High resolution monitor
From Paperless Office
One of the key parts of a paperless office is a good device for reading. To be effective you need some type of monitor that will allow you to see and entire page without needing to scroll up and down.
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[edit] Monitors options
[edit] Large monitor
A large monitor will give you the ability to view an entire sheet of scanned paper without scrolling up and down. To work effectively in a paperless office a monitor really needs to be 24 to 30 inches. However, the resolution is just as if not more important than the size. 1920x1200 is probably the lower end of what you will want to use. This size is commonly found on 24 inch monitors. There are some laptops that support this high resolution with a 17 inch monitor. These may be harder to see due to their smaller physical size, but it is impossible to see what isn't there. Lower resolution monitors simply won't have enough pixels to show an entire page regardless of how good your eyesight is.
30 inch monitors are typically 2560x1600. This size offers excellent viewing of two documents side by side even for people with normal eyesight. For people with good eyesight, the additional resolution allows much greater detail to be seen even if the documents are reduced in size.
[edit] Multiple monitors
Large monitors are oftem more expensive than several smaller monitors that offer the same or greater total screen size. The problem with using multiple smaller monitors is that lower vertical resolution means a page of scanned text may be impossible to read without scrolling. Most paper is in portrait orientation where it is taller than it is wide. Monitors are usually designed exactly the opposite and are wider than they are tall. This mismatch means that monitors generally waste space when you are trying to view an entire page at once.
Many monitors and video drivers can be rotated 90 degrees so the aspect ratio of the monitor matches that of a page of text. This allows you to utilize more of the pixels of a monitor. In a multi monitor setup, one or more monitors rotated to a vertical orientation will offer a good reading experience even on monitors that are smaller. For example a 2560x1600 monitor in the horizontal orientation offers slightly lower resolution for displaying a single 8.5x11 scanned page than a 1680x1050 put in the vertical position. However, you can buy 8 to 10 of the smaller displays for the same cost as one 2560x1600 screen.
[edit] Using an HDTV
HDTVs are usually very large and inexpensive (compared to a large monitor). Unfortunately the highest resolution HDTVs are 1920x1080 so the larger screen doesn't translate into greater resolution. However, HDTVs can be a possible option. In particular an HDTV mounted vertically can make it very easy to view an entire document--particularly for someone who likes things to be a bit bigger to make it easier on their eyes. A 30 inch HDTV will cost $500 to $1000.
