taw comments on Spend Money on Ergonomics - Less Wrong

43 Post author: Kevin 23 December 2011 06:40AM

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Comment author: taw 23 December 2011 09:43:35PM 2 points [-]

Large monitors would have mechanical and safety problems in portrait modes, or would need much heavier and bulkier support.

Windows 7 and KDE (sadly not OSX) automatically resize windows to half-screen-x/full-screen-y if you drag them to left and right. That means you can often use your monitor as two smaller portrait monitors (my 2560x1600 usually has two 1280x1600 windows, or a bit less due to start bar), but when you need full screen for something it's available.

Comment author: David_Gerard 24 December 2011 05:44:18PM *  2 points [-]

If the mount swivels, the monitor's designed for it (e.g. my work one - somehow I snagged the only swivelling monitor in the whole office). Failing that, it can often be remounted vertically with minor screwdriver attention (e.g. my monitors at my previous job). Weight really isn't that much of an issue with LCDs, particulary compared to CRTs. (Have you ever slung two 19" Sun monitors (34kg each) about, repeatedly as part of your job? Me neither, we had Windows admins for that sort of thing. Never go into Unix admin without a dodgy back.)

Comment author: dlthomas 23 December 2011 09:59:37PM 2 points [-]

Large monitors would have mechanical and safety problems in portrait modes, or would need much heavier and bulkier support.

I don't follow this at all.

Comment author: NancyLebovitz 24 December 2011 12:27:46PM 1 point [-]

Higher center of gravity, though I don't have a feeling for how tall a monitor would have to be for this to be a problem.

Comment author: dlthomas 24 December 2011 05:29:15PM 2 points [-]

If it pivots about the center of the screen, wouldn't it necessarily have the same center of gravity? That's how my monitor at work works, anyway.

Comment author: NancyLebovitz 24 December 2011 06:02:06PM 0 points [-]

That makes sense-- I was thinking about finding a way to stand a landscape-oriented monitor on its edge rather than a sensible built-in feature.

Comment author: dlthomas 24 December 2011 06:19:11PM 1 point [-]

Ah, yeah, that does sound ill-advised. Maybe that's what the earlier comment was thinking too.