Monitor size?
-
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
-
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
Gary Kirkham wrote:
It's two Apple Cinema displays running 2560 X 1600 resolution.
I thought those were only 30 inches. Apple, then Dell, then Samsung as far as 30 producton came about. http://www.apple.com/displays/specs.html[^] Ahhh, I see you corrected the original. I guess now I can mention, I have a 3rd 21 inch tied in from a linux machine using synergy.... I need to hook up my old 21" wacom similarly for a nice 4 monitor solution. ;)
_________________________ 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 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" 30" monitors. I don't think that there is any real advantage for programming, I am just here to brag.
I'm using 30 2" monitors ... it's like having the compound eye of a fly. Sometimes it's hard to get context, but I sure can move fast ;-) Actually, I still prefer CRT's to LCD's but I'm going to have to eventually change (prehaps LCOS will save me :-). I use a single 22" at work and have a 22" and 17" at home but I never use the 17" eventho it's plugged up and can be used as a second monitor. It's difficult to have multiple CRT's (size, weight, heat issues). Flat panels are very nice for that. If you do GUI programming I think having two monitors is VERY useful. It can also be helpful in more complex developement environments like Visual Studio where when you are debugging you often need to have a lot of context available. I think resolution and clarity are of equal importance to size. Don't just compare size, look at DPI. Remember! as you get older everything shinks up and gets smaller ... even the text on the screen. :-)
-
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 wouldn't go any larger than 22". Spend the extra cash you have on one or two additional monitors. For the price of a single 24" monitor, you could get roughly 3 20" monitors. Scott Hanselman blogged about the advantages of 3 monitors here http://www.hanselman.com/blog/ThreeMonitorsICantGoBack.aspx[^] The main thing is that you can leave the center monitor as your development environment and use the 2 side monitors for things that you do, but not every minute, such as e-mail, your web page in Firefox, your web page in IE, your IM tool, etc. It allows you to toggle back and forth. So you can see the web page that you're editing as well as the code without resizing, toggling, finding your place again, etc.
-
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
First off every programmer should have two monitors! We were at a HP related show as a vendor and required to have HP equipment in our booth, so we brought two of the HP w2207 monitors for our demo. In them selves they are great monitors, but the programmer friendly thing about them is that you can switch the orientation by rotating the monitor so that you have a very tall screen which lets you see lots of code or read entire web pages with very little scrolling. After the show I had both of them on my work computer and liked it so much that I took one of the monitors home. So now in both locations I have one HP w2207 and a 17 inch monitor. The application I am debuging is displayed on the 17 inch and the code on the vertical 22 inch, absolutely a great combination. The only trick being that you have put old books under the 17 inch to align it's top with the rotated 22 inch. I consider it some of the best money I have spent on computer hardware.
-
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
For me monitor size is important, but you must also consider your video card resolution also. There is no sense in getting a high resolution monitor if your video card can not drive it at those higher resolutions. That said, get the biggest monitor you can afford and drive it at the highest resolution you can easily read. For example, I use a 21" ViewSonic P810 at 1800 x 1440 resolution. At this resolution I get 66 lines of code on the screen versus 17 lines of code at 800x600 resolution. More lines of code on the screen reduces the amount of paging required to view the code, the more paging that is done the more likely one is to lose their train of thought. The more lines of code on the screen makes it easier it is to follow the code functionality. If I could get a bigger monitor I would because bigger monitors at higher resolution makes me more productive.
-
/* Home */ 3 19" 1 15" http://beatdownbox.com/style.jpg //does this make the winner? /* work */ 1 depressing 19" monitor, and 1 15" monitor on my laptop :( needless to say i prefer my home setup :)
I now have set up envy. Does anyone know the technical term for this?
Vincent http://www.pub-olympics.com
-
For me monitor size is important, but you must also consider your video card resolution also. There is no sense in getting a high resolution monitor if your video card can not drive it at those higher resolutions. That said, get the biggest monitor you can afford and drive it at the highest resolution you can easily read. For example, I use a 21" ViewSonic P810 at 1800 x 1440 resolution. At this resolution I get 66 lines of code on the screen versus 17 lines of code at 800x600 resolution. More lines of code on the screen reduces the amount of paging required to view the code, the more paging that is done the more likely one is to lose their train of thought. The more lines of code on the screen makes it easier it is to follow the code functionality. If I could get a bigger monitor I would because bigger monitors at higher resolution makes me more productive.
I get 70 lines of code at 1280x1024. ProFontWindows 8pt.
{o,o}.oO( Did somebody say “mouse”? ) |)””’) -”-”-
-
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
Monitor size is only one component of the question, also what resoloution. I run 2048x1536 on 21". I have bought other 21" monitors for the group, one of my group likes to use it at 1024x768. I suggested glasses. I also run 1920x1200 on my dell laptop. I still want higher resoloution....
-
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
Size is good... need more monitors. I currently use 3 20.1" wides and 2 22" wides. My linux box has one 20.1" wide, is used mainly as a server(next computer I get I'll be moving almost everything to linux). Windows has the other four, going 20"-22"-22"-20" around the desk. First one is for "live" copy of my currently coding project, second is coding window, third is for IMs/FX/research/etc and 4th is for dev copy of my project. Depending on what I'm doing, there are times that I need/want to see a few different code files at once, I can just expand the window and throw up more(I use Eclipse and EditPlus2, depending on language). I've found productivity go up quite a bit compared to my original setup of one monitor, more I can display at one time the faster I can get stuff done. Oh, and Synergy is god... I don't know how I functioned before that. It makes having multiple computers so much easier(as does Hamachi).
-
First off every programmer should have two monitors! We were at a HP related show as a vendor and required to have HP equipment in our booth, so we brought two of the HP w2207 monitors for our demo. In them selves they are great monitors, but the programmer friendly thing about them is that you can switch the orientation by rotating the monitor so that you have a very tall screen which lets you see lots of code or read entire web pages with very little scrolling. After the show I had both of them on my work computer and liked it so much that I took one of the monitors home. So now in both locations I have one HP w2207 and a 17 inch monitor. The application I am debuging is displayed on the 17 inch and the code on the vertical 22 inch, absolutely a great combination. The only trick being that you have put old books under the 17 inch to align it's top with the rotated 22 inch. I consider it some of the best money I have spent on computer hardware.
Now that's pretty nice... my next computer I was planning on going with the Dell or Samsung 30"+ monitors... but I'll have to look out for something that has that ability now(looking for a little bigger than 22"). I agree with you... a programmer really needs AT LEAST two monitors, I currently have five on two computers(nice horseshoe shaped desk so it's easy to look at) and hate when I go somewhere and only have one monitor to work off.
-
The advantage is not inches ( no comments, please ), but pixels. I have a 22 inch monitor and if it wasn't able to do 1600x1200, it would have no advantage over my 17" LCD, which only does 1280x1024. The extra pixels are magic. I'd be lost without them. Even when I buy a notebook with a small screen, I try to get the higher res if I can.
Christian Graus - Microsoft MVP - C++ "I am working on a project that will convert a FORTRAN code to corresponding C++ code.I am not aware of FORTRAN syntax" ( spotted in the C++/CLI forum )
Christian Graus wrote:
The extra pixels are magic.
Exactly! Pixels make all the difference!
____________________________________________________________________________ "Space is big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind- bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist's, but that's just peanuts to space." -- Douglas Adams -- Shohom67
-
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
Well I own a graphical display company and have four custom-made RFB displays running at roughly 30 million pixels each, driven by a couple of 9 GHz core vid cards. (the displays cover all four walls of this room so playing video games is more realistic than real life) Beat that! Without envy, thomat65
-
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
Real answer. I'm in visual studio all day also, and find that one monitor is useable, but not very convenient. Recently the boss upgraded my monitors, to dual 19inch wide screen (from dual 17inch normal ratio) The widescreens looked really cool, until I discovered that scrolling source code was a pain in the butt! I rotated them to portrait mode, and jacked them up a bit with some old textbooks, and now have the equivalent to a 26inch monitor, but at near twice the resolution of most 26inch monitors. In visual studio I make the VS desktop almost the full width of both monitors. I run the code window on the left monitor (72+ lines of 10 point font code visible - large enough to not cause eyestrain) On the right monitor I leave the toolbox, properties box, solution explorer and sometimes the database explorer open all the time (pinned) for quick access. I got used to haveing an easy to use environment real quick!!! Unless the 30inch monitors are portrait mode, they will actully show you LESS lines of code than my setup! gzep. -- modified at 20:36 Monday 15th October, 2007
-
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've been working on 2 19" for a year and half or so. Been offered by our IT to upgrade to 2 22" but refused and instead asked for a 3rd 19" (which I got now connected with a 2nd video card). The reason - I like to maximise apps. Rarely running less than 2 instances of the VS, run my models, sometimes have an instance of SQL, office apps, IE and other related stuff... I love been able to keep all things visible. Coming home to single monitor have real troubles adjusting to limiting one screen, hate switching back and forth... So go (at least) 2 big ones if you can afford it - it helps a lot. Certainly helped my performance.
-
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 to think the same thing; that having a 17 inch monitor was probably good enough. Then I got a 20 inch widescreen and the difference was huge! Being able to see a longer line of code without scrolling the window or having to unnecessarily break a line of code into two parts is a great advantage. Then, I started a new job where I am using two 17 inch monitors (two graphics cards in the box). Being able to have SSMS maximized on one monitor screen and VS maximized on the other has changed the way I work. Now I can only imagine what the benefit would be if I had two 22 inch wide screen monitors. I think I have dreams about having such a setup. :-D
-
Well I own a graphical display company and have four custom-made RFB displays running at roughly 30 million pixels each, driven by a couple of 9 GHz core vid cards. (the displays cover all four walls of this room so playing video games is more realistic than real life) Beat that! Without envy, thomat65
-
Gary Kirkham wrote:
I have two 32" 30" monitors. I don't think that there is any real advantage for programming, I am just here to brag.
I'm using 30 2" monitors ... it's like having the compound eye of a fly. Sometimes it's hard to get context, but I sure can move fast ;-) Actually, I still prefer CRT's to LCD's but I'm going to have to eventually change (prehaps LCOS will save me :-). I use a single 22" at work and have a 22" and 17" at home but I never use the 17" eventho it's plugged up and can be used as a second monitor. It's difficult to have multiple CRT's (size, weight, heat issues). Flat panels are very nice for that. If you do GUI programming I think having two monitors is VERY useful. It can also be helpful in more complex developement environments like Visual Studio where when you are debugging you often need to have a lot of context available. I think resolution and clarity are of equal importance to size. Don't just compare size, look at DPI. Remember! as you get older everything shinks up and gets smaller ... even the text on the screen. :-)
I develop with Visual Studio and many others IDE from about 10 years, I use dual monitor, first is 12" (notebook) and second is 17" (external) I think that the better configuration to develop is: 1) dual monitor with one 12" (notebook) and second 17" (external) or 2) dual monitor with one 15" or 17" (tower PC) and second 17" (tower PC) I tried with single monitor 24" and 30" too, but it is very hard to develop fine. So I'm coming back to dual monitor. This is the same reason because Graphic designer, Sound Designer and Video designer use dual monitor instead of 1 bigger (of course with different resolution and dimension). bye :)
eye's
-
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
Hey John, I think you would find a dual display set up awfully usable for your likes, I like to focus on one thing at a time too - nothing is much handier than looking right in front of you and actioning something in a system somewhere and just turning your head left to see the result on the second display. You can keep a window, you keep referring back to, open on the other monitor while keeping focus on the one you are modifying to mate with your edits of the other document. I think that is the best example I can make for your situation. I'd prefer a 30 inch monitor about 4 foot from my face, maybe 5. 19" is nice, particularly twice. ;)
-
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 work I use 2 x 19" flat panel monitors. At home I use 2 x 21" Eizo CRT screens (unbeatable for image quality) giving me 3200x1200 desktop space (they run at 1600x1200 @ 100hz each). I do a fair bit of graphic and design so these screens are great, even if they give off lots of radiation (explains why my hair keeps falling out!). For development they are perfect, I can have visual studio running at high res so I can see more of the source file and then have the other screen free to display a web page, app or debug windows etc. I have a third screen attached to an old PCI card which is used for displaying movies or music while I work ;-)
