We are doing dev and are used to our 2 screens (2 * 19") but we are planning to buy new ones to improve our comfort.
Our work: 100% coding. No video. No image. Our OS: Windows 7 + VMWare (Linux)
We are unsure about the right move 2 * 24" or 1 * 27"?
What is your screen configuration now (Pros and cons)? By your experience, which screen type is better for reading code?
Thanks a lot for your feedback.
Also in general it's more helpful to talk about monitors in terms of resolution rather than size; it's entirely possible to end up with a 27" monitor that is the same resolution as a 24" monitor, which means it doesn't actually have any more usable space, everything is just bigger, and that isn't very useful unless your devs are visually impaired.
For me the most important number is the height resolution as I can display more lines.
Having more screens is also a source of distraction. I prefer to focus on a single task and switch to an other if I need to.
Moreover, if you want to truly maximize a large monitor, Linux has tiling window managers which are a boon to productivity. Tiling window managers free you from shuffling windows around with the mouse, instead dynamically resizing windows to fill all available on-screen space using a "tiling" algorithm. I find that they work fantastically on widescreen monitors. See XMonad, AwesomeWM, etc.
On Windows, if you want virtual desktops, there are hacks such as VirtuaWin available: http://virtuawin.sourceforge.net/ .
And don't forget about the Windows "tile windows" buttons, which are crucial for efficiently utilizing a large-format monitor: http://lifehacker.com/287588/tile-windows-with-the-control-k...
However, for coding, you can display a lot more lines with a 27" than a 2*24" config.
My setup currently consists of:
iPhone dev:
24" + 13" MacBook, Vim, XCode, and iPhone simulator. 17" Linux, using Synergy with the Mac. Browser + shells. Plus stuff like email, etc, because I detest the Mac OS UI (sorry guys).
Android dev:
When I'm doing Android work, I disconnect the MacBook and run 24" + 17". It's is not bad, but 2 * 24" would be even better, particularly when testing large/hi-res devices in the emulator.