Why I Stopped Using Multiple Monitors

A single wide monitor works for these cases as well, or even a single small monitor if you're willing to squint a bit. But I think the assertation that "single window = focus" is a massive over-generalization that ignores a whole bunch of what some of us coders do on a day-to-day basis.

So, for example, when doing front end programming, 1 monitor contains my terminal windows where I am programming in VIM, running commands, etc (I usually have 4 open in each corner) while the other window contains the live reloading browser window.

The 3rd monitor has everything else. No paradox of choice, and seeing the results of my actions is a glance.

The physical spatial arrangement of my work tools is of tremendous value.

Personally, I've seen a much greater productivity improvement by getting rid of laptops, and only working with desktops in a specific work area with multiple monitors and a desk laid out in a way that helps with my productivity.

I am working less hours, and doing a lot more in those fewer hours.

> Too much monitor becomes a distraction. So when it comes to monitors, I embrace these maxims:

> Less is more.

> Quality over quantity.

> Location, Location, Location.

Good for you. Now, why do I care about your opin-- oh wait, I don't.

Seriously, this is about as subjective as it gets. Okay, maybe keyboard switch and cap selection is even more subjective, but that's it. There's hardly a point if any to make (apart from basic ergonomics?)

This has caused several annoying side effects. I used to run my 4k 32" monitor at 125% scaling, and my ancillary 24" 4k monitor at 225%. Everything looked fine, or so I thought. Now my 27" monitor runs at 100%, and this causes some internal Windows flag to change somewhere, making many apps on the secondary monitor look horrible. It just nearest-neighbors apps up to 200% instead of scaling them correctly. If you make the second monitor the primary monitor, then everything looks good again -- except you can't use Nvidia GSync on a secondary monitor, the whole reason I downgraded my main monitor. Amazingly, the mere existence of the 100ppi montior is what seems to break things. If you run it at 200%, apps on the other monitor at 200% still look terrible.

My theory is that things looked bad before, but the 125->225 scaling didn't look quite as egregiously bad as 100->200 does. But I'm picky about these things and think I would have noticed. So I don't know.

Some apps, notably Chrome, work just fine. (But Discord is an offender, and it's just Chrome, isn't it? That makes it all the more annoying.)

As an aside, everything looks pretty crappy at 100ppi. Fonts are blurry again. You can see the pixels in every photo or illustration you view. Upgrading to 4k a few years ago didn't make much of a difference to me, but downgrading is a huge difference. That said, Overwatch is soooo smooth. I can't wait until technology allows us to run games at 4k@120/144/165/240, however. I also miss the wider-than-sRGB color gamut.

I mostly work with operations, and I use a two-monitor setup for most of my work. It's setup so that my second monitor is left for my main focus or large applications, like the web browser or editor sessions, and my other screen is for "miscellaneous stuff" or multiple terminals when I need to follow multiple things at once.

I also use a tiling window manager (Awesome) because honestly I couldn't keep track of all my windows otherwise. I also very much like having separate virtual desktops for each screen, so that I can control each individually. With a tiling window manager it's also very easy to "banish" everything else when you need to focus on a single thing.