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Thread: Feeling lacking in screen real estate. What would you suggest?

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    Feeling lacking in screen real estate. What would you suggest?

    I currently have a 23" 1080p IPS monitor (iiyama X2377HS) which works quite well for me but just doesn't seem to offer enough space. I do quite a lot of coding (primarily C++ in emacs on linux) and commonly need to have both source and header files open as well as a terminal and documentation. If I need all of these at once it tends to leaver barely any space to each individual component. I have also tried reducing my font size a bit to fit more into each section, but I don't really like taking my code below about 11pt as it starts to give me eye-strain after a while.

    Due to this I'm thinking about getting a second monitor. Thoughts I've had:
    • Grab the cheapest 1080p IPS availaible, possibly mount one of the pair in portrait.
    • Get a 1080p 21:9 Ultrawide, use both, with the Ultrawide as my main monitor (These seem expensive for what they are).
    • Get a QHD. Use it alone or with current monitor.
    • Get a 4K. Use it alone or with current monitor. (The 4K's don't seem to carry a huge premium over QHD's especially considering the extra pixels)


    Budget is: ideally as little as possible (Student here and my code isn't actually making me any money), but I would also be willing to spend more on the "right" solution.
    I would probably like the monitor to be IPS if only for the viewing angles and brighter colours. I'm not especially worried about colour accuracy, any work I do on art is not going to be overly colour sensitive as it will be something that is designed to be viewed on anyone's monitor, not print work or anything.
    Thoughts?

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    Re: Feeling lacking in screen real estate. What would you suggest?

    My current favourite for coding is QHD in 27", I find it's a good balance between physical size, resolution and pixel density.

    QHD in 25" was a bit too pixel dense for me, I could cope with it but I was far more comfortable with the 27" and I didn't like the way Windows scaled on the QHD 25", basically, everything was either too small without scaling or too big with scaling. Though like I said, I could cope with it and I think it's alright, but I preferred the 27" QHD without scaling.

    4K on 27" was way too pixel dense to use without scaling, with scaling on everything looked really nice, however some applications didn't scale properly and were a real strain to use.

    My experiences above were limited to Windows, I've never used these displays with Linux. And I'm myopic and wear corrective specs. YMMV.

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    Re: Feeling lacking in screen real estate. What would you suggest?

    read my review here and get one of these.

    LG 34UM65-P Ultrawide 34 Inch



    never looked back. screen real estate is awesome and nice looking too.
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    Re: Feeling lacking in screen real estate. What would you suggest?

    I've just 'standardised' our firm on using the dell 3415 for developers. This has pissed off the prolie scum who can't write code, they are rather envious.

    http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/reviews/dell_u3415w.htm is a good detailed review. It's the same panel as deejayburnout is in love with, but in a slightly cheaper package. As you are running linux the LG software would be of limited use.

    As photography is a hobby of mine, I will testify the colours are good, great in sRGB but only good in aRGB. The biggest issue is it makes me hate my camera sensor of old. I thought that the higher resolution wasn't needed, but this thing eats 16megapixel images for breakfast, you don't get much change to crop before you are too small. It's amazing.

    If you can do good C++ whore yourself out for a few days this summer to buy one, you won't be disappointed.
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    Re: Feeling lacking in screen real estate. What would you suggest?

    Quote Originally Posted by deejayburnout View Post
    read my review here and get one of these...
    Quote Originally Posted by TheAnimus View Post
    I've just 'standardised' our firm on using the dell 3415 for developers. This has pissed off the prolie scum who can't write code, they are rather envious.
    Yes... these both look truly wondrous (especially the curved 1440p)... I may be able to find a way to stretch to the flat LG (which I believe is 1080p), but the curved panels are just going to be too much, that's as much as my entire computer!

    Quote Originally Posted by TheAnimus View Post
    If you can do good C++ whore yourself out for a few days this summer to buy one, you won't be disappointed.
    If only... I'm not feeling there's a great market for physical simulations etc. from someone who isn't actually qualified in it. Plus, I know that "business coding" has lots of implicit rules you learn in certain classes and isn't my area at all. As a physicist I can do numbers... but little else. I have a 6 week job with the uni on plasma simulation in the Sun (although a fair amount of that will probably end up being sensitivity analysis), but I'm not exactly going to be raking in money... Think it's safe to say that that's a monitor too far. (unfortunately)

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    Re: Feeling lacking in screen real estate. What would you suggest?

    If you wanted 4K, you'd probably have to go for the Phillips 40" version as the smaller ones will probably get a bit tiresome for reading code (unless you fiddle with DPI / increase text size which negates the point).

    I'd be tempted to go QHD and use your 1080p at the side (maybe in portrait). You can then add another QHD further down the line if you want to.

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    Re: Feeling lacking in screen real estate. What would you suggest?

    Quote Originally Posted by TheAnimus View Post
    I've just 'standardised' our firm on using the dell 3415 for developers. This has pissed off the prolie scum who can't write code, they are rather envious.

    http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/reviews/dell_u3415w.htm is a good detailed review. It's the same panel as deejayburnout is in love with, but in a slightly cheaper package. As you are running linux the LG software would be of limited use.

    As photography is a hobby of mine, I will testify the colours are good, great in sRGB but only good in aRGB. The biggest issue is it makes me hate my camera sensor of old. I thought that the higher resolution wasn't needed, but this thing eats 16megapixel images for breakfast, you don't get much change to crop before you are too small. It's amazing.

    If you can do good C++ whore yourself out for a few days this summer to buy one, you won't be disappointed.
    Actually the one deejay has is the 1080p variant.

    Personally I have the 29" Dell 1080p ultra wide and its awesome for gaming, for working... Not so much. Its not bad for working its just not comfortable.
    If you are going ultrawide for a work monitor, make sure its the 1440p version like The Animus suggested.

    In my office I actually picked up a second hand 30" 2560x1600 16:10 display off ebay and this resolution would be my suggestion hands down. So nice to work with!

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    Re: Feeling lacking in screen real estate. What would you suggest?

    Thanks for the replies people. Looks to me like the most cost economical answer is just to get another 1080p, sure it won't be as good as many other options, but the best options are just so much more expensive.

    I never seem to find much time for gaming between uni work and working on my own game so it can't be primarily aimed at that. Whilst I'm sure the 1080p ultrawides are a fair amount more immersive, but not really justifiable (for me) cost-wise over a normal 1080p unless I find a pot of gold somewhere.

    I also don't struggle too badly with the amount of space on the one 1080. Sure it's a pain at times, but I don't overly feel like I need >2x that. A while back I had a dell 1680*1050 lined up from one of the members here, but was unable to follow through due to emergency flat falling apart. I'm thinking of going back down those lines if he still has it/wants to sell it, since putting that in portrait wouldn't take up a huge amount of space and would probably provide plenty of space at a reasonable cost.

    Any thoughts? (although obviously I don't expect you to know my exact needs/use case)

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    Re: Feeling lacking in screen real estate. What would you suggest?

    2 x 1080P in a working environment is better than a single 1080p ultrawide IMO. Gives you better division between windows and less need to be resizing windows all the time.

    Have a look at what's available on this site, sometimes there is some real bargains to be had for relatively high quality dell refurbs.
    I have a couple that I bought from them throughout my flat!

    Edit:

    http://www.nrgit.biz/product/dell-24...ml?c=130&p=277

    Decent price, you would be surprised how much nicer 16:10-1920 x 1200 (still annoys me we dont say 8:5) is to work with over 16:9-1920x1080
    Last edited by Biscuit; 28-05-2015 at 01:05 PM.

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    Re: Feeling lacking in screen real estate. What would you suggest?

    Quote Originally Posted by TheAnimus View Post
    It's the same panel as deejayburnout is in love with
    Lol
    Just noticed this. It made me chuckle
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    Re: Feeling lacking in screen real estate. What would you suggest?

    That LG 34" ultrawide is very nice, I have been leaning towards the curved Dell ultrawide though the U3415W I saw one in the flesh and really want one now but cannot justify the price.

    I would probably stick with a QHD for work not too expensive and most current GPUs will handle it fine 4k is nice but I would wait a year or so for it to come more mainstream.

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    Re: Feeling lacking in screen real estate. What would you suggest?

    I would defo get the curved version. I find myself having to move my head to comfortably see from one corner to the other.
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    Re: Feeling lacking in screen real estate. What would you suggest?

    Coming back to this now I've managed to earn a bit of money. One idea I had recently after seeing someone work with this setup was a 36-40" 4k. In terms of pixel density and layout it effectively works out as a 2x2 grid of 19" 1080p monitors for multi-tasking or just an insane amount of space for other jobs. This guy had 3 times the amount of code open on his screen as I can fit on my 1080p as well as space to test the program he was working on without changing virtual desktops. That's uh... appealing... mindblowing...

    (On 1 1080p I tend to have 4 virtual desktops, one with terminal and the program I'm working on, one browser, and 2 each with an instance of emacs split (normally) into 2 panes each. With a big 4k I could have this all on the same screen O_O).

    Question is, though, would this have to be a TV? I've seen people talking about big 4Ks but I didn't really see any actually designed as monitors. (I'd need DP or 60Hz input at least, though I'd be happy enough gaming at 1/4 res and my normal settings for the foreseeable future, just sitting a bit further back).

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    Re: Feeling lacking in screen real estate. What would you suggest?

    Check my previous post, #6

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    Re: Feeling lacking in screen real estate. What would you suggest?

    Thanks jim, and sorry, I should have re-read the thread more carefully. Done some research on that screen, and it looks pretty good. I note, however, that one can buy similar size 4k TVs for significantly less money, is it correct to assume that they are significantly worse for computer screens?

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