Any coders here? What monitors do you have

[vetanix]

Hi there, I was thinking about moving to a larger monitor than my 17" Samsung LCD I bought a long ago. So I would like to ask the coders here and the people who work with a lot of text in general to share some ideas. What monitor(s)/sizes/setups work best for you?

 

[Big Worms]

I am using an Acer 22". I used to have 2 19" but the switch to the bigger 22" widescreen I felt I did not need the second one anymore.

 

[daveswantek]

I have been in software for over 20 years, so a lot of my experence was with CRTs. I find LCDs better for programming than CRTs, because the text is crisp and clean. I own and use a Dell 2407WFP non HC version and it works well for most things. I really like the wide aspect displays for programming because you have room for tool pallets and the like on the sides with your code or visual designer in the middle. I use VisualStudio 2005 for most of what I do, but wide aspect helps in Photoshop or dreamweaver for the same reason. I have a Sony GDM-F520 as a second display for graphics, photo, or video. I think the the Sony is still more realistic in image quality, but for coding, web browsing, and documentation you cannot beat the wide LCD.

I had a samsung 215t before the dell 2407WFP and the Dell was a big improvement. My next display will be either a 27 or a 30 incher. I think for programming 27 inches is the perfect physical size, but they need to increase the resolution slightly. This should happen this year; now that have got scaler chips that can go beyond 1920 x 1200.

I remember working on a DEC VT220 with a 12 inch monocrome display. Command line programming still holds a special place in my heart, because it was a lot of fun. My how things have changed.

If you are looking for a new LCD; start with the 24s and consider 27 or 30 if you have the desk space.

Best of luck

Dave

 

[Iceroid]

I use dual 17" ancient dell LCD's at work for coding...
Used to get to use Sony FW900 and then for some reason they took them away in favor of dinky LCDs

at home I have a viewsonic vx2025wm 20" wide LCD
and I will soon have a BenQ fp241w 24" wide LCD to accompany/replace it

 

[Trean]

I generally do most of my programming on dual Dell 2007s. I try not to work at home though since I currently have a 14.2" laptop and a 17" CRT which is a loss of a lot of room to have windows open.

 

[Syphon Filter]

I do coding, both lined and visual as well as GUI/Web design etc.

I too am in the market for a new LCD and am considering picking up one of the new Dell 3008WFP screens when they land in the UK. I think a screen with a resolution of 2560x1600 will give me bags of space for my various development tools, image editing and misc crap like MSN, browsing, email etc.

If Gateway still had any presence in the UK I would also consider the XDH3000. If there was some simple way of running dual screens without losing my internal laptop LCD I would also consider using 2x Dell 24" screens. But this doesnt seem feasible at the moment unless I get an ExpressCard based DVI (ideally DVI-D Dual Link) solution.

 

[Big Worms]

What resolution would you run on a 27"?

I had a samsung 215t before the dell 2407WFP and the Dell was a big improvement. My next display will be either a 27 or a 30 incher. I think for programming 27 inches is the perfect physical size, but they need to increase the resolution slightly. This should happen this year; now that have got scaler chips that can go beyond 1920 x 1200.

If you are looking for a new LCD; start with the 24s and consider 27 or 30 if you have the desk space.

Best of luck

Dave

 

[pg60]

I remember working on a DEC VT220 with a 12 inch monocrome display. Command line programming still holds a special place in my heart, because it was a lot of fun. My how things have changed.

If you are looking for a new LCD; start with the 24s and consider 27 or 30 if you have the desk space.

This post caught my eye because I am also a 20+ year coder (and used VT220 to program for VAX 780 ). I am currently using a 22" and have been looking at 24" monitors.

I use VS 2005 (and read/write tons of email) now, what is your viewing distance on 24" when coding? Since my eyes are old too I have that "reading glasses" thing going on. My computer glasses are setup for 18-24" but I am concerned that is too close for a 24" monitor. I don't want to go back to CRT days where I feel the heat coming off the screen...

 

[SpeedyVV]

For years i used only a laptop. How much that sucks I cannot tell you.

I like having design, reqs, test screen, email... it is definately overkill, but after so many years I figured I spoil myself. And of course works well for games after hard days work

But mainly a 2560x1600 screen is heaven for a morden day IDE.

 

[Iceroid]

For years i used only a laptop. How much that sucks I cannot tell you.

I like having design, reqs, test screen, email... it is definately overkill, but after so many years I figured I spoil myself. And of course works well for games after hard days work

But mainly a 2560x1600 screen is heaven for a morden day IDE.

[$IMG]http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb118/SpeedyVV/Clean%20Desk/DSC01030Custom.jpg[$/IMG]

Well played, Sir. I surrender to your infinite superiority in coding madness.

 

[Syphon Filter]

I completely agree about modern IDE situations. They have so many panes for this and that, multiple windows (for example photshop). Often the UI/GUI design bit is seperate from the code itself etc...having a large desktop is very helpful.

Is that a 30" flanked by two portrait 24 inchers?

 

[daveswantek]

This post caught my eye because I am also a 20+ year coder (and used VT220 to program for VAX 780 ). I am currently using a 22" and have been looking at 24" monitors.

I use VS 2005 (and read/write tons of email) now, what is your viewing distance on 24" when coding? Since my eyes are old too I have that "reading glasses" thing going on. My computer glasses are setup for 18-24" but I am concerned that is too close for a 24" monitor. I don't want to go back to CRT days where I feel the heat coming off the screen...

I sit much closer than everyone else, because I am very nearsighted. My vision is roughly 20/400 before and after correction. It is something I was born with. The numbers don't mean much; I still have what I call good usable vision, which means I can still do just about anything except drive a car. To answer your question I am usually about 1 ft. from the screen. Most if not all of the people I work with are about 3 feet away from a 20 inch panel. It is kind'a funny all of the people in the graphics area have 24 to 30 inch LCDs and I am the only programmer with a 24.

I think you pretty much go with what you're comfortable with

Best of luck

Dave

 

[daveswantek]

What resolution would you run on a 27"?

On the current models native resolution is 1920 x 1200, but the dot pitch is kinda high .303. For most people native resolution is best, but sense I am rather near sighted I usually work at something less than that. I have to test everything at 1024 x 768, because that is considered sort of a lowest common denominator.

If MS or others ever get beyond fixed fonts and set resolutions we will all be better off. It really makes no sense to run at anything but native resolution. The only reason people use less than native is to scale fonts and icons bigger. The OS should handle that as a superate issue, but MS is too busy trying to control the industry.

I had a Gateway XHD3000 for a short while; it seemed like it was on the outer edge size wise. That is why I think 27-28 is a good physical size, but 30 certanly is not out of the question.

Best of luck

Dave

 

[vetanix]

Thanks for all the replies guys! I see that the bigger the better, so I will try to get a 24" screen, because my budget does not allow for more.

I was thinking about what Dave said regarding the larger dot pitch of some screen sizes: 19", 22" and 27". Funny, but I have never worked on one of these. I was wondering is the larger dot pitch an advantage or a disadvantage for text? I know that it makes the text look bigger, but at the same time I think it would also make the text look blurry with cleartype enabled.

Cleartype is actually my other concern. I've seen that many people on this forum don't use it with larger screens, including the 24" Dells, and this bothers me because I am addicted to it. To those of you who have large panels: Do you use Cleartype? How does the text look with it?

 

[Mr. Wolf]

I'm not a coder, but as a writer I work with large documents with tons of text and graphics. I've had a 24" LCD since 2005 and it's worked quite well for me. However, I'm now ready to jump to a 30" for the increased screen real estate which is excellent for multiple documents... and gaming, of course. I have no need for a monitor with lots of inputs, PIP, etc. so the newer 30"ers (Dell 3008, Gateway XHD3000, etc.) aren't for me. I'm getting the Samsung 305T this week. I'll post pics as soon as it arrives.

 

[Arcygenical]

I DEFINITELY recommend two smaller monitors over one larger monitor for coding.

Two 20" monitors are, to me, much more efficient than a 24" or a 30"...

I've got 2 Apple cinema displays 20" that I got used on craigslist for 300$ ea.

 

[SpeedyVV]

I completely agree about modern IDE situations. They have so many panes for this and that, multiple windows (for example photshop). Often the UI/GUI design bit is seperate from the code itself etc...having a large desktop is very helpful.

Is that a 30" flanked by two portrait 24 inchers?

30" with 2 portrait 20". The choice was intentional, because the 20" and 30" have the same dot pitch and same vertical resolution, which is key for Remote Desktop in spanned mode.

I DEFINITELY recommend two smaller monitors over one larger monitor for coding.

Two 20" monitors are, to me, much more efficient than a 24" or a 30"...

I've got 2 Apple cinema displays 20" that I got used on craigslist for 300$ ea.

QFT. For coding if I had to choose between 1 30" or 2 20", I would 100% go with 2 20". Much cheaper, and easier to manage multiple windows.

I started this with 2 20" LCDs and almost went with 2 more 20", but the 30" was on sale, and, well, gaming

To the OP, another option to consider, is to get a 32" or 37" 1080p monitor, which will be much easier on the eyes, and a 20" side panel in portrait. A friend of mine has this setup, and it has plenty of workspace and he likes the portrait mode for the code editor when he needs to look at long listings, or some specification docs.

Also my opinion is not bigger is better. It is, more workspace is better. So I would prefer 2 widescreen 20" to 1 24", and they are probably the same cost, but you get 3.5M pixels, versus 2.3M pixels of workspace, and of course 2 screens which I find a lot more productive\manageable than one. $0.02

 

[kryptolus]

I have a 24" WS and a 20" WS and I don't like it for coding. There's too much head movement required. I think two 20" WS or three non-WS would be better, ALTHOUGH I think a 30" might work as well. I find that a 24" is good for having some stuff side by side, but I feel like there's still not enough resolution.

 

[Trean]

Like others said, two 20" monitors is great for coding; as I stated before its the most common setup that I use.

However, I guess if you are looking for a monitor to code on and game on; well then getting a larger monitor like a 24" might come more into play . It would be the reason I am buying a 24"... screen real estate for when I need to do stuff away from the lab but a great gaming at a high resolution too.