Coding on a 30" display? Any good

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thecodemeist3r

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Hey guys, Im just getting started doing some basic websites, and have currently been doing it on a 24" display, but im considering upgrading to a 30" display.

Is the 2560x1600 resolution a bit much for coding on? Or is it perfect?

Discuss.
 
I'd imagine more is better. I used to code on dual 17" and it was better than my 22" that I use currently. (2 17" at 12x10 > 22" at 16x10)
 
probably better off getting a 2nd 24" than going to a single 30"
 
I code on a 30" at home, and dual 20s at work. It's pretty close, but I generally prefer the 30.

If you are on 24s, keep in mind 2 24s is tough to do ergonomically.
 
The 24" I have atm is a crappy 24" AOC v416. The worst monitor ever. Im considering selling my current setup, and getting this 30" and a basic pc, just for movies and coding, then when I get some coin, get a mad video card.
 
Yes it is good... 2 24's isn't bad either... I went from 2 20's to a 30 and haven't looked back since, although I am trying to get a 20 to throw on the side of my 30 now... you can never have enough screen real estate I guess
 
I guess it depends on what your actually coding but im a fan of less is more. I find that the more real estate I have the more I'm going to waste on it.

I code on 19" monitors 1x at home and 2x at work.


the one at work is great because I have all my database stuff on one screen and my actual application IDE on the other.

Depending on your IDE, you can use things to help organize your windows that make it a lot easier than just upgrading your monitor, i.e... split code view, tabbed windows, cascaded windows, etc..


of course if you are wanting someone to give you a reason to upgrade then HELL YEAH YOU SHOULD UPGRADE!!@!!1!

keep in mind to run a 30" screen you are going to need a good video card and as I mentioned earlier you will probably end up having more things open so keep that in mind when you build a "basic" computer.

thast just my $0.02
 
if coding and web design are your primary goals, then in my experience, two monitors are always better then one. At work I've opted to keep two 17" monitors instead of taking one 22" (sadly, desk space doesn't allow two 22-inchers). At first, everyone thought I was insane, but when they saw how much more productive the extra real estate can be, and how useful it is to be able to organize things across separate work areas, they've almost all switched to two smaller monitors.
 
I a big fan of 2 screens myself. I recently purchased 2 Viewsonic VX2235wm's and that has to be one of the best investments I have ever made.

I can have my IDE open on one screen and have DB stuff or reference material on the other.
 
Certainly *how* you position the monitors could also make a difference. I go for the dual monitor approach, with one centered in front of me and the other off to the side with a gap between them. The primary focus stays on the center one, and anything else goes off to the side. Just something else to weigh against the single or dual monitor approach.

OTOH.... If cost is not a factor, then just get two 30" monitors and call it done :D
 
maxedoutcc said:
I guess it depends on what your actually coding but im a fan of less is more. I find that the more real estate I have the more I'm going to waste on it.

I code on 19" monitors 1x at home and 2x at work.


the one at work is great because I have all my database stuff on one screen and my actual application IDE on the other.

Depending on your IDE, you can use things to help organize your windows that make it a lot easier than just upgrading your monitor, i.e... split code view, tabbed windows, cascaded windows, etc..


of course if you are wanting someone to give you a reason to upgrade then HELL YEAH YOU SHOULD UPGRADE!!@!!1!

keep in mind to run a 30" screen you are going to need a good video card and as I mentioned earlier you will probably end up having more things open so keep that in mind when you build a "basic" computer.

thast just my $0.02
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I can not imagine having a smaller size/amount of monitors to EVER be better from a productivity standpoint. You are insane until you can qualify your statement.

As for tabs/splitview, I use them already. I'm typically connected to 4-5 machines at once, each machine with 1-2 shells, database connection, main editor (vim) open and displayingt 2-3 tabs, each with 7-8 files. And of course, a web browser and email and IM (for bugtracking notices, general team communication, etc).

How can doing this on a smaller monitor POSSIBLY be better? I'm not an abnormal programmer use case.
 
Yeah I would go dual monitors instead of a single bigass monitor. In coding websites, I have the code on one monitor and the output on the other monitor. If the website is going to be accessing a database I will have the database on one monitor and the code/output on the other monitor. This approach is a hell alot more beneficial than having all the windows on some high resolution monitor. At least for me it is....
 
I've used dual monitors for almost 15 years. At home, I have dual 21-inch panels. At work, I have a single 30-inch panel.

The dual 21s offer less real-estate, but it is easier to use. I can push one window to the other monitor and maximize it and have the window at a comfortable and reasonable size. If I'm debugging a painting problem, it's easy to put the debugger on one window and the application under test on the other window, and not have any problems with interference. These differeneces are very tangible, and I think that calling someone "insane" for observing them is counter to the free exchange of ideas.

The 30-inch display offers a lot of real-estate, but it's harder to manage. Maximizing a window results in a window that's almost inevitably too big; where the internal wasted space on the window overwhelms the large viewing area. On the other hand, it offers great visiblity for graphics work.

Some of the guys at work have put a portrait-mode 21-inch display aside their 30-inch display. It fits just fine, and most of the guys who do this have email open on that monitor. It seems like a decent idea, but I use my laptop for email while I leave my dev machine with its full capacity to build (or do database work).

It's a personal decision; one that you need to make for yourself given your own preferences, work habits, and priorities.
 
I've debated about a single 30 vs dual 24s (same cost all together), and I can make arguments for both. 30 Would have more resolution for graphics work (mostly photo work), but multimonitors would let me organize my desktop better (I feel). At home I use a 24 inch CRT, and at work I have a 24 inch and 19 inch LCD, as well as the notebook, which is used mostly for email.

Also, 30 inch monitor resolutions would probably force me to get top of the line cards if I wanted to play games on them at 2560x1600.

I think I'd take the dual monitors. What about dual 30s? :D

On this topic - wasn't there a member of this forum who used 3 x 30" LCDs?
 
maw said:
if coding and web design are your primary goals, then in my experience, two monitors are always better then one. At work I've opted to keep two 17" monitors instead of taking one 22" (sadly, desk space doesn't allow two 22-inchers). At first, everyone thought I was insane, but when they saw how much more productive the extra real estate can be, and how useful it is to be able to organize things across separate work areas, they've almost all switched to two smaller monitors.
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that's a big one, especially if you're using multiple workspaces per monitor, its extremely useful to be able to switch workspaces independently of the other monitor. you could do things like testing apps or referencing websites on one screen while switching between you development tools on the other

i use a 22" + 19" at home, using a laptop + 21" at work
 
wow, and I've been programming for the past few years with a 12.1" Dell 710M laptop screen :(

I seem to get by pretty well.
 
NickTheNut said:
wow, and I've been programming for the past few years with a 12.1" Dell 710M laptop screen :(

I seem to get by pretty well.
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Are you serious? Isnt that a little too small? I guarentee if you move bigger and dual you will not want to go back!!
 
Lazy_Moron said:
Are you serious? Isnt that a little too small? I guarentee if you move bigger and dual you will not want to go back!!
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Resolution on my laptop 1280x600. It actually gives me a good amount of space.

Before my laptop I was working with dual 21" CRTs, resolution each of 1600x1200.

Unfortunately I lived my last few years in a state of relative limbo, did a lot of traveling on public transportation (to school and back), and also couldn't afford to fix my main computer that had the dual 21"s (I basically needed to buy a new computer). So instead I bought the laptop with one of Dell's many credit options (good lord they rape you with interest), and have never looked back!

I've been VERY happy with my laptop and the screen space it gives me. Even when I would go to work on a daily basis working on dual 19" monitors.

I've LOVE to get another set of dual 21"s, or 24"s. But that won't be for awhile ;)
 
I'd have to say that the 30" is superior by far. I've worked with dual 20"s for a couple years, dual 24"s for a couple years and I've had my 30" for over 2 years now and cringe at the thought of going back. What most people don't know is that there are programs that can really help you utilize all that desktop area and one in particular, called GridMove (http://jgpaiva.donationcoders.com/gridmove.html) practically turns my 30" into 4x smaller monitors. With this program you can define grids and instantly move and resize windows into those grids. I want to place a window exactly in the bottom right corner of the screen? I press Win+3... if I want to move it to the top left, thats Win+1... the top right, thats win+2, etc... Using that in combination with VirtuaWin (http://virtuawin.sourceforge.net) I am given a number of desktops, each that I can dedicate to its own task. Currently I use 3 desktops for website development. The first is used for code only, the 2nd is used for previewing and testing the code, and the 3rd is use for database. And the coolest part is you just press Win+RightArrow or Win+LeftArrow to switch desktops. Of course you can have as many as you want and some might consider adding another desktop for graphic design. Either way, with these multiple desktops and GridMove to instantly toss a window into a specific region and size, the 30" monitor is extremely hard to beat.

One Virtual Desktop for Code:


One Virtual Desktop for Testing:


One Virtual Desktop for Database:
 
That's a really cool App. I'll have to remember that when and if I ever get a larger monitor ;)
 
I've started using Input Director, which I really like so far. I have two machines that I often use together, and had a KVM on them. I've replaced the KVM with a monitor, and attached the keyboard and mouse to one of the machines. After installing Input Director, I can move the mouse to the right and have it appear on the other monitor -- automatically giving the other machine input focus, so that mouse clicks and keyboard input go to it. I can move left and return focus to my first machine. They layout is configurable, of course.

This works great for me since I do lots of compute- and I/O-intensive work. As a result, I have lots of machines at my disposal because I run lots of long-running jobs. I can see the progress of the job on the other monitor at a glancem and don't have to KVM-switch back and forth just to check.
 
mikeblas said:
I've started using Input Director, which I really like so far. I have two machines that I often use together, and had a KVM on them. I've replaced the KVM with a monitor, and attached the keyboard and mouse to one of the machines. After installing Input Director, I can move the mouse to the right and have it appear on the other monitor -- automatically giving the other machine input focus, so that mouse clicks and keyboard input go to it. I can move left and return focus to my first machine. They layout is configurable, of course.
Click to expand...

i used something similar a couple years ago called Win2VNC http://fredrik.hubbe.net/win2vnc.html. Never had any reason to 2 boxen since then, but it's still an awesome concept.
 
mikeblas said:
I couldn't get Synergy to work. The project seems quite dead, as it was last updated in 2006.
Click to expand...

It's a bit confusing to configure but it still works fine for me... I wasn't aware that development slowed down so much but then again it doesn't appear to be lacking much. They do need to fix some of those Mac/Unix bugs though!
 
I used to code on a 15" monitor back in the day!

Since then used 17", 19", 22" and even played with a 30" at a friends house. I must say, coding is far more supreme the bigger your screen... When I mean coding I code web... PHP, MySQL, CSS... And it's better for me to say Have dreamweaver running on one half and a browser on the other for testing purposes. It's great!
 
I just picked up a 30" for coding. Should be here shortly.
We'll see how it compares to 2x 22". However one of my 22"s will stay and in portrait mode for documents. :)
 
will any normal stands hold a 30" horizontally? If your method no longer fitted on one screen you'd know it was too long :eek:
 
I've always like dual or more screen than just one big one when coding. You just need to try both options somehow and see which you like better. I like being able to split things up easily because the windows will snap to a whole monitor when you maximize them. Having just one display you need to tile them some which gets annoying to manage.
 
RIght now, I'm on my MacBook with its 13" display, but since I am basically starting out, I am on Visual Basic's IDE right now.

I am waiting to do some upgrades to my desktop (once the money is there comfortably), and then I will have the use of my 19" WS and my 15" LCD dual monitors.
 
Guys... forget the 30". Save some loot and get an extra 24". Be sure to get the kind that can turn 90 degrees. I have a HP 2207 (widescreen) that can swivel 90. I only have one at the moment but love to get get another. When you have two of these swivel 90 degree side by side.... it would be a programmer's dream. I'm saving up for another 2207(h).
 
Sir_Poop_Alot said:
Guys... forget the 30". Save some loot and get an extra 24". Be sure to get the kind that can turn 90 degrees. I have a HP 2207 (widescreen) that can swivel 90. I only have one at the moment but love to get get another. When you have two of these swivel 90 degree side by side.... it would be a programmer's dream. I'm saving up for another 2207(h).
Click to expand...

Yeah, I think money may be a factor here as well. I read this topic and went to check out the price on a 30" LCD, and the cheapest one I saw on Newegg was $1200. You can get 2 22" monitors for $600, and 2 24" for maybe $700 if you find some good deals.

I guess when you're spending $700, to some people the extra $500 may not be a big deal, though.
 
smaug8821 said:
Yeah, I think money may be a factor here as well. I read this topic and went to check out the price on a 30" LCD, and the cheapest one I saw on Newegg was $1200. You can get 2 22" monitors for $600, and 2 24" for maybe $700 if you find some good deals.

I guess when you're spending $700, to some people the extra $500 may not be a big deal, though.
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You're comparing inches. When shopping for monitors, most people will compare resolutions and dot size. If you do that, I think you'll pretty quickly understand what you're getting for the extra money.
 
mikeblas said:
You're comparing inches. When shopping for monitors, most people will compare resolutions and dot size. If you do that, I think you'll pretty quickly understand what you're getting for the extra money.
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Oh I realize that. I'm just saying maybe for younger people(such as myself) who are just starting programming, the extra $500 is a big deal. But I definitely see your point.
 
I run two 24in monitors, my iMac and my NEC LCD2490WUXi. On my PC I'm running a 30in Apple Cinema display and 2 Dell 2005fpws in portrait, I deff prefer my 30in with the 20in in portrait, don't know if I could do just one big ass monitor though.

Btw I do graphic design and web development on both machines.
 
I have dual 22" Dells myself and honestly it would take a 30" to make me want to switch. I'd take a 30" over 2 22's simply because I hate turning my head side to side so much with the dual 22's dual 24's would be VERY hard to use. I struggle to use my 22's properly.
 
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