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Ask HN: Is a multiple monitor setup significant to you when writing code?

12 points by crudx ↗ HN
It seems like everywhere I read people keep mentioning how important it is for them to work on multiple monitors (usually it's two or three) or one very big monitor (such as a 27" or 30"), and often I hear them saying "the bigger the better". I'm working on a notebook (15.4" display at 1440x900 screen resolution) and I'm pretty happy (or so I think). Alt+Tab doesn't bother me and I don't feel the need to have two or three or one gigantic monitor. Are there any of you who agree with me? How big of a productivity boost does your big setup give you (try being objective please) ?

13 comments

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frou_dh
All I like is a good amount of pixels and easy keyboard shortcuts for moving and tiling windows. Those pixels can either be on multiple physical screens, or just one with a good (say 1920x1200) resolution.

Being able to have 2, 3 or 4 editor/browser/shell/whatever windows tiled and visible isn't essential, but it's a way of working you miss once you've gotten used to it.

metachris
I personally find multiple monitors distracting if I don't need to follow lots of log output simultaneously. The 27" Dell U2711 [1] with 2560x1440 works perfectly for me, and is pretty much the only monitor with this resolution in an acceptable price range (~$800). On this screen there is enough space for Eclipse, two Android emulators, and part of a terminal showing the logs, for instance.

A 17" display with about 1920x1200 also just works for me. I find lower resolutions very hard to work with.

[1] http://www.anandtech.com/show/2922

bartonfink
I don't particularly care about having multiple monitors or even a large monitor. I use virtual desktops with keyboard shortcuts I've configured to facilitate easy switching, and I find that suits my workflow best. If I had a larger monitor, I might use fewer virtual desktops, but the virtual desktop is free whereas the larger monitor isn't. I just don't see the return.
rshm
I feel small screen quite suffocating.

i currently have two 22". (Samsung PX2370). Thinking of switching to one 27" apple cinema. If any one have done same or other way around, please share your experience.

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j45
It is absolutely critical. The 30-40% productivity gain per monitor is absolutely true.

My setups have included:

Three 19" screens at 1280x1024. This was uber productive. Reference/communication on the left screen, code in the middle screen, test on the right screen.

Now I'm running a 23" Samsung and a 27" Asus. I use the 27" to code and the 23" to read/test on. The 27" has a 1920x1080 resolution but larger type causes less strain on my eyes.

Where do I think I'm going to end up? Buying a 27" iMac and using it as a Target Display Mode for my next Macbook Air. I think I could do it all on one 27".

katem
30-40% productivity gain per monitor? Can you cite that?
[dead] mfdoom
Once I started using multiple monitors for software development, I never looked back.
caw
At my previous job I had 2x 19", and that worked great because I could run my VM in one screen and everything else on the other. When I developed, I just switched to another virtual desktop and ran eclipse and a browser.

At my current job I have a 24" and a 19". I'm not sure about the extra 19" and how much that gains me, but I'm stuck in VNC all day so I can't alt-tab like normal folks.

My 22" 1680x1050 monitor at home is a bit lacking sometimes for pixel space, but I manage to get stuff done with it.

smtlaissezfaire
I guess it probably depends what you are planning on doing with the extra monitor.

I've been happy with one monitor and alt-tab (CMD-tab on OS X) for a long time, but recently I've realized that the extra monitor comes in really handy for certain things. For me, that's having chrome open in one window and the chrome inspector in the other (this allows me to concurrently see + play with the DOM/css/js without it crowding the display).

When I have two monitors and I'm doing this sort of work, I never say to myself: "Oh man, I'm being so productive". But when I'm without the second one, I certainly miss it and feel less productive.

asher_
It makes a huge difference in my experience. I use a 30" most of the time with side-by side, but occasionally use one (sometimes two) of my side monitors (20" in portrait) if the need arises. It is rare for me to use more than just the 30", but if you think about what you'd like to be visible it could be as much as; code, browser, specs/reqs sheet and api/library documentation.

I am getting a laptop for coding soon and plan to get an external USB display to complement it for this reason.

To the OP; just try using two displays for a couple of hours. You'll never go back.

mlarratt
Multi monitor? No.

2 million pixels or more? Yes.

More importantly IMHO: Bind as much window management to your keyboard as possible.