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Many swear by the increased productivity of a dual-monitor setup, but is it really essential? While having additional screen space may seem like a no-brainer, it often introduces more complexity than convenience.
1
More monitors means more money
The first consideration that most people have when deciding to add another monitor is the purchase price. Monitors with more advanced features such as OLED, larger resolutions, or higher refresh rates can be quite expensive.
While Apple’s Pro Display XDR costs $4999, even more standard monitors can add to the price. I spent about $600 to get two ASUS ProArt 27″ 4K displays, and although they have been useful, $600 is still a substantial amount of money. Other than that, it’s easy get it wrong and lose money by buying the wrong monitor.
In addition to the extra cost, additional monitors take up additional desk space. My desk is pushed into the corner walls of my room, so I can’t use monitor arms to reduce this spatial impact. Consequently, I had to make hard choices about what technology I can really manage to put on my desk, and also accept that I usually have a general base of disorder due to the lack of space for better organizers and boxes.
My experience may seem like a fringe case, since most people don’t have desks built into the walls, but many people don’t use monitor arms to clear desk space even if they have the ability. Even for people who use monitor arms, the arm and the monitor still take up space, even if it’s not the horizontal space of your desk surface. However, more monitors mean less available desk space.
3
Additional screens can cause lag
In addition to extra desk space, additional monitors take up more system bandwidth, which is one of the There are many important considerations when buying a monitor for your laptop. Simply having an extra monitor makes only a marginal difference, but the way most people use additional monitors can cause a major strain on the system.
By having multiple screens, you tend to have more applications open at once compared to using a single monitor.
The classic example of YouTube or Twitch video on one monitor while playing on another means that your system resources are dedicated to both activities simultaneously. In my experience, playing resource-intensive games with a video running usually leads to reduced frame rates and video lag.
Similarly, even though I use multiple monitors for an intentional and productive use case like editing a video on one screen while browsing stock footage on my MacBook’s monitor, my system is still slower than if I only did one of these tasks at a time on a sample. My MacBook lags less when I don’t connect extra monitors since there are fewer screens to render and fewer applications running simultaneously.
While we often use additional screens for multitasking between applications, most modern operating systems have fantastic tools for multiple virtual desktops. Mac users are probably more familiar with this, using three-finger swipes on the trackpad to switch between desktops and organize applications, but Windows 11 also has these features.
Virtual desktops allow you to quickly switch between multiple windows and applications without the need for additional physical monitors.
When I have to work on my MacBook while I’m on the go, very few tasks are more difficult than when my MacBook is attached to my desk with two extra monitors.
By using multiple desktops and quick trackpad gestures, I can get the task of searching for stock footage while editing video as quickly as on multiple monitors, possibly faster due to the reduced voltage of the system not to use additional screens.
Some tasks are always better done when you can physically see multiple screens, but many tasks are just as convenient with virtual desktops instead of extra monitors.
5
Multiple Monitors Split My Attention
No matter how many monitors you have, you can only really pay attention to one of them at a time. Having more things open and visible on more monitors makes losing focus much easier. An empty second monitor invites you to open a YouTube video as background noise, but the background noise can easily become the primary focus.
As much as I like to use my configuration, I and many others have found it great disadvantages to focus when using multiple monitors. If I have a video open while playing, I often find that my game performance suffers in addition to being unable to remember much of what was in the video.
So when I need to focus more, I usually unplug my laptop from my two extra screens and go to a coffee shop or the library to focus.
The extra monitors have their usefulness for many activities, but they come at the cost of taking up space: financially, physically, systematically and mentally. I invite those considering a second monitor to try the virtual desktop tools first and plan exactly how to use that second or third display!
