Improving my focus by giving up my big monitor • Hacker News Board

Re: Improving my focus by giving up my big monitor

#41

Post by NikolaNovak » Fri, Apr 03, 2026, 4:38 PM UTC

jasonpeacock wrote: post #17

I just upgraded to a 49" curved display because it lets me view everything I need _for the current task_ at one time. One virtual desktop is Messages, Slack, and Outlook for all my comms needs. Another is IDE & browser for development work. Another is todo list, planner, notes, and browser for task management. Having to constantly swap app between browser, email, IDE, slack, etc is interruptive. Being able to switch…

What's your viewing distance? I currently have a 32" at about 80cm or so. Did not like the 34" as it has actually less vertical space despite having more area technically.

Is the 49" ultra wide or more 16:9/16:10?

Re: Improving my focus by giving up my big monitor

#42

Post by plqbfbv » Fri, Apr 03, 2026, 4:39 PM UTC

Perhaps the problem isn't the BigScreen, it's the youtube video?

I normally run applications maximized on my 28" 4k, unless I need input from 2 applications at the same time, then I tile them.

Working from my work-issued 16" Macbook Pro or any other of my laptops is a pain because of the limited estate - it's hard to see patterns at a glance or get the whole context when I can only see 30 lines of text that is truncated at <=80 columns. Plus, the fact that the keyboard isn't detachable from the screen forces bad habits on the posture.

Re: Improving my focus by giving up my big monitor

#43

Post by convexly » Fri, Apr 03, 2026, 4:41 PM UTC

antonvs wrote: post #40

convexly wrote: post #39

Went from ultrawide back to my 27 inch monitor and definitely feel more focused. Having everything open "just in case" was killing my output. Nothing alt+tab can't fix.

I think a single 27” 4K is a sweet spot. I currently have a 32” 4K and I’m considering switching back.

Agreed, pixel density at that size in 4k is a treat.

Re: Improving my focus by giving up my big monitor

#44

Post by kshacker » Fri, Apr 03, 2026, 4:42 PM UTC

I gave up my monitor pre-covid, a few years earlier than that actually, and have not looked back.

The only thing that does make me wonder at times is that my video in a zoom'ish app looks different than other people's video in some manner, but all that means is that maybe I need 1 backup and mirrored display for video calls, but maybe I can live with it.

Re: Improving my focus by giving up my big monitor

#45

Post by daniel-ash » Fri, Apr 03, 2026, 4:42 PM UTC

I love alt+tab way too much to ever go back to multi screen.

A different angle: multiple screens can cause neck problems if you’re tilting your head in a weird direction for too long

Re: Improving my focus by giving up my big monitor

#46

Post by sibeliuss » Fri, Apr 03, 2026, 4:43 PM UTC

antisthenes wrote: post #27

sibeliuss wrote: post #25

This was my secret weapon for years. My coworkers could never understand my focus and productivity and were always surprised when I said that it was due to working from a tiny laptop screen, and no more.

How do you view HTML/Code/JSONs in other applications? I have an instance of Postman open on my work laptop, and the useful area of the output constitutes maybe 20% of the screen. Do you just scroll around endlessly every 2 seconds? Or do you have amazing eyesight and use tiny fonts?

Cmd+Tab skills! But mainly, its a matter of only ever doing one thing at a time and optimizing for that in lots of little ways.

This "rule" is especially useful now that I'm coding primarily through agents. Secret weapon number 2, while everybody else is getting burned out running ten agents at once and producing slop, while I'm now writing more (and better) code than ever.

Re: Improving my focus by giving up my big monitor

#47

Post by 0xfaded » Fri, Apr 03, 2026, 4:43 PM UTC

The MacOS window manager is so bad that I've resorted to three monitors plus the built in screen. Two monitors have fullscreen terminal emulators and the last has the browser. The built-in screen handles all the distracting stuff whenever I can be bothered to look down at it.

With Xmonad I had 10 spaces on a single laptop screen (actually however many I wanted) with the flick of a button. And yes, I know about hacks like aerospace and the others that require disabling system integrity

Re: Improving my focus by giving up my big monitor

#48

Post by seemaze » Fri, Apr 03, 2026, 4:45 PM UTC

bdcravens wrote: post #33

I do enjoy rocking multiple monitors, but even if I went to one, I'd still have to use a big monitor. My mind may be young but my almost 50 year old eyes aren't. (I actually run my 32 inch monitors in QHD mode)

This is what so few people realize. Size is relative viewing distance and pixel density. Small screens are designed to be viewed at decreased focal distances, making you more cross-eyed.

Re: Improving my focus by giving up my big monitor

#49

Post by _thisdot » Fri, Apr 03, 2026, 4:45 PM UTC

Leomuck wrote: post #32

Interesting take. I regularly switch between just the laptop and my 3 monitor setup. Sometimes I feel like I could use a 4th one because there is just so much stuff to look at when developing. When I get to my laptop I sometimes feel like I can't be really productive on it. Having to tab all the time is not in itself an issue, but I keep getting lost when I have multiple instances of an app open - e.g. IDE. Say you h…

I feel that tabbing to the wrong instance of an app is a problem that can be solved on the software level. It’s a nightmare on the default macOS app switcher. I use an app called Contexts as a solution and it works reasonably well. There seems to be some free and open source solutions as well.

Re: Improving my focus by giving up my big monitor

#50

Post by jasonpeacock » Fri, Apr 03, 2026, 4:47 PM UTC

NikolaNovak wrote: post #41

jasonpeacock wrote: post #17

I just upgraded to a 49" curved display because it lets me view everything I need _for the current task_ at one time. One virtual desktop is Messages, Slack, and Outlook for all my comms needs. Another is IDE & browser for development work. Another is todo list, planner, notes, and browser for task management. Having to constantly swap app between browser, email, IDE, slack, etc is interruptive. Being able to switch…

What's your viewing distance? I currently have a 32" at about 80cm or so. Did not like the 34" as it has actually less vertical space despite having more area technically. Is the 49" ultra wide or more 16:9/16:10?

My viewing distance is one-arm-length (kinda close), when I raise my arm my fingertips just touch the screen. Definitely closer than my previous monitor, as you need to sit within the curved-screen radius to be in the sweet spot.

Looks like it's 32:9 aspect ratio - it's this Samsung, it was on sale last week for $800: https://a.co/d/0f884LPO