Monitor size?
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Monitor envy?
Gary Kirkham Forever Forgiven and Alive in the Spirit He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose. - Jim Elliot Me blog, You read
Panel envy.
Software Zen:
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I currently use a 17'' lcd monitor, I'm in visual Studio all day pretty much. I'm thinking of going to a bigger monitor but I'm not sure if there is any real advantage to it. Currently my monitor is fairly close, about an arms length away or less if I'm leaning in. I hate having multiple windows in view at the same time and always run them full screen and swap instead. That would not change no matter how large my monitor is because I like to focus on one thing at a time. Is there any real advantage to having a bigger monitor for Visual Studio? And what size are you using for programming?
Cum catapultae proscriptae erunt tum soli proscripti catapultas habebunt
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I currently use a 17'' lcd monitor, I'm in visual Studio all day pretty much. I'm thinking of going to a bigger monitor but I'm not sure if there is any real advantage to it. Currently my monitor is fairly close, about an arms length away or less if I'm leaning in. I hate having multiple windows in view at the same time and always run them full screen and swap instead. That would not change no matter how large my monitor is because I like to focus on one thing at a time. Is there any real advantage to having a bigger monitor for Visual Studio? And what size are you using for programming?
Cum catapultae proscriptae erunt tum soli proscripti catapultas habebunt
I believe it really does help. Take your Visual Studio example, on a widescreen 17" laptop you are only able to see about 33 lines of code... what I have is a 21" monitor turned vertically and I can see about 86 lines of code...roughly the same resolution. The fact that I'm not scrolling around and am able to see a TON more code is great. Below is an article I found and an excerpt that I used to get justification for them to pony up the dough to buy it for me at work. It was a real pain, but that's another thread. Buy the monitor! Article ---- Gloria Mark, a University of California at Irvine instructor, later hired by Microsoft research labs and Mary Czerwinski who worked for NASA did an article on productivity. Here is the highlight -- The researchers took 15 volunteers, sat each one in front of a regular-size 15-inch monitor and had them complete a variety of tasks designed to challenge their powers of concentration - like a Web search, some cutting and pasting and memorizing a seven-digit phone number. Then the volunteers repeated these same tasks, this time using a computer with a massive 42-inch screen, as big as a plasma TV. The results? On the bigger screen, people completed the tasks at least 10 percent more quickly - and some as much as 44 percent more quickly. They were also more likely to remember the seven-digit number, which showed that the multitasking was clearly less taxing on their brains. Some of the volunteers were so enthralled with the huge screen that they begged to take it home. In two decades of research, Czerwinski had never seen a single tweak to a computer system so significantly improve a user's productivity. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/16/magazine/16guru.html?ei=5090&en=c8985a80d74cefc1&ex=1287115200&adxnnl=1&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&pagewanted=all&adxnnlx=1129521853-ar/Jp1qnf0XCl9MGUEiLGA
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I currently use a 17'' lcd monitor, I'm in visual Studio all day pretty much. I'm thinking of going to a bigger monitor but I'm not sure if there is any real advantage to it. Currently my monitor is fairly close, about an arms length away or less if I'm leaning in. I hate having multiple windows in view at the same time and always run them full screen and swap instead. That would not change no matter how large my monitor is because I like to focus on one thing at a time. Is there any real advantage to having a bigger monitor for Visual Studio? And what size are you using for programming?
Cum catapultae proscriptae erunt tum soli proscripti catapultas habebunt
See what Jeff Atwood has here. Of course, he has been green with envy :P
I myself just bought a 20" Samsung SyncMaster 206BW. I'm yet to hook it up but mutliple monitors are of no use unless they are all the same height. At work I use a 20" CRT with my Dell Precision laptop docked in. Keeping Outlook open there is the only constant. I hardly use it otherwise. VS.Net 2008 seems to have better dual/multi monitor support. Regards, Vyas
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I currently use a 17'' lcd monitor, I'm in visual Studio all day pretty much. I'm thinking of going to a bigger monitor but I'm not sure if there is any real advantage to it. Currently my monitor is fairly close, about an arms length away or less if I'm leaning in. I hate having multiple windows in view at the same time and always run them full screen and swap instead. That would not change no matter how large my monitor is because I like to focus on one thing at a time. Is there any real advantage to having a bigger monitor for Visual Studio? And what size are you using for programming?
Cum catapultae proscriptae erunt tum soli proscripti catapultas habebunt
I have a 19" ViewSonic CRT (E90f) running at 1280x1024; nice monitor BTW. I used to use a 17" running at 1024x768, and going from the 17 to the 19 was like night and day. The real advantage is screen real estate. The larger the screen, the higher the resolution, the more text fits onto the screen at one time. Of course, the downside to this is, you might not actually be able to read the font. If I were getting a new monitor today, I would try to get a larger LCD than 19; perhaps even wide screen; I would stick with ViewSonic, because I've yet to have a single bad monitor from them. FYI - not sure this has been said or not, obviously, just getting a better monitor isn't enough ... you have to have a video card that can support the desired higher resolution, color depth and refresh rate. e.g., 1280x1024 @ 60 hertz is going to give you a headache by the end of the day 1280x1024 @ 75 hertz is easy on the eyes My 2c
:..::. Douglas H. Troy ::..
Bad Astronomy |VCF|wxWidgets|WTL -
I currently use a 17'' lcd monitor, I'm in visual Studio all day pretty much. I'm thinking of going to a bigger monitor but I'm not sure if there is any real advantage to it. Currently my monitor is fairly close, about an arms length away or less if I'm leaning in. I hate having multiple windows in view at the same time and always run them full screen and swap instead. That would not change no matter how large my monitor is because I like to focus on one thing at a time. Is there any real advantage to having a bigger monitor for Visual Studio? And what size are you using for programming?
Cum catapultae proscriptae erunt tum soli proscripti catapultas habebunt
One thing not mentioned so far is the refresh rate. 60 hz is a real problem for us "near 40 guys" that have been programming/gaming for a long time. My optometrist recommended always running at a 75 hz refresh and use weaker glasses. I use a 22" dell at work and, when spanned out fully, the maximum refresh rate is 60. So, my 22" is reduced down to about a 20" so I get a good refresh rate. I use this with a laptop monitor along the side. If you are going to use just one monitor, I found it very helpful for it to have a wide screen so that all the side bars (solution explorer, etc)can be expanded without crunching the code. Also, when I use a lcd monitor (especially the large ones), I look for a lead vest before I turn it on.
Joel Palmer Data Integration Application Developer www.Novaspect.com
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I currently use a 17'' lcd monitor, I'm in visual Studio all day pretty much. I'm thinking of going to a bigger monitor but I'm not sure if there is any real advantage to it. Currently my monitor is fairly close, about an arms length away or less if I'm leaning in. I hate having multiple windows in view at the same time and always run them full screen and swap instead. That would not change no matter how large my monitor is because I like to focus on one thing at a time. Is there any real advantage to having a bigger monitor for Visual Studio? And what size are you using for programming?
Cum catapultae proscriptae erunt tum soli proscripti catapultas habebunt
John Cardinal wrote:
And what size are you using for programming?
dual 30inch 2560x1600 on an 8800GTX OC. Advantages in big? other than fittng more? not much, but it can fit a LOT! Advantage in two displays, VERY significant for development. No one on my team has fewer than 2 monitors. As long as I have some influence, this will continue. Dual monitors allow running on one monitor and developing/debugging on the other. For debugging and tracing, and performance monitoring this is VERY efficient. There are some frame rate drops for using dual monitor on a single card, but if we need a full-speed evaluation, we just turn off one monitor, adjust efficiency for single monitor, and blast out a speed check. But for full development, my personal opinion is no developer should have less than two of what ever size. Dual 30 inch is just well... eye candy. :) mmmmm candy!!
_________________________ Asu no koto o ieba, tenjo de nezumi ga warau. Talk about things of tomorrow and the mice in the ceiling laugh. (Japanese Proverb)
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I currently use a 17'' lcd monitor, I'm in visual Studio all day pretty much. I'm thinking of going to a bigger monitor but I'm not sure if there is any real advantage to it. Currently my monitor is fairly close, about an arms length away or less if I'm leaning in. I hate having multiple windows in view at the same time and always run them full screen and swap instead. That would not change no matter how large my monitor is because I like to focus on one thing at a time. Is there any real advantage to having a bigger monitor for Visual Studio? And what size are you using for programming?
Cum catapultae proscriptae erunt tum soli proscripti catapultas habebunt
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norm .net wrote:
30" Dell
Only one? ;) Talk to your boss about the advantage of two.
_________________________ Asu no koto o ieba, tenjo de nezumi ga warau. Talk about things of tomorrow and the mice in the ceiling laugh. (Japanese Proverb)
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I have two 32" 30" monitors. I don't think that there is any real advantage for programming, I am just here to brag. :-D -- modified at 11:35 Monday 15th October, 2007
Gary Kirkham Forever Forgiven and Alive in the Spirit He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose. - Jim Elliot Me blog, You read
Gary Kirkham wrote:
I have two 32" monitors.
got me beat. Who makes the 32" and at what resolutions? you run single card, dual monitor or dual to dual?
_________________________ Asu no koto o ieba, tenjo de nezumi ga warau. Talk about things of tomorrow and the mice in the ceiling laugh. (Japanese Proverb)
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2x 20" (1600x1200) HP LCDs on the desktop. Laptop is 17" 1920x1200 plus a 19" at 1280,1024. Different coloured mice help me find the right cursor when they're side-by-side. I also do AutoCAD on these computers so that matters too. It's definitely a plus to be able to see more without scrolling. I agree with a post above - pixel count matters more than size. Also, with small pixels & small text, when it gets blurry then you're too tired - go to bed! It's a shame my Quadro will only drive 1 of the HP 30-inch displays - 2 of them would be sweet! Did someone say "SLI" ?
It wasn't me, It was the Others. It was the Others, Not Me.
DontSailBackwards wrote:
Did someone say "SLI" ?
Unfortunately two cards in SLI will still only power one monitor as far as I know. This is a significant complaint that nVidia is attempting to address, but I have not kept up to see if they fixed it or will fix it in the next release. Last I heard they were just going to try to fix it with the next hardware release. I guess they figured you either wanted two monitors, or two cards, and if you wanted two cards with two monitors, you just pull the SLI and let one card render each display (which is pretty nice).
_________________________ Asu no koto o ieba, tenjo de nezumi ga warau. Talk about things of tomorrow and the mice in the ceiling laugh. (Japanese Proverb)
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Gary Kirkham wrote:
I have two 32" monitors.
got me beat. Who makes the 32" and at what resolutions? you run single card, dual monitor or dual to dual?
_________________________ Asu no koto o ieba, tenjo de nezumi ga warau. Talk about things of tomorrow and the mice in the ceiling laugh. (Japanese Proverb)
I'm going to wag and say the 32's are LCD TVs with either DVI input or DVI to HDMI converters. 13xx by 768 is a popular resolution for doing that although the thought of sitting close to big chunky pixels again makes me recoil in horror. :rolleyes:
-- If you view money as inherently evil, I view it as my duty to assist in making you more virtuous.
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norm .net wrote:
30" Dell
Only one? ;) Talk to your boss about the advantage of two.
_________________________ Asu no koto o ieba, tenjo de nezumi ga warau. Talk about things of tomorrow and the mice in the ceiling laugh. (Japanese Proverb)
El Corazon wrote:
norm .net wrote: 30" Dell Only one? Talk to your boss about the advantage of two.
And the boss will reply back with the advantages of not getting a paycheck for next week to finance it. :doh:
-- If you view money as inherently evil, I view it as my duty to assist in making you more virtuous.
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I currently use a 17'' lcd monitor, I'm in visual Studio all day pretty much. I'm thinking of going to a bigger monitor but I'm not sure if there is any real advantage to it. Currently my monitor is fairly close, about an arms length away or less if I'm leaning in. I hate having multiple windows in view at the same time and always run them full screen and swap instead. That would not change no matter how large my monitor is because I like to focus on one thing at a time. Is there any real advantage to having a bigger monitor for Visual Studio? And what size are you using for programming?
Cum catapultae proscriptae erunt tum soli proscripti catapultas habebunt
At home: 17(16)" CRT 1600x1200 and 15.4" LCD 1280x800. At work: 19x LCD 1280x1024 and 19(18)" CRT at 1600x1200. New monitors starting to show up at work are 24" 1920x1200. A form factor that IMO is a total loss. Unless you sit far enough back that the angular size is the same as a small one it's too wide to read a line of text spanning the entire display, but doesn't have the pixel count to be nicely split into two logical displays (assuming such software exists). Until prices on 30" displays drop significantly I don't want anything larger than a good 20" display. EDIT: for personal use the 30" 2560x1600 would also be contingent on a sub $250gfx card being able to run games at reasonable quality settings. $1000 for an SLI setup is out of the question.
-- If you view money as inherently evil, I view it as my duty to assist in making you more virtuous.
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I currently use a 17'' lcd monitor, I'm in visual Studio all day pretty much. I'm thinking of going to a bigger monitor but I'm not sure if there is any real advantage to it. Currently my monitor is fairly close, about an arms length away or less if I'm leaning in. I hate having multiple windows in view at the same time and always run them full screen and swap instead. That would not change no matter how large my monitor is because I like to focus on one thing at a time. Is there any real advantage to having a bigger monitor for Visual Studio? And what size are you using for programming?
Cum catapultae proscriptae erunt tum soli proscripti catapultas habebunt
John Cardinal wrote:
And what size are you using for programming?
I use a single, 17" LCD at home and at work.
"A good athlete is the result of a good and worthy opponent." - David Crow
"To have a respect for ourselves guides our morals; to have deference for others governs our manners." - Laurence Sterne
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I'm going to wag and say the 32's are LCD TVs with either DVI input or DVI to HDMI converters. 13xx by 768 is a popular resolution for doing that although the thought of sitting close to big chunky pixels again makes me recoil in horror. :rolleyes:
-- If you view money as inherently evil, I view it as my duty to assist in making you more virtuous.
dan neely wrote:
13xx by 768 is a popular resolution for doing that although the thought of sitting close to big chunky pixels again makes me recoil in horror.
:omg::wtf::omg::wtf: You know, I could never explain that to my boss. He just laughed. We have a 52" plasma outside my office for demos, we have a 32" LCD as well. I take them to presentations, but have never tried to ask for them for my desk. My boss joked that I would steal the 52" plasma right away, but at 1340x768? X| X| Sorry, I like to actually have some "resolution" to my screen. I have never needed a real-time stained glass display. Presentations, where everyone is standing back? no problem, love the brightness, go for it. But I don't want a 52" on my desk.
_________________________ Asu no koto o ieba, tenjo de nezumi ga warau. Talk about things of tomorrow and the mice in the ceiling laugh. (Japanese Proverb)
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I currently use a 17'' lcd monitor, I'm in visual Studio all day pretty much. I'm thinking of going to a bigger monitor but I'm not sure if there is any real advantage to it. Currently my monitor is fairly close, about an arms length away or less if I'm leaning in. I hate having multiple windows in view at the same time and always run them full screen and swap instead. That would not change no matter how large my monitor is because I like to focus on one thing at a time. Is there any real advantage to having a bigger monitor for Visual Studio? And what size are you using for programming?
Cum catapultae proscriptae erunt tum soli proscripti catapultas habebunt
I have a 17 and a 22. I develop with visual studio 2005, and I like the 22 because I can leave my two side panels open and not have them interfer with my code area. I have it set at 1680x1050. I think 22's are the optimum.
Programmer Glenn Earl Graham Austin, TX
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Gary Kirkham wrote:
I have two 32" monitors.
got me beat. Who makes the 32" and at what resolutions? you run single card, dual monitor or dual to dual?
_________________________ Asu no koto o ieba, tenjo de nezumi ga warau. Talk about things of tomorrow and the mice in the ceiling laugh. (Japanese Proverb)
It's two Apple Cinema displays running 2560 X 1600 resolution. It requires 2-dual DVI's (nVidia Quadro FX 3500) Actually my memory was a little foggy, they are 30" displays
Gary Kirkham Forever Forgiven and Alive in the Spirit He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose. - Jim Elliot Me blog, You read
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Personally, I think that above about 19" the screen starts to get too big to be able to see at a glance. However, the *big* gain is when you have two monitors. I can't believe that some posters say that there is no advantage to this. I will never again try to debug a GUI application without two monitors. Imagine the situation... there is an annoying bug that only appears when when a sequence of messages appears in the message queue. You don't know quite what it is, so you set a breakpoint after the first (known) message arrives. You run through the application. Bang! You hit it... and your IDE pops up in front of the application being debugged, causing a host of extra messages to be places in your application's message queue. That's why two screens are useful.
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I currently use a 17'' lcd monitor, I'm in visual Studio all day pretty much. I'm thinking of going to a bigger monitor but I'm not sure if there is any real advantage to it. Currently my monitor is fairly close, about an arms length away or less if I'm leaning in. I hate having multiple windows in view at the same time and always run them full screen and swap instead. That would not change no matter how large my monitor is because I like to focus on one thing at a time. Is there any real advantage to having a bigger monitor for Visual Studio? And what size are you using for programming?
Cum catapultae proscriptae erunt tum soli proscripti catapultas habebunt
I use 2 Dell 20" wide screen 1680x1050 LCDs (2005FPW/2007WFP). I would highly suggest multiple hi-res monitors over 1 larger monitor. Inches are not as important as pixels! As you said, you like to keep things maximized. One screen can have studio maxed on it. The other screen can have the app you are debugging running on it, or email, or docs. You get the idea. You will find your optimal layout. The one thing I have found exceptionally powerful with multiple monitors is the ability to debug draw issues that are vitually impossible to debug on a single monitor. Swapping back and forth between the debugger and the app on one screen completely messes up the paint/message sequence!