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Bizarrely I've actually found that having a large single display makes me less productive as a programmer as too much head movement is required to see everythin

Bizarrely I've actually found that having a large single display makes me less productive as a programmer as too much head movement is required to see everything and I prefer to focus on a single file at time to keep everything mindful. In the cases that I do need to compare two files side by side at the same time or have documentation open I have a secondary monitor for the additional window. I've also learned that having a monitor that has the correct dpi ratio verses screen resolution verses screen size is more important than cramming the most number of pixels into a specific screen size. Especially if you want to avoid eye strain.

scarecrowbob 13y ago
FWIW, I have the same experience. I work with a 19" next to my 15" MBP, and I really only look at the MBP for things like "oh there is a new email", and then if it requires a lot of looking, I pull it onto the larger screen. I am sure that there are all kinds of ways that I could optimize this so that I use both monitors (I'm open to suggestions), but I keep coming back to the single monitor plus "occasional other stuff". That said, I much prefer having the two monitors to only using the MBP...
userbinator 13y ago
> I've also learned that having a monitor that has the correct dpi ratio verses screen resolution verses screen size is more important than cramming the most number of pixels into a specific screen size. Especially if you want to avoid eye strain. Definitely. The "retina" fad of higher and higher resolutions, combined with bigger screen sizes, means that you can get plenty of tiny text on a screen, but that doesn't mean you can comfortably read it at a good viewing distance. So you turn the font size up... and wonder why you need such a high DPI since you'd just be seeing the same amount of text as before. I prefer multiple monitors over one huge one, since I can position them so they're all easy to see and a relatively constant distance from my eyes (i.e. in an arc). One huge flat surface means that looking at the corners requires large head movements since that distance increases much more.
- tempestn 13y ago
  I totally agree about multiple angled monitors being more comfortable and practical than a single large display, but there is value to a high DPI display even if you increase your scaling. Everything is clearer. (Well, text and anything that includes high-res images, anyway.) That makes it more comfortable to real/look at, even at the same or slightly smaller size.
- saurik 13y ago
  The point of "retina" displays is not to fit more content onto the screen, but to remove the pixelation of the screen in order to make it more like paper: the "retina" devices from Apple render content at exactly the same "font size" as the "non-retina" devices, the fonts are simply crisper.
- hrjet 13y ago
  > So you turn the font size up... and wonder why you need such a high DPI since you'd just be seeing the same amount of text as before. Coincidentally, I was thinking about this in a different context today. One advantage of a larger monitor + big fonts over a smaller monitor with small fonts is that viewing distance is greater in the former. A larger viewing distance is easier on the eyes and optical system, in my layman opinion. The parallax error is less and the focusing muscles in the eye fatigue less.
grogenaut 13y ago
Exactly on the density. This is why I'm interested in the 39 or even the 50" 4k tvs. The 50" ones are the size of a desk, and with a standing desk I think it'd be pretty great. I'm waiting to get work to buy one for a wallboard first before paying for it myself though. And then there are those 2 U2714's that I have. Man those are gorgeous.
cma 13y ago
Using a tiling window manager like Awesome, etc, you can have recent screens show up in the sweet spot and everything else pops back to the periphery over time, etc. And have different behaviors for different virtual screens or pops a window out to floating mode any time.

scarecrowbob 13y ago

FWIW, I have the same experience. I work with a 19" next to my 15" MBP, and I really only look at the MBP for things like "oh there is a new email", and then if it requires a lot of looking, I pull it onto the larger screen. I am sure that there are all kinds of ways that I could optimize this so that I use both monitors (I'm open to suggestions), but I keep coming back to the single monitor plus "occasional other stuff". That said, I much prefer having the two monitors to only using the MBP...

userbinator 13y ago

> I've also learned that having a monitor that has the correct dpi ratio verses screen resolution verses screen size is more important than cramming the most number of pixels into a specific screen size. Especially if you want to avoid eye strain. Definitely. The "retina" fad of higher and higher resolutions, combined with bigger screen sizes, means that you can get plenty of tiny text on a screen, but that doesn't mean you can comfortably read it at a good viewing distance. So you turn the font size up... and wonder why you need such a high DPI since you'd just be seeing the same amount of text as before. I prefer multiple monitors over one huge one, since I can position them so they're all easy to see and a relatively constant distance from my eyes (i.e. in an arc). One huge flat surface means that looking at the corners requires large head movements since that distance increases much more.

tempestn 13y ago
I totally agree about multiple angled monitors being more comfortable and practical than a single large display, but there is value to a high DPI display even if you increase your scaling. Everything is clearer. (Well, text and anything that includes high-res images, anyway.) That makes it more comfortable to real/look at, even at the same or slightly smaller size.
saurik 13y ago
The point of "retina" displays is not to fit more content onto the screen, but to remove the pixelation of the screen in order to make it more like paper: the "retina" devices from Apple render content at exactly the same "font size" as the "non-retina" devices, the fonts are simply crisper.
hrjet 13y ago
> So you turn the font size up... and wonder why you need such a high DPI since you'd just be seeing the same amount of text as before. Coincidentally, I was thinking about this in a different context today. One advantage of a larger monitor + big fonts over a smaller monitor with small fonts is that viewing distance is greater in the former. A larger viewing distance is easier on the eyes and optical system, in my layman opinion. The parallax error is less and the focusing muscles in the eye fatigue less.

grogenaut 13y ago

Exactly on the density. This is why I'm interested in the 39 or even the 50" 4k tvs. The 50" ones are the size of a desk, and with a standing desk I think it'd be pretty great. I'm waiting to get work to buy one for a wallboard first before paying for it myself though. And then there are those 2 U2714's that I have. Man those are gorgeous.

cma 13y ago

Using a tiling window manager like Awesome, etc, you can have recent screens show up in the sweet spot and everything else pops back to the periphery over time, etc. And have different behaviors for different virtual screens or pops a window out to floating mode any time.