Up until recently, big computer monitors were only used in air traffic control or other similar activities. Home or regular office use of these gigantic monitors has been relatively restricted due to the large costs involving this acquisition and usual lack of space.

But studies show that a larger monitor has its advantages. Apart from the enhanced experience when watching a movie, for instance or in the gaming world, there are other, more technical and practical advantages to using a larger computer monitor.



For instance, take the simple command of Alt+Tab which you use to “move” around through your opened windows. Given you had a larger monitor, the more windows would fit on the large screen, thus allowing you to keep track of them all at the same time and to access them with a simple click of the mouse. This is the first practical advantage to using a larger computer monitor – the fact that multitasking becomes largely easier to handle.

Another case is the one of the common architect or 3D designer. Rather then having a small monitor and having to scroll all the time to get a wider view of their project, they can buy themselves a bigger screen so that they can handle details while still being able to watch the full image of their project. This allows them to make fewer mistakes, and of course, to get a full view of what they’re working on at all times, thus not having to leave a part of the project they’re looking at some point and scroll out to get a better, wider view of things.

Actually, there have been some studies regarding the advantages to using a larger computer monitor. These studies show that, on average, the subjects who participated at the study have completed their tasks 2.5 hours faster on a 24-inch monitor then they would’ve on an 18-inch one. This is due to the larger monitor’s ability to allow multitasking and ease common tasks like editing documents because scrolling is almost always used in doing so on smaller monitors.



When it comes to an office environment, a large monitor has its advantages as well. If the employee has to handle information spread through a large number of documents or folders, then a larger monitor would ease the task, increasing productivity. Even more so, it would make the working environment less stressful and easier to get adapted to and fit in to, due to the fact that the tasks performed wouldn’t be so demanding.

Last, but not least, a larger monitor would greatly help people who have eyesight problems. Just the fact that you can stack up the same amount of image info at a far bigger scale on such a large monitor then you would on, let’s say, an 18-inch is truly a plus point for the visually impaired.

So, if you can get past the high prices and the obvious bigger energy bill you’ll have to handle once you get a larger computer monitor, then I strongly recommend that you do get one – especially if you spend a lot of time dribbling through documents and folders.