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Ask HN: What monitor setup do you prefer for writing code?

1 points by webmaven ↗ HN
Over the past few years I've seen a number of recommendations for multiple monitor setups, and I'm curious if any rough consensus has emerged concerning number of monitors, their arrangement, size(s), and orientation(s).

Also, is a laptop (and/or it's screen) incorporated in this setup when sitting at your desk, or do you use a desktop computer?

UPDATE: How does your use of virtual desktops interact with your monitor setup?

6 comments

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st3fan
It depends on the type of work for me.

I am super productive on a Dell 34" widescreen for Xcode work where I have Xcode and the iPhone simulator next to each other. Or when I have to write documents and can have three browsers side by side.

Multiple displays have never worked well for me. Too much to look at. I prefer to work on macOS and use different Spaces for different contexts. I disable the 'smart spaces ordering' and just three-finger swipe between a bunch of fixed spaces I have setup.

On the complete opposite side of this setup .. my most productive Go or C hacking has been on a small laptop with a fullscreen terminal or emacs window with the font size set to 15 or 17 or so. Nothing else on the screen, just code.

webmaven
How many lines of code can you typically see at once in Xcode on that widescreen monitor?
cmg
(I'm a web developer, for context.)

At home, I have a 27" Apple Thunderbolt Display, which sits directly in front of me. My 13" MacBook Pro is on the left. Email, tasks lists, Twitter, etc, will live on the laptop display while editors, terminals and browsers are on the main display.

At the office, I have a 27" Monoprice display (the equivalent of the Thunderbolt Display at 1/2 the cost) that sits directly in front of me, an Acer 23" display to the right, and my laptop sits to the left. Similar to home, email and Twitter are on the laptop, code/browsers/terminals are on the 27" display. Task lists are on the Acer, along with browser dev tools (because of the extra available space).

webmaven
Is it the same laptop at home and in the office?
inceptionnames
Currently I'm on a single 24" monitor and it's inadequate as I do coding, read documentation, manage Trello, FTP, have a dozen of so Chrome tabs opened, etc. Windows 10's side by side feature can be erratic but even when it works a 24" monitor doesn't have enough real estate for efficient work.

Two 24" would be great. maybe even 3 monitors but they wouldn't even fit on my desk and would probably require a lot of micro head movement.

webmaven
I've found that three monitors can definitely be overkill (especially if they are widescreen) unless at least one is rotated to portrait orientation.

However, I have never had more than two in my own day-to-day setup, so I'm not sure whether my visceral reaction would eventually pass.