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I have 4 screens on my desk. From left to right: Vertical oriented 1080p: chat windows, sometimes replaced by multiple command line windows. Horizontal 4K: Em

I have 4 screens on my desk. From left to right: Vertical oriented 1080p: chat windows, sometimes replaced by multiple command line windows. Horizontal 4K: Emacs, Visual Studio Code, Browser with repositories/jira, command line windows. Horizontal 4K: Browser with documentation, secondary VS Code windows, Outlook, Teams. Macbook Pro screen: Finder, calculator, more command line windows. Most of my "main" work takes place in the 2 horizontal 4K screens. The other 2 screens are "secondary" information. Having that much screen real estate allows me to more easily collect and arrange the information I need to do my job. If I could change anything, it would be getting a 24 inch 4K screen to replace the vertical one, and having a higher refresh rate than 60Hz on all my screens. I hope that one day 8K screens become affordable, because I'd love even sharper text. Reading on the vertical 1080p screen seems fuzzy compared to the 4K screens. (Which is definitely a "first world problem"!!)

amelius 6y ago
You must feel seriously under-equipped when working anywhere else than your desk ;)
- bloopernova 6y ago
  I sometimes have to rough it with only a single exterior screen! Once I had to work on only the laptop by itself. The Horror! ;) But, more seriously since this is HN: While the extra screens are great, as is the mouse and mechanical keyboard, it's not much of a hassle at all to work in a different location. I think the extra screens, desk space, peripherals, all go towards making me more comfortable rather than efficient. Which for me, rocking the oh-so-annoying ADHD along with nerve and back pain, means I can focus on work for that much longer in one session. I should be working from home at least until mid 2021, hopefully much longer or even permanently. A good working environment can really improve your mental health at a time when, in the USA especially, things are incredibly stressful.
  - Gene_Parmesan 6y ago
    Hello from another ADHD sufferer. Interestingly though I fall on the other side of the remote work issue - I cannot wait to return to the office. My brain is quite stubborn about categorizing spaces; my computer room at home is where I do some side project programming and a fair amount of gaming. Having to try to recategorize it as a working space has proven impossible, and I don't really have any other space in this house, with my wife also working remotely. Besides, more generally the drive to the office helps put me in work mode. The whole office building is a place where work happens. Then the drive home helps put me in leisure mode. Without those neatly coded space/time contexts I have been seriously struggling. Everybody that keeps talking about how the world is going remote has been giving me a fair amount of anxiety. If I lose my office I'm not sure how I'm going to function. Besides, my coworkers and I miss seeing each other and being able to work together in person. We don't do much pair programming, but when we do, trying to do so over screen share has proven to be significantly less productive. But then again, I am lucky to have an amazing team of people who I genuinely enjoy being around, and who are all very respectful of quiet time to work when needed. I'm also definitely an introvert but maybe less so than the average dev.. I miss social contact!
forty 6y ago
Sometimes I feel like in a diferent world than everyone else. I'm really happy with my 1080p devices, and upgrading them to higher resolution would feel like a waste of resources to me (I don't have especially bad eye sight, but on 1080p things are already small enough to my taste) (Of course I'm talking only about computer monitor, for very big TV screens or for screens that I have 10cm from my nose it's a different story)
- ec109685 6y ago
  I find that I am more sensitive to low resolution when I don’t have my contacts in since it takes a blurry image and makes it blurrier.
- bloopernova 6y ago
  For me personally, it is only really noticeable when I shift my eyes from one of the middle 4K screens to the 1080p screen. I am a little picky about fonts and their display though. The higher resolution the screen, the better. I have my Emacs configuration using a bunch of different fonts and sizes/weights/etc for my Org-mode, Terraform, TypeScript, and other editing. For example, when a todo item is put into "in progress" the heading is slightly larger and bolder, and when that item is complete, marking it "done" changes the text to italic, extra-light, and grey to reduce its visibility. Time spent messing around with fonts is definitely an expression of ADHD and active procrastination, but I do get a pleasing effect from it! :)
- pbalau 6y ago
  Just got (as in, 2-3 hours ago) a new 4k display (32") to add to my 2x22" setup. My eyes are already happier. I'm using windows with scale set to 150% (for the 4k display) and 100% for the other 2.
  - bloopernova 6y ago
    I use 200% for my 4K screens, but I'm also older (late 40s) with poor eyesight.
- throwawayboise 6y ago

amelius 6y ago

You must feel seriously under-equipped when working anywhere else than your desk ;)

bloopernova 6y ago
I sometimes have to rough it with only a single exterior screen! Once I had to work on only the laptop by itself. The Horror! ;) But, more seriously since this is HN: While the extra screens are great, as is the mouse and mechanical keyboard, it's not much of a hassle at all to work in a different location. I think the extra screens, desk space, peripherals, all go towards making me more comfortable rather than efficient. Which for me, rocking the oh-so-annoying ADHD along with nerve and back pain, means I can focus on work for that much longer in one session. I should be working from home at least until mid 2021, hopefully much longer or even permanently. A good working environment can really improve your mental health at a time when, in the USA especially, things are incredibly stressful.
- Gene_Parmesan 6y ago
  Hello from another ADHD sufferer. Interestingly though I fall on the other side of the remote work issue - I cannot wait to return to the office. My brain is quite stubborn about categorizing spaces; my computer room at home is where I do some side project programming and a fair amount of gaming. Having to try to recategorize it as a working space has proven impossible, and I don't really have any other space in this house, with my wife also working remotely. Besides, more generally the drive to the office helps put me in work mode. The whole office building is a place where work happens. Then the drive home helps put me in leisure mode. Without those neatly coded space/time contexts I have been seriously struggling. Everybody that keeps talking about how the world is going remote has been giving me a fair amount of anxiety. If I lose my office I'm not sure how I'm going to function. Besides, my coworkers and I miss seeing each other and being able to work together in person. We don't do much pair programming, but when we do, trying to do so over screen share has proven to be significantly less productive. But then again, I am lucky to have an amazing team of people who I genuinely enjoy being around, and who are all very respectful of quiet time to work when needed. I'm also definitely an introvert but maybe less so than the average dev.. I miss social contact!

forty 6y ago

Sometimes I feel like in a diferent world than everyone else. I'm really happy with my 1080p devices, and upgrading them to higher resolution would feel like a waste of resources to me (I don't have especially bad eye sight, but on 1080p things are already small enough to my taste) (Of course I'm talking only about computer monitor, for very big TV screens or for screens that I have 10cm from my nose it's a different story)

ec109685 6y ago
I find that I am more sensitive to low resolution when I don’t have my contacts in since it takes a blurry image and makes it blurrier.
bloopernova 6y ago
For me personally, it is only really noticeable when I shift my eyes from one of the middle 4K screens to the 1080p screen. I am a little picky about fonts and their display though. The higher resolution the screen, the better. I have my Emacs configuration using a bunch of different fonts and sizes/weights/etc for my Org-mode, Terraform, TypeScript, and other editing. For example, when a todo item is put into "in progress" the heading is slightly larger and bolder, and when that item is complete, marking it "done" changes the text to italic, extra-light, and grey to reduce its visibility. Time spent messing around with fonts is definitely an expression of ADHD and active procrastination, but I do get a pleasing effect from it! :)
pbalau 6y ago
Just got (as in, 2-3 hours ago) a new 4k display (32") to add to my 2x22" setup. My eyes are already happier. I'm using windows with scale set to 150% (for the 4k display) and 100% for the other 2.
- bloopernova 6y ago
  I use 200% for my 4K screens, but I'm also older (late 40s) with poor eyesight.
throwawayboise 6y ago