Switching from paper plans to a second monitor changed my drafting speed

For about 6 years I printed every set of drawings and flipped pages while working in AutoCAD. Last March I finally hooked up a 27 inch used monitor at my desk in Austin and kept the PDF open on one screen, model on the other. No more shuffling paper or losing my place on sheet 14 of 22. I cut my redline time on a recent commercial build from 3 hours down to under 2. The zooming and panning still take some getting used to, but I can't see going back. Anyone else make the jump to dual screens for shop drawings?

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tara79329d ago

Wait, have you checked how this affects your eyes over a full work day? I ran dual screens for a year and my neck and eyes were wrecked by the constant side to side scanning. A 27 inch is big, but you're still splitting your focus between two points that aren't aligned. I actually ended up going back to a single ultrawide monitor with the PDF snapped to one corner, and that helped more than the second screen ever did. So my question is, are you tracking your posture or just your speed? Because the speed gain might not be worth the long term strain.