I use only the laptop monitor. Originally I did this because I did a lot of live support, and having to undock was a slight impediment to going to somebody's d

I use only the laptop monitor. Originally I did this because I did a lot of live support, and having to undock was a slight impediment to going to somebody's desk to work on an issue with them. The communication was more important. Once I got used to using just the monitor, I was happy having the same setup everywhere. Every now and then a manager tries to give me a giant monitor, but I just pass it off to the next engineer that might want one. There was another benefit, too. Even though I get that it's convenient to have docs/browser/editor up at once, I can really only LOOK at one thing at a time, and I found that I was getting lazy. If my brain can only hold things that I am actively looking at, then I'm not thinking very deeply about them. Now granted, I'm old. As I age I notice things like tiny short-cuts that make me a little weaker over time. In your 20s or 30s, you have almost infinite capacity. You may not notice the top line dropping a little bit. In my experience, external monitors made me a little weaker. Keeping my brain sharp allows me to keep up much better.