Bigger is better. Speed is second best.
In “Upgrading the Human Component for Increases in Human Performance,” Professor Robert Ball, PhD, says, “It is often assumed that the faster our computers operate, the more productive we will be. However, is that assumption true?”
The answer is “No.” More screen real estate is more important to productivity than faster computers.
Citing peer-reviewed research, Ball cites three reasons:
1. Increased Insight into Data
According to recent game research on large displays, expert game players were able to beat other expert game players when the only variable that differed was display size. The expert game players almost always won when they were using large displays, but almost always lost when it was their turn to play on smaller displays.
Although conducting business can differ quite a bit from playing games, the reasons why people win or lose in business are the same as the ones highlighted in the game player experiment. The larger displays allowed the expert game players to take advantage of being able to see more information at once and use fewer mouse clicks to control the game (see the second point below). Because they were able to see more information at once, the players gained greater insight into the current state of the game and, therefore, created better strategies.
Often, seeing the “big picture” is more important than having the world’s fastest computer. One very important observation from the experiment was that the game players were able to create strategies that they indicated they would not have been able to formulate without the ability to see the literal “big picture.” Seeing more text at a time can help with reading comprehension, even for text-only tasks.
2. More Time for Primary Tasks
Less time is devoted to window management by computer users working with larger monitors—the smaller the monitor, the more time is consumed moving applications around, scrolling through large data sets, and clicking buttons. HCI researchers consider window management a “secondary task” that only helps to facilitate the “primary task.” Window management with a small monitor is like constantly managing business papers on a small desk. Is it better to spend a large amount of time managing business papers and organizing them or is it better to spend most of that time exploring spread-out business papers on a large desk and gaining insight from them?
Larger monitors can offer 90-percent less window management than smaller monitors. Other researchers have shown that people are generally more productive with larger monitors than smaller monitors. They have also demonstrated that a wider monitor can offset the gender bias that is apparent in three-dimensional (3D) navigation.
3. Decreased Stress Levels and Better Solutions
When people have to remember more, they tend to focus on fewer possibilities and fewer possible solutions. In other words, when people can only see a limited amount of their data, they have to remember the rest, which tends to limit them to fewer solutions and fewer strategies. Exacerbating the issue is research that shows that people can only keep five to nine chunks of data in their short-term memories at a time.
The ability to see more of one’s data reduces user stress as this utilizes more external memory (the monitor) and less cognitive memory. Just as writing a list down on paper can relieve the burden of remembering the information—which frees the mind up to perform the task at hand—having a larger monitor enables people to access more information at once and thus to focus more energy on solving the problem as opposed to remembering facts. In addition, increased display space can enable users to retain greater amounts of data in their long-term memories.
So do yourself a favor: Instead of upgrading your PC, try a bigger, second monitor first. You may save some money and get more more done. Now that’s something a CPA should love.
