @ 10:08 am)
I was a dual mon user from the beginning of its support in windows. However, once I had a Widescreen monitor I saw my productivity increase over a multimon system. In fact, My current 30″ widescreen really takes the cake - I can have 4 source windows open on screen in the same physical dimensions as an older 4×3.
Want to improve productivity? Want to improve morale?
1) Give them big monitors & fast computers
2) Stop putting processes in place - it doesn’t improve squat
3) Focus on fewer high quality features instead of lots of crappy ones
4) Pay people what they are worth (that goes for good & bad people)
5) Compliment them - Often. (You know the saying - you get more with honey…)
grovberg (April 26, 2006 @ 12:27 pm)
What is all this sudden talk of dual screen monitors? Another blog just this week had list of 10 XP power techniques and listed dual monitors as a super secret technique. This has been standard practice in our offices for media production and coders since the late 90’s. Why is it suddenly popping up all over the place now?
As to the one big wide vs. two squares, I prefer to have two because it creates two separated spaces that I can use to organize. I treat one as the primary monitor and the other as the secondary. That being said, I agree with the poster a few steps up that two widescreen displays is nicest of all.
J. J. (April 26, 2006 @ 2:15 pm)
I find it amusing when MS employees say, “we should buy every employee a Macbook.”
guy (April 29, 2006 @ 7:10 pm)
A few points on this topic and generally what has been discussed by the comments.
First, Scobble is seen as a stooge inside of Microsoft and it is very amusing that the outside world listens to him. He doesn’t really understand technology or users, yet, people read his blog. Crazy.
Second, multi-monitor support in Windows is bad. It isn’t the implementation of multimon, but it more on how application writers utilize it. They simply don’t test for it. Why if my application is on monitor two, a message box or dialog appears on monitor one? Nobody but a few odd applications actually fully test multimon so the experience you get as a user is just bad. Next, I find that people with multimon typically use one monitor over 90% of the time. There is a primary monitor that they look at and use. The monitor split (two monitor edgets in plastic) is a visual barrier and a mental barrier. The second monitor always becomes an afterthought. You might think you are a big multimon user and utilizing, odds are, you aren’t - you simply use the primary for all you core tasks and every once-in-a-while you use the other monitor.
Third, I believe in buying developers and people in the tech industry hardware. You don’t have to buy them the best, but you have to buy little things often. A new CPU this quarter, a new 24″ next, a nice GPU the next. This constant reward keeps people very excited.
Fourth, Brad Silverberg during the Windows days would make us run on bad hardware. He would not let us constantly upgrade to the latest hardware. Even though we had to build Windows, he wanted everyone to live the pain of the users. The reason Windows 95 was so performant compared to XP or Vista was because the developers and program managers inside the company had to use 286 and 386 for development. We were not allowed to get the super cool 486 until late in the cycle. One thing that happens is that people who write software aren’t using the machines that the mass people have - thus giving a bad experience. Google Desktop Search is horrible on the standard user machine. When you write software for users, you need to understand what your target is and you need to live that pain. While you give developers latest and greatest, also make sure they run on what users run. Stop buying 2 GB machines. Get 512 MB with Intel graphics chips. You need to do both, buy hardware for your people and you need to stay on the hold. It is a fine balance. People who have two machines need to make sure their test machine is what the common user would use.
Michael Brundage (April 30, 2006 @ 9:03 am)
I’d settle for this:
http://www.apple.com/science/profiles/hiperwall/
Smalldog (November 3, 2006 @ 7:27 am)
I just stumbled across this.. I would like to remote desktop into my work PC which has dual 19″ monitors.
The machine that I remote from at home has dual Dell 24″ widescreens.
Guess I have to wait for Vista..
Smalldog
Tasteslikecinnamon (February 27, 2007 @ 1:08 pm)
Why not just go for the glory with a “MastePlex” from CineMassive Displays? http://www.cinemassivedisplays.com I think they’re taking multiple monitors to the next degree…too much?