Monitor choice for developers - 32" UHD, or 27/32" QHD?

I run a Dell S2721DGFA and a Dell 24 inch (provided by work). I really like the wqhd resolution for development and I'll probably go with a second one down the line but it's between that and an ultrawide. At work I've generally been able to run at least a 24 inch 1080p screen and a laptop screen or 2x 24 inch 1080p. At home previously I used a 24inch 1080p monitor and a 22inch 1080p monitor. The improvement in screen real estate is for me dramatic at 1440p. I would be tempted to try 4k but I can imagine playing with scaling would be a bit painful and potentially you're also just going to end up at a scale that's like 1440p?
 
I was looking to upgrade my dev setup from (2x22" FHD + 15.6" FHD laptop screen) to 3x24" FHD.

Came into this thread and it's 27"/32"/34"/43". :crying:
 
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Dylan_G said:
I was looking to upgrade my dev setup from (2x22" FHD + 15.6" FHD laptop screen) to 3x24" FHD.

Came into this thread and it's 27"/32"/34"/43". :crying:
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24" isn't great, once you add toolbox windows etc. Lots of screen real estate is gone, and 27" isn't that much of a cost difference anymore.

The nice thing about 24" 1080p vs 27" 1080p is that the text is a little sharper depending on the subpixel layout.
 
Johnatan56 said:
24" isn't great, once you add toolbox windows etc. Lots of screen real estate is gone, and 27" isn't that much of a cost difference anymore.
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That’s why I use vim.

There are few things as satisfying as seeing a cleared full screen putty terminal on a 43” monitor.
 
kolaval said:
Is the 4K suitable for reading text on, not to small?
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I might increase the windows font size to 150% if I sit far away from the screen.

The windows display text size you can also increase. I have a 4K laptop screen and set the windows text size to 250%. The text is then much sharper. The browser takes the same font size from windows.

Vscode you just select Ctrl + or - to increase the font size as usually editor font size you want small. Default font size it inherits from your windows settings so moving a windows between a external HD screen and a 4K laptop screen the font size looks the same. HD screen font size is 100% and my 4k laptop font size is 250%.
 
cguy said:
That’s why I use vim.

There are few things as satisfying as seeing a cleared full screen putty terminal on a 43” monitor.
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Sure, but depends on what you're working on; I like having quick access to console, unit tests (and automatic run every time change is saved for those unit tests affected by the change), unit test coverage, memory profiler, explorer, Application Insights, and a DB connection if it's a quick thing, I'm more productive with my tools quickly at hand and having hints as to types, etc.
I use vim for anything remote on a server, or if just want a quick text editor to edit config stuff, but coding wholly in vim, not really, I'd probably spend too much time getting plugins sorted to what I like, and then I already have VS Code for that (I collapse everything there, ctrl+b, ctrl+`) and even with multi-GB projects on both, they both perform fine enough.
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More than enough space for it at 1440p, at 1080p I have to start hiding toolboxes. Would like to go 4k, but then I need to upgrade both home monitors, so will do that once I save up a bit more, spending most of my income on holidays/trips and kitting out apartment.

Would like to make stuff smaller but it keeps resetting itself when I go to work, laptop screen is 1080p and Windows scaling between different resolutions is iffy (actually noticed W11 improved on that, one of the few things that are better), bugging work to get me a new laptop with a 1440p screen at least, 4k preferred, but procurement is wholly separate in a company this size sadly.

And no, I didn't write those unit tests, I have a line there that I don't pass so I don't bother people with smaller screens/make it nicer opening multiple files side by side.
 
Johnatan56 said:
Sure, but depends on what you're working on; I like having quick access to console, unit tests (and automatic run every time change is saved for those unit tests affected by the change), unit test coverage, memory profiler, explorer, Application Insights, and a DB connection if it's a quick thing, I'm more productive with my tools quickly at hand and having hints as to types, etc.
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That's what tmux is for.
 
cguy said:
That's what tmux is for.
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Sure, but still a lot more effort imho than a pre-packaged solution that's designed for everything to work together (outside of theme, application insights, sonar lint, everything else is "stock"/company tests integration).
 
cguy said:
I use the 43” Dell monitors. I have 2 in my one office, and one in the other, and one at work. I used to use 6x 30”, but found this to be more compact, yet with sufficient screen real estate.
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Two hp 40s here, reasonable amount of space with a bailout macbook screen if things get in the way.

6x30s just feels "heavy" no matter the orientations.

Why so much real-estate some might ask. It comes down to information throughput, and working at your bandwidth rather than having to re-optimise repeatedly.

Once in the groove, you really do work "faster"
 
MagNorthDigital said:
Two hp 40s here, reasonable amount of space with a bailout macbook screen if things get in the way.

6x30s just feels "heavy" no matter the orientations.

Why so much real-estate some might ask. It comes down to information throughput, and working at your bandwidth rather than having to re-optimise repeatedly.

Once in the groove, you really do work "faster"
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The 6x30's in a 3 wide by 2 high array, with the 2 on the left and 2 on the right curved towards the viewer also had the added benefit of blocking out distractions :p Now that I mostly work at home, the 43" suffices.
 
cguy said:
The 6x30's in a 3 wide by 2 high array, with the 2 on the left and 2 on the right curved towards the viewer also had the added benefit of blocking out distractions :p Now that I mostly work at home, the 43" suffices.
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/waits for cguy to sponsor new set up so I can say whether 2x27" is better than 6x30" as a more normal dev. :p
 
Here I'm still coding on a 17" laptop screen, guess I'm the Hercules monitor of the current generation. Personally, I can't stand multi-monitor setups. I run no toolbars, all driven by shortcut muscle memory.
 
27" dual set up for me.. anything bigger and I get a headache and eye strain. Even 27 is pushing it for me at times. Monitor set ups are a quite personal thing
 
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