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How to pick a good monitor for software development

nickjanetakis.com

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Re: How to pick a good monitor for software development

#41

Post by epiecs »

rootusrootus wrote: post #10

I'd like to hear from people who develop with a 49 inch monitor. Especially the really curvy one. I had a 34 inch ultrawide for a while, but eventually got tired of the low resolution. Switched to a 32 inch 4K and I'm pretty happy with it. But it's a bit slow starting up, the refresh rate maxes out at 60Hz, and sometimes I find myself wishing for more space. Partially because I'm getting old and my eyes thank me for…

I use the CRG9. Combine it with the ms powertoys and you’ll be a happy camper. I divide mine in 3 where i have vscode in the middle and 1 column left and right.

I do reccomend getting the one with the 5120x1440 resolution. I still have the old 3840x1080 one and I miss having more pixels sometimes.

One downside tha you have to take into account is that you can never share your whole acreen when using teams when the other persons don’t have an ultrawide. It will look super small on their screens.

Re: How to pick a good monitor for software development

#42

Post by phkahler »

Okkef wrote: post #5

I recently got a 27" 4k monitor that I use at 2x scaling, and I'm never going back to fewer pixels per inch. When I now have to look at monitors with a lower PPIU it hurts my eyes. I can see the individual pixels very clearly and letters are blurry. Much less eyestrain on 4k, can recommend!

>> 4k monitor that I use at 2x scaling, and I'm never going back to fewer pixels per inch.

Doesn't that scaling make it effectively 1080? I use a 55" curved 4k TV and will never go back. The ability to "spread stuff out on the desktop" is unmatched.

Re: How to pick a good monitor for software development

#43

Post by formerly_proven »

salamandersauce wrote: post #4

I would also pay attention to reviews and keep an eye out for problems like DisplayPort deep sleep. I have two monitors, one goes into DP deep sleep with no way to disable and the other doesn't. The monitor that doesn't will always wake first and all windows will end up moved onto that monitor since the DP deep sleep monitor is technically "off" for a few seconds. As you can imagine reorganizing all your windows ever…

This behavior is the single biggest drawback DisplayPort has over DVI.

Re: How to pick a good monitor for software development

#44

Post by phkahler »

chrisseaton wrote: post #32
beebmam wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It depends on the game. I much prefer 24" 240Hz+ monitors for competitive reaction-based games. But yes, ultra-wide monitors are incredible for productive tasks.

> ultra-wide monitors are incredible for productive tasks But they always seem really short? The wider they get the shorter they seem to get. Not sure why that is. Doesn't work for viewing code or text does it?

Just use a large TV - curved.

Re: How to pick a good monitor for software development

#45

Post by beebmam »

chrisseaton wrote: post #32
beebmam wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It depends on the game. I much prefer 24" 240Hz+ monitors for competitive reaction-based games. But yes, ultra-wide monitors are incredible for productive tasks.

> ultra-wide monitors are incredible for productive tasks But they always seem really short? The wider they get the shorter they seem to get. Not sure why that is. Doesn't work for viewing code or text does it?

What do you mean by "short"? Do you mean like, the monitor support structure is short?

You can put ultra-wide monitors on monitor arms; just make sure the monitor arm supports the weight of the device.

Re: How to pick a good monitor for software development

#46

Post by dan1234 »

odshoifsdhfs wrote: post #33
Okkef wrote: post #5

I recently got a 27" 4k monitor that I use at 2x scaling, and I'm never going back to fewer pixels per inch. When I now have to look at monitors with a lower PPIU it hurts my eyes. I can see the individual pixels very clearly and letters are blurry. Much less eyestrain on 4k, can recommend!

I have one like that, and having a MBP retina driving it below it, I can't not notice the pixels on the 4k monitor. I wish we could have more options either 24@4K or 27@5K. Having a retina display next to it makes the differences quite apparent.

I’d second the more 24”@4ks! I’ve had 2x24” 1080ps for years, and I really think they’re the sweet spot for my setup. I think 2x27” will be too large, and the super wide monitors lose too much real estate vs 2x monitors.

Re: How to pick a good monitor for software development

#47

Post by fwoty »

MrBuddyCasino wrote: post #28
Okkef wrote: post #5

I recently got a 27" 4k monitor that I use at 2x scaling, and I'm never going back to fewer pixels per inch. When I now have to look at monitors with a lower PPIU it hurts my eyes. I can see the individual pixels very clearly and letters are blurry. Much less eyestrain on 4k, can recommend!

Even considering a resolution below 4k on a large monitor is absurd. This invalidated the whole article for me.

For text rendering, 4k doesn't really work for 27" or bigger. It'd work for 24" because you could do true @2x, but there aren't many out there. For 27", besides the UltraFine 5k, I'd prefer just using @1x with 1440p too.

Re: How to pick a good monitor for software development

#48

Post by wruza »

Okkef wrote: post #5

I recently got a 27" 4k monitor that I use at 2x scaling, and I'm never going back to fewer pixels per inch. When I now have to look at monitors with a lower PPIU it hurts my eyes. I can see the individual pixels very clearly and letters are blurry. Much less eyestrain on 4k, can recommend!

Don’t try 144hz then, because it is as addictive, but no cheap 4k/144hz options exist yet in IPS category (although the situation is much better than say 4-5 years ago).

Re: How to pick a good monitor for software development

#49

Post by salamandersauce »

notreallyserio wrote: post #7
salamandersauce wrote: post #4

I would also pay attention to reviews and keep an eye out for problems like DisplayPort deep sleep. I have two monitors, one goes into DP deep sleep with no way to disable and the other doesn't. The monitor that doesn't will always wake first and all windows will end up moved onto that monitor since the DP deep sleep monitor is technically "off" for a few seconds. As you can imagine reorganizing all your windows ever…

Have you tried Powertoys FancyZones? I'd be curious to hear if it helps to persist window positions or at least reset them quickly if they end up in the wrong place.

No, I hadn't heard of it. Windows 11 also sort of works around it you just have to wait a few seconds for it to rejigger the windows so I no longer need a workaround. I did use it with tiling window manager (stumpWM) on Linux but that just resulted in an even worse problem where I couldn't even use the 2nd monitor after returning from sleep.

Re: How to pick a good monitor for software development

#50

Post by NavinF »

salamandersauce wrote: post #4

I would also pay attention to reviews and keep an eye out for problems like DisplayPort deep sleep. I have two monitors, one goes into DP deep sleep with no way to disable and the other doesn't. The monitor that doesn't will always wake first and all windows will end up moved onto that monitor since the DP deep sleep monitor is technically "off" for a few seconds. As you can imagine reorganizing all your windows ever…

Pretty much every high end monitor has that issue. It’s a conflict between idle power savings regulations and the hardware needed for 4K 120hz.

I just disable “turn display off after x minutes” in windows, set a black screensaver, and leave the monitor and PC fully powered 24 hours a day. This does waste power, but unless reasonable sleep modes that only power off the panel become available that’s what you gotta do.

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