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For general office work, a single monitor is adequate. For some jobs, a dual-monitor configuration, with two monitors side by side, makes more sense. And then there are people whose tasks require the expansive views of wide-screen displays to accommodate large documents or a host of applications.

A dual-monitor setup is ideal for tasks best performed when viewing several windows at once, according to Rhoda Alexander, director of monitor research at iSuppli. "Employees in a call center, for example, can have a script on one and a call list on the other," she says. Alexander also notes that a multiple-display setup confers an ergonomic advantage because, among other things, "it minimizes head rotation."

Researchers who do transcription or cut-and-paste work can also thrive with dual monitors, though Alexander thinks they benefit from wide-screen formats as well. Having application screens side by side on a panoramic monitor is efficient for "getting data from one field and inputting it in another," she says. Wide-screen monitors, particularly 23-inch and 24-inch models, are popular for computer-aided design work, film production, and animation. Alexander adds that, more and more, employees in these fields receive a secondary, often regular-aspect monitor for their non-core but important business applications, such as e-mail or office programs; the arrangement minimizes the distraction of having to switch between applications.

More often than not, however, monitor and desktop setups are dictated by corporate IT budgets and the IT staff's determination of what constitutes a good price/productivity ratio. Alexander thinks this is precisely why 19-inch LCD monitors didn't take off in the corporate market: "IT pros didn't think the increase in price equaled an increase in productivity."

The Quest for the Ideal Monitor Setup

Fortunately, Jordan Malkin isn't too encumbered by external IT constraints. As the operations manager at MicroStandard, based in Redmond, Washington, his budget and his relations with computer vendors allow him to experiment with different computer configurations.

Now perched on Malkin's desk are two 23-inch ViewSonic VP2330wb LCD monitors, which display a variety of computer product information, such as stock levels, sales metrics, and incoming systems. Malkin manages the purchase and sales of these computer components and systems. To do so, he runs various databases and reports to coordinate the complex purchasing and stocking chain on which the company depends. Often he has a spreadsheet on one monitor and a database program displayed on the other. Five staff members on his operations team help him execute plans and react to important data trends he sees on his two screens.

One regularly viewed document is a 200-column Excel spreadsheet. Its information allows Malkin to track trends at different stores to which his company supplies computers. Typical monitor setups were too small for him to see the spreadsheet comfortably.

Before he settled on his current setup, Malkin tried a 32-inch wide-screen LCD TV, but found the resolution insufficient for his work. (TVs typically have lower resolution than desktop monitors of the same size do.) Malkin then replaced it with a 42-inch TV, "but the resolution was still limited," he says.

Finally, he brought in the two 23-inch wide-screen ViewSonic monitors. He finds the bezels thin enough not to distract when they're next to each other. On a typical day, "I might have my stocking spreadsheet [open on one monitor], while programming or running Access on the other." Sometimes, he may have a project that requires spanning both monitors. "On one side is control data," Malkin explains, "while I change the data on the right side."

Dream Monitor Setup Equals Undreamed-Of Productivity

After a rather cumbersome search, Malkin thinks he has discovered the right solution at last. "I find this arrangement 100 percent satisfactory," he says.

Malkin's monitor configuration illustrates Alexander's findings on multiple-display usage. Certain jobs require viewing several applications simultaneously, and the right monitor setup is crucial. Of course, cost will play a part in the decision to move to a wide-screen or dual-display monitor setup. But an increase in productivity may just be the push you (or your IT department) need to take the plunge.