Some people with perhaps a tad too much time on their hands, from the University of Utah, conducted a study which tested how quickly people performed tasks using different size monitors. They tested using an 18-inch monitor (where’d they find that?), a 24-inch monitor, and dual 20-inch monitors.

What did they find?

People using a single 24-inch monitor performed tasks 52% faster than people using the 18-inch monitor. People using the dual 20-inchers were 44% faster.

What is interesting is that testing showed that productivity actually dropped off again as soon as the monitor went larger than 26 inches.

Does this mean you’ll get LESS done if you sprung for one of those big 30-inchers?

Well, the guy in charge of this study, James Anderson, says you can take the results of this study "with a grain of salt". It assumes that you will be working a full 8 hour day on your computer non-stop.

Oh yeah, this study was funded by NEC. Conflict of interest? Anderson says no. The research was vetted by the research board and he doesn’t care what brand of monitor you buy.

Personally, this is a no brainer to me. I simply cannot get as much work done when working on a tiny screen. I need a widescreen monitor and will go as big as I can afford.