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Ideal Monitor Rotation for Programmers

sprocketfox.io

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Re: Ideal Monitor Rotation for Programmers

#73

Am I the only one (fullstack programmer + designer + hobby photographer) here who's perfectly okay with a single laptop monitor? Maybe it's to do with I love being mobile, maybe it's that I use UI and text very small, but I can perfectly fit either 3 Vscode tabs, or website + PIP video, a few terminals, many views in Sketch or a combination of those in a screen (16" MBP). I'm also okay with working with Photoshop or…

I just don’t find laptop monitors very ergonomic. I use a 27” 4K screen and put it so far away that 200% scaling is ideal, then have the desktop disable the laptop monitor when it’s plugged in. If I’d have the office space I’d use a 65” TV as a monitor and put it many meters away, that’s just my preference.

Re: Ideal Monitor Rotation for Programmers

#74
post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

100% agreed. Previously dual monitor, 24" 1920 x 1080, portrait left, landscape right. left was usually for email and chat, right for coding and browser. Now it's a single 40" 4k tv as my display. Using gridmove to easily partition the screen as needed. It's like have 4 1080p screens with no border. Only downside I've come across is some screensharing apps will always share the entire desktop when sharing a single ap…

For screen sharing I use Picture-in-Picture mode of my 43” 4K monitor (Acer DM431K) to give me a separate 1920x1080 screen to share when required. That way it is at the right size and resolution for everyone.

Interesting.. does this mean you have two separate cables connecting to two different inputs of the monitor?

Re: Ideal Monitor Rotation for Programmers

#75

I don't understand why 3:2 and 16:10 have taken over the mobile space but if I want one for my desktop my choices are 1920x1200 or a thirty inch, thousand dollar monstrosity with bad response times.

If you’re in Europe, or are willing to attempt to import, the Huawei MateView is a brilliant 3:2 4K panel.

Why not something like the LG 27UK500-B on Amazon? 4K with 3:2 aspect ratio at ~$350

Re: Ideal Monitor Rotation for Programmers

#76
post #43

Why do people complain about wasted white space on the side of their windows? Who said you have to full-screen every application? My slack window is about 1/3 of a screen, zoom a bit smaller, Firefox about 2/3 of a screen, Outlook about 2/3. I think the only window I regularly make full size is the terminal.

I think it's because Windows doesn't come with good window management. But now they have FancyZones[0] so it's much easier.

[0] https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/powertoys/fancyzone...

Re: Ideal Monitor Rotation for Programmers

#77
post #69

Am I the only one (fullstack programmer + designer + hobby photographer) here who's perfectly okay with a single laptop monitor? Maybe it's to do with I love being mobile, maybe it's that I use UI and text very small, but I can perfectly fit either 3 Vscode tabs, or website + PIP video, a few terminals, many views in Sketch or a combination of those in a screen (16" MBP). I'm also okay with working with Photoshop or…

With all due respect comments like this are why hacker news needs a downvote button. Try a decent monitor setup before knocking it.

Hacker news has a downvote button, unlocked after a certain amount of karma, but it's not to be used simply because you disagree with someone.

Re: Ideal Monitor Rotation for Programmers

#78

I just run on a 45" TV at 3840 x 2160. Sure, the response time is slow for gaming, but it works fine for movies and coding. And I have enough space that I can set each window to whatever size and orientation I want.

I used a 40-or-so inch med-to-low tier TV for coding a bit, and was surprised at how not terrible it was. The latency was not actually that much worse than a monitor.

This was in the living room, which is sort of inconvenient. So I decided to get one for my desk. Being a silly project just for myself, I didn't want to splurge on it, so I went for the cheapest 4k I could find. I think it may have been a store brand.

The response time on that thing was noticeably terrible, like I would lose track of the cursor in vim because it wasn't keeping up properly.

The moral of the story I think is that you can get a not-terrible 4k tv for coding reasonably cheap, but the response time issue may still exist. It is probably just a roll of the dice.

Re: Ideal Monitor Rotation for Programmers

#79
post #37

Its ~23.2 deg for 21:9 ratio, not 22°. For a more common 16:9, the angle is 29°. (lambda w, h: math.acos(w / math.sqrt(w**2 + h**2)) * 180 / math.pi)(16, 9)

I noticed that as well and typed

    arcsin (3/sqrt(9+49))
into WolframAlpha.

It's clear in the picture that the corners of the monitor are not on the same level.

But now I'm wondering what led to the error…

Re: Ideal Monitor Rotation for Programmers

#80
post #68

Am I the only one (fullstack programmer + designer + hobby photographer) here who's perfectly okay with a single laptop monitor? Maybe it's to do with I love being mobile, maybe it's that I use UI and text very small, but I can perfectly fit either 3 Vscode tabs, or website + PIP video, a few terminals, many views in Sketch or a combination of those in a screen (16" MBP). I'm also okay with working with Photoshop or…

I used to feel this way, and then I got old

And monitor aspect ratios got shitty.
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