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I just joined a company as a junior data scientist. There's around ten data scientists and the company recently supplied us with very high-end PC's. My issue is that they haven't upgraded the monitors. The monitors are very average and slightly outdated, the small resolution strains your eyes and I feel a newer, bigger and higher resolution monitor would be beneficial.

I thought of asking the relevant equipment supervisor to upgrade the monitors for my whole team, thus all ten people, which would be an ideal scenario. However what if they refuse? I could purchase the monitor myself but I would not feel comfortable having a better setup than people around me.

Is it appropriate for me to ask this considering I just joined, and should I ask myself for the whole team? Any advice?

EDIT: Just to give you the perspective; the computer costs $5000 while the monitor costs $100.

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  • Do the other team members have issues with their monitors? – sf02 Aug 9 '19 at 14:46
  • @sf02 nobody mentioned anything, although I've only been there for a week. The monitors don't have an issue per se, its just something that would make sense to upgrade considering they upgraded the computers a few weeks ago. Just to give you an idea, the computer costs $5000 while the monitor costs $100. – MilTom Aug 9 '19 at 14:49
  • It should be noted that if the resolution on your current monitor is making it hard to read text, a higher-resolution monitor will make it even smaller! But most operating systems have settings that allow you to change that. Try adjusting your settings first. Or are you really looking for more screen real estate? – Seth R Aug 9 '19 at 15:25
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Generally, you just ask for yourself and let the team sort things out for themselves.

Typically, you'd ask your manager first as there might be departmental cost codes and approval processes for this kind of thing.

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When you ask it for the entire team, it looks like you're not having any problems but just want better monitors.That may or may not work as the managers may not see any benefits to your request other than wasting money. It may also backfire on you as other team members may like their monitors and now the new guy just changed it around for no reason they can figure out. A change as something as simple as a keyboard/mouse can anger many people and I think there was a topic on that in workplace stack as well.

Instead, I would just explain the issue you're having with the monitor and request a new one (if they have any around). That way you're specifically stating a problem you're having and they understand that and can help you.

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Make the case to your boss that you need a higher resolution monitor (or three) so that you can work more efficiently. Any decent boss, once aware of that request, will talk to the rest of the team to see if they need a similar upgrade.

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