Monitors, for our discussion here, refers
to stand-alone display devices. The general trend is toward larger and
multi-monitor displays. Some displays today may be as large as 42" and
also include a Tuner and ports for video attachments.
These come in both LCD and Plasma screen options. LCD is preferred for
use as a PC display due to the quality and resolution of the image.
Since Windows 95 the Operating System has been able to support eight
monitors. This was based primarily on having dual ports on each monitor
adaptor card in the PC and the PC supporting up to four adaptor cards
maximum. With the right equipment you could have more than 8 per PC.
The trend is toward two displays per workstation for users who spend at
least five hours a day on a computer and tend to work in multiple
applications. The movement toward Enterprise Content Management
(ECM,) think Paperless, almost requires two workstations per user to be
able to compare documents and work with a number of documents at once.
We recommend a minimum size of 22" wide screen display today and the 24"
or 26" models offer an even better experience and increased
productivity.
We believe there is a direct correlation between dual/multi-monitors and
productivity and that belief seems to be supported by a recent study
conducted by the University of Utah -
http://www.necdisplay.com/gowide/NEC_Productivity_Study_0208.pdf.
If you are trying to justify the cost of monitors, or deciding the right
ROI on your investment, this article is a good read for you.
There are several sites you may visit to learn more about setting up and
using multiple monitors, one of the best is
http://www.multiplemonitors.org/.
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Recommended Display Manufacturers and Sources
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Hewlett-Packard (newer LP2480zx Display avail.) |
ViewSonic |
Samsung
(Also has a Portrait mode model) |
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Dell
(Portrait mode and large wide screen.) |
Mobile External Laptop Monitor |
Digital Tigers
(Multi-screen displays including mounting hardware
and options.) |
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Accountants First Choice - Dual Screen Portrait Displays
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Will Fleenor, PhD CPA, a principal with K2
Enterprises, prefers the HP LP 2465 model displays that can
display in landscape mode, or be rotated for portrait. Will
believes that the ability to view an entire page without
scrolling improves productivity for accountants over the life of
the monitors and warrant the extra premium in costs.
Will is correct that eliminating the time
required to move your hands back and forth to the mouse to move
a page up or down adds up for professionals who bill for their
time. The ability to see an entire page, while enlarging each
page to easy viewing is also ergonomically beneficial and
reduces fatigue and may reduce incidences of carpel tunnel
syndrome by limiting hand and arm movement.
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Multiple Displays
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Dr. Bob Spencer has been lecturing on the virtues of
multiple monitors for nearly ten years now. While you
may not go to the extreme he has in his office setup,
there is good justification for the expenditure. Bob
does a significant amount of research and writing. The
ability to display a number of open applications across
multiple monitors improves his productivity
significantly. He is running two 22" ViewSonic VG
22230wm monitors with 5ms refresh rate at 1680x1050. In
the center is a 24" HP LP2465 at 1920x1200, which he
rotates to Portrait mode when doing manuscript
development so he view an entire page enlarged without
scrolling. And, you may have noticed the 37" LG 1080p to
his left at 1600x1200. In the picture Bob is
showing the graphical capabilities of this display
showing QuickTime, iTunes and other applications
open in this Window. Primarily this display is used with
his Mac PowerBook for multi-media development and
presentation development.
To drive multiple monitors to this
level requires tremendous processing power. Bob is using
dual NVIDIA 8800's with 768MB of on-board memory and
dual DVI adaptors on each graphics board. While this may
be overkill, the economic life of the system should be
five years or longer and will be able to take what ever
is thrown at it for some time to come.
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Multi-monitor Laptop Display
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We have been asked many times about
connecting more than one monitor to a laptop and yes, as
you can see, it is possible. In the picture to your
right Bob is using a PC Card adaptor from
www.villagetronic.com to connect to an external
ViewSonic VG3340wm at 1680x1050. The second VG3340wm is
connected using the DVI port on the Laptop Docking
station at the same resolution. The laptop is a 15.4"
display.
In this configuration most of the
work is done on the two external displays with the
laptop display used for monitoring e-mail, calendar, IM
and so forth.
Other providers of adaptors include
www.matrox.com (dual-head to go) and
http://www.displaylink.com/ (USB to Monitor.) Randy
has used both of these and has been satisfied. He is
currently using the Display Link model which uses a
powered USB port.
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Portable Monitor | |
  | For Accountants who are looking for a portable Monitor to take into the field. The Hyvision MA141 14.1 TFT LCD monitor seems to be be very popular. The monitor has folding legs so the monitor takes up a space of 13x11x1.5 inches. This is a VGA only monitor with a power brick. From what my users are saying the 1024x768 native resolution looks good works well aside the 1200x800 wide screen Dell D830 and E6500 Pricing ranges from $146 to $172 based on web search. Of you need a bag to carry it, try Tom Bihn Horizontal Brain Cell for around $60 as an option. This should also fit well into an audit bag. |
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The
information provided herein is not warranted in anyway and is
subject to change without notice. We recommend that you confirm
information contained herein with the appropriate manufacturer
or reseller.
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