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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

#141

Post by robgibbons »

4K @ 32" is perfection for me, I wouldn't go any larger or smaller with 4K. You get four 1080p screens worth in a single panel, without any virtual scaling going on at all.

I have two identical work setups in different rooms. Different brand monitors, but both mounted to 13" ErgoTron LX (VESA robot arms), bolted to motorized adjustable desks (solid core doors for desk tops, Amazon-style).

My first screen is a Dell U-Series 32" (U3219Q) and it's been fabulous for two years now. Can't recommend it enough.

My second screen is an Acer 31.5" Nitro XV2 (XV322QK) which can put out 144hz. It runs at 60 Hz with my XPS 15 plugged in via USB-C, but if I hook a PS5 into it can get 120hz.

Re: How to pick a good monitor for software development

#142

Post by colordrops »

fwoty wrote: post #136
colordrops wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't understand you comment. My 4k 27" renders fonts just fine.

If you go to true 2x scaling, things will be the same size as 1920x1080@1x on a 27". For me, that's HUGE and you don't get enough screen real estate for a 27". If you use 1.5x scaling you will lose sharpness because things won't line up to pixels perfectly.

Ah I see what you mean. I use fractional scaling without an issue.

Re: How to pick a good monitor for software development

#143

Post by colordrops »

fwoty wrote: post #140
colordrops wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Depends on the scaling. They are probably not talking about pixel scaling, but font and UI scaling, which means things stay just as sharp when scaled up.

I don't think that's possible? Say if you had a perfect 1px wide black line @1x and then you change UI scaling set to 1.5, you now have a 1.5px (physical) wide line. Which means you'll get blurring.

If you are displaying images with one pixel lines, yes. Buy how often do you view an image scaled to exactly one image pixel per screen pixel. And when it comes to UI and font toolkits, they account for variable scaling aren't usually drawing single pixel features. Anyway I haven't noticed any blurring. You'll only really get noticable blurring if you render at say 1x and display at more than 1x because the detail just isn't there.

Re: How to pick a good monitor for software development

#144

Post by waste_monk »

eyelidlessness wrote: post #135
Bancakes wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

> Programmers don't need color accuracy so any 4k will suffice. Surely it depends on what we’re programming? Color accuracy ( and inaccuracy for accessibility testing) is important for most anything we produce graphically that’s user-facing. > A monitor is a monitor. Color accuracy isn’t the only reason to invest more in display quality. Viewing angle and refresh rate are important factors as well. Their relative imp…

> is important for most anything we produce graphically that’s user-facing.

I can see the need for cross-domain (e.g. UX or graphics) specialists to have high-accuracy monitors but for most devs I don't it as necessary, as generally speaking you have an IDE with a bunch of code (text) and probably another monitor with your terminals, web browser with documentation, instant messaging app, etc. pretty much all of which is text-based.

>refresh rate... viewing angle and even colour accuracy can be important for developer accessibility

With regards to viewing angle, I have a nice dual-arm monitor mount system that allows it to be easily repositioned (limited 6DOF) as I change sitting posture throughout the day. Maybe something like this would help you?

I will say I usually score badly on colour perception tests (not colourblind, rather the tests where you have to order a number of very similar hues) so I could be missing a whole bunch of subtle colour errors that would irritate regular users :)

Re: How to pick a good monitor for software development

#145

Post by fwoty »

colordrops wrote: post #143
fwoty wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think that's possible? Say if you had a perfect 1px wide black line @1x and then you change UI scaling set to 1.5, you now have a 1.5px (physical) wide line. Which means you'll get blurring.

If you are displaying images with one pixel lines, yes. Buy how often do you view an image scaled to exactly one image pixel per screen pixel. And when it comes to UI and font toolkits, they account for variable scaling aren't usually drawing single pixel features. Anyway I haven't noticed any blurring. You'll only really get noticable blurring if you render at say 1x and display at more than 1x because the detail ju…

I think this always applies. For instance the border on this textarea is 1px. There's nothing the OS can do, it's a physical issue. If UI scaling is 1.5, the correct answer for the size of the border is now 1.5 physical pixels. The best you can do is color the first pixel black and the second pixel the average of the first and third pixels. I might be wrong on this but I can't imagine what else it could do (other than mis-sizing the element).

I do agree that it probably looks fine and you wouldn't actually notice, unless you had an @2x monitor right next to it (of which there are sadly very few options)

Re: How to pick a good monitor for software development

#146

Post by eyelidlessness »

waste_monk wrote: post #144
eyelidlessness wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Programmers don't need color accuracy so any 4k will suffice. Surely it depends on what we’re programming? Color accuracy ( and inaccuracy for accessibility testing) is important for most anything we produce graphically that’s user-facing. > A monitor is a monitor. Color accuracy isn’t the only reason to invest more in display quality. Viewing angle and refresh rate are important factors as well. Their relative imp…

> is important for most anything we produce graphically that’s user-facing. I can see the need for cross-domain (e.g. UX or graphics) specialists to have high-accuracy monitors but for most devs I don't it as necessary, as generally speaking you have an IDE with a bunch of code (text) and probably another monitor with your terminals, web browser with documentation, instant messaging app, etc. pretty much all of which…

> I can see the need for cross-domain (e.g. UX or graphics) specialists to have high-accuracy monitors but for most devs I don't it as necessary, as generally speaking you have an IDE with a bunch of code (text) and probably another monitor with your terminals, web browser with documentation, instant messaging app, etc. pretty much all of which is text-based.

I was speaking specifically to the domains that serve use cases where display quality matters. Quite a lot of us at least overlap with that. Basically all FE web or GUI dev, any end-user image/video processing, pretty much anything that puts graphics on a screen that aren’t UI SDK builtins.

> With regards to viewing angle, I have a nice dual-arm monitor mount system that allows it to be easily repositioned (limited 6DOF) as I change sitting posture throughout the day. Maybe something like this would help you?

I have challenges with hyperfocus which include uncomfortable stillness for prolonged periods of time. I also have a puppy who reacts to very small motion adjustments during work hours in a way which becomes a huge ordeal. This is another reason my Comically Large Display (described in another comment in thread) works well for me. I think adjusting a mounting arm would be counterproductive for me.

> I will say I usually score badly on colour perception tests (not colourblind, rather the tests where you have to order a number of very similar hues) so I could be missing a whole bunch of subtle colour errors that would irritate regular users :)

I don’t do a lot of color accurate work but color/luminance wash is a huge problem for me if I have to deal with it. Like a background task that never stops until my brain is depleted. Having a panel that doesn’t distort that way in my peripheral vision is essential for me to be able to work.

Re: How to pick a good monitor for software development

#147

Post by colordrops »

fwoty wrote: post #145
colordrops wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you are displaying images with one pixel lines, yes. Buy how often do you view an image scaled to exactly one image pixel per screen pixel. And when it comes to UI and font toolkits, they account for variable scaling aren't usually drawing single pixel features. Anyway I haven't noticed any blurring. You'll only really get noticable blurring if you render at say 1x and display at more than 1x because the detail ju…

I think this always applies. For instance the border on this textarea is 1px. There's nothing the OS can do, it's a physical issue. If UI scaling is 1.5, the correct answer for the size of the border is now 1.5 physical pixels. The best you can do is color the first pixel black and the second pixel the average of the first and third pixels. I might be wrong on this but I can't imagine what else it could do (other tha…

If I'm not mistaken, you are talking about aliasing, and you are going to see that no matter what. There are always going to be assets made at a certain size and scaled to fit the particular element on the screen regardless of DPI. You'll perhaps see aliasing less with a 1080p screen since older UIs are built with them in mind, but these issues will be there regardless. Web pages will be this way on any monitor since they are always scaled.

Re: How to pick a good monitor for software development

#148

Post by stonewareslord »

eyelidlessness wrote: post #146
waste_monk wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> is important for most anything we produce graphically that’s user-facing. I can see the need for cross-domain (e.g. UX or graphics) specialists to have high-accuracy monitors but for most devs I don't it as necessary, as generally speaking you have an IDE with a bunch of code (text) and probably another monitor with your terminals, web browser with documentation, instant messaging app, etc. pretty much all of which…

> I can see the need for cross-domain (e.g. UX or graphics) specialists to have high-accuracy monitors but for most devs I don't it as necessary, as generally speaking you have an IDE with a bunch of code (text) and probably another monitor with your terminals, web browser with documentation, instant messaging app, etc. pretty much all of which is text-based. I was speaking specifically to the domains that serve use…

> Quite a lot of us at least overlap with that. Basically all FE web or GUI dev, any end-user image/video processing, pretty much anything that puts graphics on a screen that aren’t UI SDK builtins.

I completely disagree, except for high end picture or video production. I have used way too many websites that clearly only work well on large, nice displays. Most end users of anything will not have the same high quality expensive monitor/computer that's being suggested.

I remember reading some article about someone who used an old i3 processor on a 4:3 laptop screen or something, knowing that if his code is slow for him, it's slow for his users. I think this mindset is genius and should be more common. Take MS Teams for example. It's like their devs have only ever tested on a gigabit link M1 and it's painful for the other 99.9% of people who use it.

So if you want to get a nice setup for yourself, then you should. But you should not do it for your clients, and if you do, you should understand your users will not have machines like yours.

Re: How to pick a good monitor for software development

#149

Post by jsrcout »

eyelidlessness wrote: post #134

Most discussion of displays that isn’t for a highly specialized audience fails to mention panel types, I’m glad that’s well covered. I was surprised to see PLS even mentioned . I took a chance on a PLS panel years back, and I was definitely satisfied with the panel quality (tl;dr, it’s roughly on par with IPS). The only reason I don’t still use it, is its replacement… I’m surprised to see I’m not the only one here us…

I love your terminology of Comically Large Display and shall use it always. I keep threatening to drag our 55" Sony main TV into my office for work from home usage. I actually tried using it as a display for my Raspberry Pi once, it was fantastic. Though I hate to think of the computing power differential between the two devices.

The 43" LG monitor you mention is really tempting, especially considering pricing on the 32" 4K IPS monitors I was just looking at. Do you have any advice/caveats for prospective buyers?

Re: How to pick a good monitor for software development

#150

Post by listenallyall »

eyelidlessness wrote: post #146
waste_monk wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> is important for most anything we produce graphically that’s user-facing. I can see the need for cross-domain (e.g. UX or graphics) specialists to have high-accuracy monitors but for most devs I don't it as necessary, as generally speaking you have an IDE with a bunch of code (text) and probably another monitor with your terminals, web browser with documentation, instant messaging app, etc. pretty much all of which…

> I can see the need for cross-domain (e.g. UX or graphics) specialists to have high-accuracy monitors but for most devs I don't it as necessary, as generally speaking you have an IDE with a bunch of code (text) and probably another monitor with your terminals, web browser with documentation, instant messaging app, etc. pretty much all of which is text-based. I was speaking specifically to the domains that serve use…

This comment is the equivalent of the developer having a redundant, 10GbE Ethernet connection, building a mobile app for users who will have spotty 3G.
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