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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

#121

Post by deergomoo »

It’s nuts to me that Apple never sold the iMac 5K 27” display as a standalone monitor. There was/is the LG UltraFine, but by most accounts it’s rather unreliable and of poor build quality for the price—not to mention it seems to be totally discontinued outside of the US.

It would be the perfect Mac monitor, especially with macOS’ odd scaling method making 4K @ 27” really suboptimal. It would be overpriced I’m sure, but considering it would be less than the price of the iMac that normally contains it, I think it would still have been a popular choice. Unlike the Pro Display XDR which blows right past overpriced and lands squarely into unattainable for the vast majority of people.

Re: How to pick a good monitor for software development

#122

Post by marvel_boy »

rhn_mk1 wrote: post #59

> my mom thinks that a 25” 1080p monitor is going to let her fit more things on her screen than a 22” 1080p monitor. She may be right, if she can reduce the scaling factor so that individual items stay readable and take fewer pixels to display.

Exactly, as mentioned up this article if full of errors.

Re: How to pick a good monitor for software development

#123

Post by Bancakes »

p12tic wrote: post #95

It's strange when monitor costs are being discussed while they are the primary tool for software development. If software developer produces $100k/year value, then it's worth spending several thousands of dollars for every percent of increased effectiveness. This can buy almost any monitor on the market. I've found the following worth considering: - It makes sense maximizing usable screen real estate, both in terms o…

I don't understand this consumerist mindset. A monitor is a monitor. Programmers don't need color accuracy so any 4k will suffice. Your thinking just incenivizes "Programming grade" monitors that are just overpriced regular ones. I don't see how you could make a several thousand dollar 4k monitor if you tried.

Re: How to pick a good monitor for software development

#124

Post by conartist »

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've been on the fence about updating to 4K from an Ultrawide but the eye strain is the big reason I want to.

Re: How to pick a good monitor for software development

#125

Post by rubicon33 »

stock_toaster wrote: post #63
rubicon33 wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

2 32" monitors side by side. code on left monitor browser and dev tools (split vertically 50 / 50) on right monitor. separate chrome tab behind browser + dev tool, with docs, for quick CMD+~

Wow, that seems like a lot of horizontal space to cover looking back and forth. Does your neck get sore at the end of the day?

hm, no... doesn't feel like a lot to me? :shrug:

Re: How to pick a good monitor for software development

#127

Post by adhesive_wombat »

chrisseaton wrote: post #117
BeFlatXIII wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Gamers and business buyers drive the market. Neither care about pixel density.

Business buyers care about text... which is better with higher pixel density.

Business users care about that.

Having used many monitors in businesses, I can only assume that the buyers do not.

Re: How to pick a good monitor for software development

#128

Post by Saris »

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…

I use display fusions window position profile feature for that, it's bound to a hotkey so I can hit it and all my windows are instantly where I want them.

Re: How to pick a good monitor for software development

#129

Post by krrrh »

fwoty wrote: post #47
MrBuddyCasino wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

A preference for 24” or 27” at 4k is also largely impacted by how far away you position the monitor from your face.

Re: How to pick a good monitor for software development

#130

Post by SOLAR_FIELDS »

pivo wrote: post #82
fwoty wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Everyone’s different, I guess. For me, I’m often struck by how lovely things look on my 27” 4K monitor. I have several older 1440 monitors that I no longer use because they look so grainy and unpleasant now. (Edit: I’m using macOS, might be different for other systems)

Everyone is different! I have a Lenovo 2560x1440 monitor I bought circa 2018 for personal use for around $200 USD that is my daily driver on my home desktop. Around that same period I was using one of the LG 5k monitors at my place of work. The 5k is nicer, of course, and I can fit a lot more into the screen, but for the way I work the cheap 1440 is just fine nowadays. I use a tiling window manager and usually have my screen separated into a 2x2 grid where a program either uses a half or a quadrant of that grid. Even gridded up like that the 1440p is almost always enough space for me (code that violates the character length in vscode is sometimes an annoyance).
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