Productivity Boost

By Benecia Beyer

Looking for a new way to boost productivity for less than $500?  Toss on a second monitor to your PC and your productivity goes way up while your job strain goes down. As much as 30% increase for certain applications.

While multi-monitor computing used to be pricey and the industry standard used to be for high-end, data intensive businesses -- getting a decent flat LCD monitor costs less than $300 and video cards run half of that. So a second display is a real option for even the most frugal business. Or you could use a portable monitor output doubler (a device that splits the monitor feed into two signals, one for each monitor) for under $200 (displayed in the picture).

The effect of multi-monitors on your computing life is immediate and stunning: the second monitor extends the desktop across both screens. So your mouse -- and all things controlled by it --  simply flies from one monitor to the other. No clicks needed.

Every task is easier and faster. Every task. Will all users capture 30% improvement in productivity? No -- it depends on your applications. But -- and this is a huge "but" -- you will be less tired at the end of the day and your eyes and wrists will greatly appreciate the benefits of the increased ease of use and less lower click load. (Surely someone "out there" has figured out how much the average user clicks on their mouse on a daily basis!)

Setting up dual-monitor PC's can be a pain. You are routing two monitor feeds from one computer -- you must master "Display Settings" in the control panel of your PC. It's not really that big a deal -- but many otherwise intelligent people have gotten pretty darn cranky getting multi-monitors to work. So be patient. And know your patience will be rewarded.