6 ms·

Why do you even need 3 monitors? That seems excessive.

by seungjulee 7y ago

cs02rm0 7y ago
Did strike me that one larger one might be easier.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
csomar 7y ago
If you are doing web dev, it's literally a must. One screen to type code, one screen for the browser, and one screen for the browser webdev tools. Sometimes I wish I have a forth screen for the documentation.
- justanotherc 7y ago
  Exactly, although I tend to find the third screen starts to push the limits of the convenience of having the real estate vs the inconvenience of having to turn my head too much. Sometimes I just set up my terminal windows to take up have the screen of my main (code) screen and alt+tab to it, and then just clicking on the IDE to bring it back on top. I go back and forth between using the 3rd and not depending on my mood.
  - tom_ 7y ago
    Try portrait monitors! I have 2 x 27" 1440x2560, and my laptop's hi-dpi screen as well. I found a landscape multi-monitor setup a bit much, but a portrait arrangement is fine. Doesn't feel like the amount of head turning required to use the side monitors is a problem. It's definitely most comfortable to look straight ahead while using the central monitor, but using the side ones isn't a big problem. They're good for more than just displaying documentation. (Total width of my setup is about the same as 3 x portrait 27" displays, so it feels like I have a reasonable idea how much head turning would be required for a better setup. Unfortunately, my laptop can only drive 2 external displays.) I've been using this setup for about 2 years now, and have no intention of going back. It's really great. (Portrait 1200p or 1080p isn't as good! The screen isn't quite wide enough. A lot of stuff assumes you have 1280+ pixels horizontally.)
- capableweb 7y ago
  It's really not a "must". Most of time it's a "nice to have", but trust me, lots of people do web dev with single screens and are as/more efficient than you with multiple screens. In fact, your efficiency has nothing to do with how many monitors you have.
- hinkley 7y ago
  OS X has some behavior that honestly gets into my way when I’m swapping back and forth between editing and doing command line work, but has a benefit when doing front-end work. Put the browser on screen two. Put your IDE and Dev tools on the main monitor. You aren’t really going to operate your IDE and the dev tools at exactly the same time. So you can write your code, flip to the browser, test and inspect your changes, and flip back when it doesn’t work. I have two monitors and my laptop screen, which is really 2.5 monitors. Since I upgraded one of the screens to a 27 inch, the real estate difference between that monitor and my laptop is so stark that I resist using the laptop screen at all. I really only use all three in a handful of situations. Screen juggling gets non-trivial when the work I’m doing involves command line tools with behavior showing up in a UI - either our UI, or our infrastructure (eg, modifying a build script that is breaking only in CI). Occasionally I have to keep a semi-active eye on our production stats while also progressing on other work. But only about 10% of the people in our program have to do that work, and we tend to tag team. I could almost do that work by bringing a tablet into the mix. But even still, the third screen would barely be necessary if I wasn’t taking little breaks all the time to do other work, like research, or to blow off steam on HN. My windows begin to get mixed up and hunting the right one down gets more complicated.
CosmicShadow 7y ago
No way dude. I don't know how anyone can get shit done with less than 3 monitors without wasting so much time. Maybe if you live and breath and were born on laptops you don't understand what you are missing, but to me and many others, it feels like running a race with one leg chopped off. It's just frustrating. Your comment just makes me angry. Really assholish.
Noumenon72 7y ago
I was happy with 2 when I developed on Windows -- I'd do all my work on one and presentations on the other. At my current job I have 2 but am feeling the need for 3 because I develop on a Linux VM, so I need one for the app or log I'm watching, one for the IDE, and one for Windows.
- erikig 7y ago
  Same - until I started using a 40inch 4K screen. Having more desktop real estate makes you think differently.
asdff 7y ago
Two horizontal and one vertical for reading documents is my ideal setup. If I only need one I only turn on one. Once you go big you are ruined and can't go back without feeling like you have tunnel vision.
tom_ 7y ago
Try it! You might just like it.
AlexCoventry 7y ago
I have three monitors, plus a honking great screen on the laptop I connect them to. I can live without them, and most of the time I don't need them, but cross-checking something with a flick of my eyes is very natural when I need to keep track of lots of far flung dependencies.

Why do you even need 3 monitors? That seems excessive.

cs02rm0 7y ago

Did strike me that one larger one might be easier.

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

csomar 7y ago

If you are doing web dev, it's literally a must. One screen to type code, one screen for the browser, and one screen for the browser webdev tools. Sometimes I wish I have a forth screen for the documentation.

justanotherc 7y ago
Exactly, although I tend to find the third screen starts to push the limits of the convenience of having the real estate vs the inconvenience of having to turn my head too much. Sometimes I just set up my terminal windows to take up have the screen of my main (code) screen and alt+tab to it, and then just clicking on the IDE to bring it back on top. I go back and forth between using the 3rd and not depending on my mood.
- tom_ 7y ago
  Try portrait monitors! I have 2 x 27" 1440x2560, and my laptop's hi-dpi screen as well. I found a landscape multi-monitor setup a bit much, but a portrait arrangement is fine. Doesn't feel like the amount of head turning required to use the side monitors is a problem. It's definitely most comfortable to look straight ahead while using the central monitor, but using the side ones isn't a big problem. They're good for more than just displaying documentation. (Total width of my setup is about the same as 3 x portrait 27" displays, so it feels like I have a reasonable idea how much head turning would be required for a better setup. Unfortunately, my laptop can only drive 2 external displays.) I've been using this setup for about 2 years now, and have no intention of going back. It's really great. (Portrait 1200p or 1080p isn't as good! The screen isn't quite wide enough. A lot of stuff assumes you have 1280+ pixels horizontally.)
capableweb 7y ago
It's really not a "must". Most of time it's a "nice to have", but trust me, lots of people do web dev with single screens and are as/more efficient than you with multiple screens. In fact, your efficiency has nothing to do with how many monitors you have.
hinkley 7y ago
OS X has some behavior that honestly gets into my way when I’m swapping back and forth between editing and doing command line work, but has a benefit when doing front-end work. Put the browser on screen two. Put your IDE and Dev tools on the main monitor. You aren’t really going to operate your IDE and the dev tools at exactly the same time. So you can write your code, flip to the browser, test and inspect your changes, and flip back when it doesn’t work. I have two monitors and my laptop screen, which is really 2.5 monitors. Since I upgraded one of the screens to a 27 inch, the real estate difference between that monitor and my laptop is so stark that I resist using the laptop screen at all. I really only use all three in a handful of situations. Screen juggling gets non-trivial when the work I’m doing involves command line tools with behavior showing up in a UI - either our UI, or our infrastructure (eg, modifying a build script that is breaking only in CI). Occasionally I have to keep a semi-active eye on our production stats while also progressing on other work. But only about 10% of the people in our program have to do that work, and we tend to tag team. I could almost do that work by bringing a tablet into the mix. But even still, the third screen would barely be necessary if I wasn’t taking little breaks all the time to do other work, like research, or to blow off steam on HN. My windows begin to get mixed up and hunting the right one down gets more complicated.

CosmicShadow 7y ago

No way dude. I don't know how anyone can get shit done with less than 3 monitors without wasting so much time. Maybe if you live and breath and were born on laptops you don't understand what you are missing, but to me and many others, it feels like running a race with one leg chopped off. It's just frustrating. Your comment just makes me angry. Really assholish.

Noumenon72 7y ago

I was happy with 2 when I developed on Windows -- I'd do all my work on one and presentations on the other. At my current job I have 2 but am feeling the need for 3 because I develop on a Linux VM, so I need one for the app or log I'm watching, one for the IDE, and one for Windows.

erikig 7y ago
Same - until I started using a 40inch 4K screen. Having more desktop real estate makes you think differently.

asdff 7y ago

Two horizontal and one vertical for reading documents is my ideal setup. If I only need one I only turn on one. Once you go big you are ruined and can't go back without feeling like you have tunnel vision.

tom_ 7y ago

Try it! You might just like it.

AlexCoventry 7y ago

I have three monitors, plus a honking great screen on the laptop I connect them to. I can live without them, and most of the time I don't need them, but cross-checking something with a flick of my eyes is very natural when I need to keep track of lots of far flung dependencies.