Should You Add This To Your Workspace? Sollten Sie dies zu Ihrem Arbeitsbereich hinzufügen? ¿Deberías añadir esto a tu espacio de trabajo? Devriez-vous ajouter ceci à votre espace de travail ? Deve adicionar isto ao seu espaço de trabalho? 您应该将其添加到您的工作区吗？

(mellow contemporary music) música contemporánea suave||

- So for the longest time

I had been doing most of my computer-based work

with two computer monitors

to the point where even when I traveled with my laptop

I now travel

with an external, USB-powered secondary display. ||||alimentado||

So it could be said, without overstating things, ||||||exagerar las cosas|

that I am a huge fan of using dual monitors

but the question still remains,

does using two monitors actually make you more productive?

Do you need a second monitor?

Well that's the question I hope to answer for you

in this video and we're gonna give you the pros, the cons, |||||||||||contras

and also go over some alternatives to dual monitors

that might actually fit the bill

based on the kind of work that you do

and to just spoil things up front here |||arruinar las cosas||||

the answer is it depends on the work that you do.

I've actually gotten some comments

in previous YouTube videos from people asking me

why I would ever use a dual monitor, it's a distraction,

it's extra money, why would you ever do it?

And my answer to those people is actually a question

and that question is

have you ever done professional video editing?

Because for professional video editors

and for other people like programmers

and UI designers and Photoshop jockeys, |||||expertos en Photoshop

is that an actual job?

They have jockey on the job listings ||jinete profesional||||ofertas de trabajo

for people who use Photoshop?

- [Tony] I don't know, maybe.

- Either way, some types of jobs, some types of work require

or at least are very, very benefited by

extra screen real estate.

So when talking about the pros

for adding a second monitor to the main

was that for certain types of work

it adds a lot of useful space

and that lets you do some useful things

and let's use video editing as an example.

My editor Tony is right over there and he uses,

actually how many monitors do you use?

- [Tony] I got three now.

- You have three,

okay you have three monitors for video editing.

So when you're using a video editing program

like Premier Pro

you actually have several different little windows

inside that main program that you're accessing all the time

and if you're working on an itty bitty little monitor ||||||diminuto|diminuto||

that preview window and all of your other windows |vista previa|||||||

are gonna start getting really, really small

and it gets harder and harder to use them.

So when you have a bigger monitor

you have more space to get things done

and adding a second monitor

just expands your capabilities even more

and it's not just video editors.

Let's take programmers

or web developers for a secondary example.

If you were building a website you could use one monitor

to have a column for your HTML file,

a secondary column for your CSS file,

and then the other monitor

could be purely dedicated to the browser window

so you could actually preview your work

by refreshing the page

and the same could be said for UI designers.

When I do UI design

I have a program called Figma open in one monitor |||||Figma||||

and that program really needs a lot of space

to work well and then I've got reference material

or inspiration or notes open in a second monitor

that I can easily look at just by turning my head

or moving my eyes.

So that's really the main pro of having a second display.

You get more screen real estate to do work

either with a single application

that can benefit from two different displays ||||||pantallas diferentes

or with combination of applications

that you wanna have open at the same exact time.

Though we also can't fail to mention

that two monitors on your desktop just looks cool

and that's a pro as well.

So what about the cons?

Well the main con that I see |||desventaja principal|||

with having more than one display for your computer

is that it really encourages multitasking.

When you have a ton of screen real estate

you can feel tempted

to put a ton of different programs up at one time

or you can go overboard like I did in college ||||exagerar|||||

and start using desktop customization programs ||||personalización del escritorio|

like Rainmeter to have your computer's temperature, |Rainmeter|||||

and your calendar,

and like the time in Singapore on one window

which is really just pointless

and from a cognitive perspective

the way that your brain pays attention

to one specific task or stimuli in its environment

is not just like shining a spotlight on one thing. ||||||foco de atención|||

It kinda works like that

but there are also filtering mechanisms. ||||mecanismos de filtrado|

Your brain actually works actively

to not pay attention to everything else

that's going on in your environment.

That's why you can pick out a single conversation

at a crowded party.

Your brain is actively working to block out everything

and not really pay attention

to all the other extraneous conversations

but the more things that are going on in your environment

or the more windows you have open on your screen

the harder your brain's attentional muscles have to work.

So by putting all of these things up on secondary displays ||||||||||pantallas secundarias

you can make it harder to pay attention

to the one task that you need to be doing

and that's really the main drawback |||||principal desventaja

of multiple monitors, that temptation.

Of course there are also

more practical considerations as well such as the cost.

When you have to buy another monitor

that can be a hit to your wallet.

Also if you're anything like me

when it comes time to upgrade monitors

you're gonna have to upgrade two displays ||||||pantallas

because well you can't stand having mismatched displays

on your desk and speaking of the desk,

you also need to have a bigger desk

to accommodate multiple displays,

especially as they get bigger and bigger

and they also take up more of your desktop space.

Now I will note that I've kind of gotten around that problem

by using monitor arms that clamp to the back of my desk |||||sujetan||||||

but still the desk has to be wide enough

to accommodate those monitors.

So when it comes down to it

the question you need to ask yourself is this.

Will the work that you do

benefit from the addition of a second display

and will those benefits outweigh the drawbacks? ||||superar||inconvenientes

And before you try to answer that question for yourself

I do wanna give you a couple of different alternatives.

The first one is to try using virtual desktops.

Windows, Mac OS, and most Linux distros all have a feature ||||||distribuciones de Linux||||

that allows you to create multiple virtual desktops |||||||escritorios virtuales

that you can switch between.

For example on Mac OS I have probably four of these set up

at any given time and I could easily switch between them

by swiping either left or right on track pad |deslizar|||||||

with four fingers.

And while I definitely do prefer having apps

on multiple displays where I can just move my head

and see them both at one time,

being able to switch between desktops |||||escritorios virtuales

is at least a heck of a lot more convenient

than trying to switch between overlapping apps |||||superpuestas|

on one desktop.

Of course there is a way

to make sure those apps don't overlap

which is to use the Windows snapping features in Windows ||||||ajustar ventanas|||

to have apps sitting right next to each other,

each filling half of the screen.

Now on Mac OS there are no built-in window snapping tools |||sistema operativo|||||||ajuste de ventanas|

but you can spend two bucks

and get a really nice utility called Magnet

which basically gives you all that functionality

and even adds in some extra tools

like being able to snap Windows to the corner

or to thirds of the screen

and there are even keyboard shortcuts.

The third option is just to use your phone

or a tablet like an iPad or Tony,

what's the one you have, an S6?

- [Tony] Tab S6.

- Tab S6, yeah either one if you already have a tablet

or a phone sitting around could function

as an additional display.

Obviously you're not gonna get as much screen real estate

but for some uses just having a little display

that costs a heck of a lot less than a monitor

could be really, really useful.

Now obviously it's not gonna work for single applications

where you wanna put say Premier Pro Windows

onto a second display but say you're writing a paper

on your regular computer monitor

you could easily have reference material or research

up on your phone or for another one

if you're editing a video

and you have a checklist of items

that you need to check off as you go

you can put that on your phone as well.

Option number four

would be to consider an ultra-wide monitor

instead of two regular monitors

and this is actually what my editor Tony uses.

Though again you have three monitors

so it's one ultra-wide and then two more monitors

because you're ridiculous.

- [Tony] And one is vertical

so like I can see my Slack messages.

- Okay, so one's vertical as well.

So with these ultra-wides ||||ultra gran angulares

you don't get that annoying gap in the middle

that you would have with two regular monitors

and again you do get more screen real estate

but it's important to know

that with most ultra-wide monitors,

even though they are called ultra-wide

they're really only kind of ultra-wide.

The aspect ratio on most ultra-wides is 21 by nine ||||||ultraanchos|||

or actually 64 by 27,

but most people don't wanna remember those big numbers,

so 21 by by nine is close enough

while regular monitors, regular, have a 16 by nine

or sometimes 16 by 10 aspect ratio.

So what this means is that an ultra-wide,

even though it looks super wide,

is not going to double your screen real estate.

It's more like a 1.3 times increase.

The one exception to this rule

are the ultra-ultra-wide 49-inch monitors

and those literally do double the screen real estate.

I think they have like a 5,120 horizontal pixel count

but those are pretty darn expensive ||||muy bastante|

and yeah my friend Ali Abdaal actually does have one |||||Ali Abdaal||||

on his desk and I'll link to his desk setup video |||||||||configuración del escritorio|

in the description.

But for my money two 27-inch normal 16 by nine monitors

works a little bit better.

I can get them in 4K and they are a bit cheaper

than buying that one huge honkin' 49-inch monitor. |||||enorme||

Now there is one other alternative

that you should probably consider

if you're still using a 1920 by 1080 or 1080p monitor

and that's to instead of getting a secondary monitor

simply upgrade your main display

to what's called a QHD monitor ||||QHD|

which is gonna have a resolution of 2560 by 1440

or it's called 1440p.

That might be all you need.

And I will note that the monitors on my editing desktop

are 4K which is even bigger resolution

but I found that having those at native resolution

actually makes text

and all the desktop elements way too hard to read

to be productive.

So I actually have my windows scaling set to 150%

which makes it effectively 1440p.

And yes, the text rendering is a bit smoother ||||renderizado del texto||||

but that's probably not worth the price increase

you're gonna pay for 4K monitors.

Now a couple of things that you might wanna consider

in case you do decide to add a second monitor.

First, if you are a programmer

or you're somebody who likes to see lots of lines of text

then you might want to get a monitor that has a swivel mount |||||||||||giro|

which allows you to turn the monitor sideways

and then set your desktop to portrait mode on that monitor.

Now if you have a monitor that has a VESA mount |||||||||montaje VESA|

on the back which allows you to put monitor arms on it

and the stand you get by default doesn't matter

because most monitor arms you're gonna get on the internet

are gonna let you rotate a display.

So that might be something to consider.

Additionally, if you do any kind of color-intensive work;

photo editing, video editing, that kind of thing;

you're gonna wanna make sure you get a monitor

that is highly color accurate and there are very expensive

color accurate monitors out there

that I do not own and that are probably not worth the money

unless you're like a professional movie color grade person

but you're at least gonna wanna look for

what's called an IPS display |||pantalla IPS|

which is gonna be a lot more color accurate

than cheaper TN displays. ||TN|pantallas

Most gamers will use TN displays

because they're great for a fast refresh rate

and that kind of thing but for serious color work

like photography editing, that kind of thing, go for IPS.

But of course the main consideration

that you should be making is asking yourself

whether or not adding a second monitor

is going to distract you

because your ability to focus on one task

for a long time and put all of your energy into it

is hugely important in your ability to get things done.

And one additional element in that equation

is your ability to solve tough problems

which is why I think you should check out Brilliant.

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Instead of just passively intaking walls of text ||||asimilar información|||

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Big thanks as always to Brilliant for sponsoring this video

and being a big supporter of my channel

and thank you for watching as well.

Hopefully you found something useful in this video.

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Hit the Like button and also click right there

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Last but not least,

I'll throw a couple of other videos right here and here

if you wanna binge my channel even more |||darte un atracón||||

or you can smash your face into your phone screen or you can smash your face into your phone screen

if you're watching there

'cause the touch screen is on there.

Thanks for watchin' and I will see you in the next video. ||viendo|||||||||