Programming with 4:3 or 16:9 LCD monitor?

[kldang]

I am a C++ and web programmer. I am thinking of update my monitor at my home office. I am currently have a 17" monitor. I am interested in couple of monitors which are Samsung 204B 20" (1600x1200) and BENQ 222wfg 22" (1680x1050). The Samsung is conventional 4:3. The BENQ is 16:9 and probably allow me to open 2 windows side by side during coding.

Any suggestion which one I should go for?

 

[JustAnAverageGuy]

Dual monitors will boost your productivity far more than a bigger monitor will.

- JaAG

 

[mundane]

Originally posted by: JustAnAverageGuy
Dual monitors will boost your productivity far more than a bigger monitor will.

- JaAG

Absolutely correct. Dual big monitors FTW

 

[Schadenfroh]

Nonwidescreens have more surface area than widescreens of the same "size."

 

[Tencntraze]

While I have a 24" at home, I mix programming and gaming on that. At work I have dual monitors, and it's much more useful to have two windows maximized, not to mention the built-in maximize buttons work on dual monitors while there is no simple way to open two windows to split the space on your monitor without manual resizing. I think there's an app to do that, though I don't recall seeing a free one.

 

[mrzed]

Well there are many ways in windows to split two windows, but I also agree that dual monitors are the way for any and all coding.

Widescreen is great for entertainment, multi-monitor setups are great for productivity.

 

[HN]

Originally posted by: Tencntraze
while there is no simple way to open two windows to split the space on your monitor without manual resizing.

Hold Ctrl and click the taskbar item of each window you want to see split. then right click and select "Tile Horizontally" or "Tile Vertically"

 

[pcnerd37]

I do all my programming with my laptop, so I dont really have the option of dual monitors even though they would be a huge help. If I did programming on my desktop, that will definately be the way I go.

 

[IHateMyJob2004]

Originally posted by: mundane

Originally posted by: JustAnAverageGuy
Dual monitors will boost your productivity far more than a bigger monitor will.

- JaAG

Absolutely correct. Dual big monitors FTW

thirded!!!!

It's nice to be able to have the app running in its current state while you make improvements on a second monitor. In industry, I think 2 is a must .... at times I've actually wanted 3 monitors.

<== currently a java app coder with C/C++ experience

 

[Jaxidian]

My opinion, widescreen > traditional aspect ratio simply because it gives you just a tad more horizontal space. Who cares about vertical space (within reason). Dual screen really does rock, too, but for your second screen having a large resolution is much less important than it is for your main screen, imo.

-Jax

 

[f1sh3r]

Originally posted by: HN

Originally posted by: Tencntraze
while there is no simple way to open two windows to split the space on your monitor without manual resizing.

Hold Ctrl and click the taskbar item of each window you want to see split. then right click and select "Tile Horizontally" or "Tile Vertically"

HOLY COW! astounding. im trading in my dual 19s for a single 24!

 

[JustAnAverageGuy]

Originally posted by: HN

Originally posted by: Tencntraze
while there is no simple way to open two windows to split the space on your monitor without manual resizing.

Hold Ctrl and click the taskbar item of each window you want to see split. then right click and select "Tile Horizontally" or "Tile Vertically"

That's a neat trick. Didn't know that. :thumbsup:

- JaAG

 

[Gunther]

I prefer 16:9 over 4:3 for programming because I prefer more horizontal space. I can't do dual screen for some reason I think its just how my brain is wired so I just use a 42" 1080p lcd.

 

[0roo0roo]

Originally posted by: HN

Originally posted by: Tencntraze
while there is no simple way to open two windows to split the space on your monitor without manual resizing.

Hold Ctrl and click the taskbar item of each window you want to see split. then right click and select "Tile Horizontally" or "Tile Vertically"

yea very simple. i inoticed things like double clicking on pictures in file explorer automatically opened a full screen picture on the second monitor. its not that hard.

 

[Tencntraze]

Originally posted by: HN

Originally posted by: Tencntraze
while there is no simple way to open two windows to split the space on your monitor without manual resizing.

Hold Ctrl and click the taskbar item of each window you want to see split. then right click and select "Tile Horizontally" or "Tile Vertically"

Awesome, I was hoping that someone would provide some easy trick like that when I posted it. Thanks!

 

[Jaxidian]

Originally posted by: HN

Originally posted by: Tencntraze
while there is no simple way to open two windows to split the space on your monitor without manual resizing.

Hold Ctrl and click the taskbar item of each window you want to see split. then right click and select "Tile Horizontally" or "Tile Vertically"

Awesome trick! Didn't realize you could CTRL-select mulitple windows. That rocks!

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: JustAnAverageGuy
Dual monitors will boost your productivity far more than a bigger monitor will.

- JaAG

:thumbsup:

I prefer non-widescreen LCDs (17"s and 19"s are actually 5:4, not 4:3). When I'm programming I keep my lines at a max of 78 characters. And the extra height of a non-widescreen lets me see more lines at a time.

 

[Gautama2]

Originally posted by: kldang
The BENQ is 16:9

Widescreen computer monitors are actually 16:10.

 

[Auric]

A 5:4 when rotated to 4:5 is ideal for viewing documents and data entry but it's also great for arcade emulation (MAME).

So, really, the best thing would prolly be to rotate the 17" you already have, using a comfy font for entry, and adding a 1600x1200 for viewing output and general useage (optionally at a variety of less-than-max resolutions centered to check layout &c). The smaller area 1680x1050 obviously gives up a lot of height while adding little width so doesn't really have any reason for being besides lower cost and faddish esthetics.

 

[Smilin]

Originally posted by: mundane

Originally posted by: JustAnAverageGuy
Dual monitors will boost your productivity far more than a bigger monitor will.

- JaAG

Absolutely correct. Dual big monitors FTW

Yep.

We're all dual mons here at work. The guys that are a little more code intensive take one or more of their widescreens and flip them sideways too.

 

[Smilin]

Originally posted by: Jaxidian

Originally posted by: HN

Originally posted by: Tencntraze
while there is no simple way to open two windows to split the space on your monitor without manual resizing.

Hold Ctrl and click the taskbar item of each window you want to see split. then right click and select "Tile Horizontally" or "Tile Vertically"

Awesome trick! Didn't realize you could CTRL-select mulitple windows. That rocks!

makes a good way to cleanup your desktop as well. You can group-minimize and group-close too.

Microsoft ain't new to the GUI folks

 

[Azndude51]

My sister is a programmer for a design firm and she has used both a single widescreen and dual non-widescreens. She says she prefers dual-nonwidescreens because you get overall more surface area to work with and you can maximize more easily (one on each screen). I don't program, but I got 2 awesome deals on LCDs, so I'm running a 22" widescreen with secondary 19" 5:4 ratio LCD. I don't actually need that much though when multitasking, but I'm sure a programmer can definitely use it all up.

 

[jman19]

Originally posted by: Schadenfroh
Nonwidescreens have more surface area than widescreens of the same "size."

He didn't ask which had more surface area - he is asking if the wider screen is better for programming, which isn't necessarily the same thing.

 

[Jaxidian]

I used to use 3 monitors and I think that was actually ideal. My center monitor was a large widescreen monitor for my code. The left one was my "communications" monitor. The right one was my "reference" monitor (other source code I'm looking at, web pages, etc.).

Now I use my laptops for coding and I only have 1 video out so I can't use more than 2 at a time, so it's not an option anymore.

 

[randumb]

I have a 2007FP rotated to 3:4 (1200x1600) to maximize vertical space.