Ask Slashdot: What Is Your Favorite Monitor For Programming?

First time accepted submitter BadassFractal writes "I'm in the market for a new large desktop monitor (or two) which I intend to use almost exclusively for programming and all sorts of software development-related work. I'm trying to keep the cost down reasonable, and I do enjoy as large of a resolution as possible. What do people 'in the know' out there use these days for that purpose? I'm thinking a 1920x1200 24" would be good, unless there's an affordable 2560xFoo option out there. I keep hearing about nameless Korean 27" screens, any thoughts on those?"

27" FTW

[opusman]

Dell U2711 or similar. 2560x1440 for great number of pixels, and if you want to use a higher DPI you still get a decent amount of information on screen.

I've tried 30" monitors and they were just too big, but for me 2x27" is perfect.

Re:27" FTW

[cbhacking]

Eh... I'd say it's awesome that, out of the box, Win8 supports taskbar (and wallpaper, if you care) spanning across monitors. That used to require a third party utility. I love that it's finally supported in-box.

Dell U2412M or ViewSonic VP2770

[Chirs]

The U2412M is a competetively priced 24" 1920x1200 IPS screen with moderate anti-glare. (Less aggressive than U2711/U2410.) I have the older brother of this screen (U2407WFP) and have been coding on it for ages.

The 27" 2560x1440 monitors all have advantages and disadvantages, but the ViewSonic VP2770 seems like the best of the lot overall. It has no PWM in the backlight, has good uniformity, good quality panel, decent inputs, antiglare isn't too aggressive, no crosshatching or image retention (the main flaws of the U2713). The main downside is the price since it doesn't really go on sale like some of the others.

Take a look at the display forum on hardforum.com if you haven't already.

As for multiple monitors...I find one large monitor better than two smaller ones.

Monoprice IPS in March

[spire3661]

Monoprice.com is going to start stocking house-branded 27" ($400) and 30"($600-$700) IPS panels for a DEEP discount in March. Same LG panels as used in Apple Cinema Display. Monoprice is a great company and wouldn't call what they are offering nameless Korean screens. Here is a link http://www.monoprice.com/products/search.asp?keyword=ips [monoprice.com]

Re:27" FTW

[cbhacking]

I actually have one of those 27" 2560x1440 ("WQHD") IPS monitors from Korea. $290 USD, included DHL express shipping (about 48 hours after it left the warehouse in Seoul to reach me in Seattle) via eBay. It's wonderful. Bright and clear, glossy screen but bright enough that reflections and background light are no problem, good stand, and simple but functional on-screen display. The DPI is nothing amazing, but it's comparable to my old 18" 1920x1080 monitor, and that's fine by me. I don't use the 5W speakers it has built in, so I can't say how those are.

The monitor does have a minor defect where if left turned on too long (several days straight) it will start getting "sparkles" on a black screen, but this is easily fixed by power-cycling the monitor or just turning it off every night (it starts very quickly, so that's no problem). It can also get pretty warm (especially at max brightness) and has a large-ish power brick (with a plug designed for Korean outlets, though they included a USA adapter for me at no extra charge) rated for 120W output.

Contrast is good but not incredible, but the lighting is very even. The in-plane switching works great; response time is excellent and the viewing angle is superb (the ~1/4" bezel gets in the way before the screen noticeably changes color). Color and saturation look good to my eye (untrained, but an amatuer photographer); it is something I look at and check calibration on.

I plan to buy a second one... just as soon as I figure out where I'm going to put it. I may just get a 1440x900 (or similar) instead and put it in portrait mode next to the big one. Otherwise, I'll probably need wall mounts; I'm running out of desk space.

One note of caution: It requires a dual-DVI input. That means no driving two monitors off one DVI connection, and many HDMI adapters, etc. won't work.

Re:Monoprice IPS in March

[guises]

I haven't heard anything bad about Monoprice, but the question with buying monitors is always: what is their policy on bad pixels? Answer: up to five dead pixels are allowed, no mention of stuck pixels.

Some of the Korean shippers will let you pay a little extra for a monitor with no bad pixels.

Re:27" FTW

[Anonymous Coward]

If you've somehow got your hands on models with square pixels, that's great.
Otherwise you're retarded if you think stuff renders correctly in that orientation.

Re:27" FTW

[v1]

it renders fine if your OS is smart enough to do the sub-pixel kerning intelligently.

Re:27" FTW

[Anonymous Coward]

Any monitor with more pixels than 1920x1200 requires dual-link DVI (not "dual-DVI").

Ignore the idiots saying to get a 27" or 30"

[psypher 69]

3x 24" 1920x1200. My personal choice are the Dell U2412M, but you have to watch for them to get in the 260-270 price range. Don't pay more than that.

Re:27" FTW

[v1]

And we are still discussing the display in pivot mode?

OS X has a standard option in display preferences to rotate the display 90, 180, or 270 degrees. (no special software to install, that might come with a rotatable display, for windows os) It doesn't offer mirroring though, I was rather expecting to see that option. The rotation option is only available for external displays, not built-in. (imac and laptop) So you can rotate as long as you can find a way to physically rotate your display. (OS X does offer Negative however, which may have its uses on a projector)

I need to test on an Apple display to verify that it adjusts the sub-pixel kerning correctly when rotated. I'm expecting it to either adjust, or disable kerning. Those displays you can detach the foot and attach a vesa adapter, and that will hook to a vesa arm or wall mount in any of the four standard rotations.

oookay, science done. Result: Apple fails! :P Sub-pixel kerning continues, but does not adjust for the new pixel orientation. pictures [vftp.net]. That "W" is on the screen right side up. The two 0 deg show it with the display at 0 degrees. The display is then told to rotate 90 degrees, and an averaging picture (with pixie) is taken as well as another digital camera pic.

Look carefully at 90_deg_avg.png at the /\ part of the bottom of the W, visible on the right. Both the / and the \ are on the TRAILING edge of the pixel, which should cause them to have a blue tint, but one is red and one is blue, indicating incorrect SPK. If the W were on its side on the 0 degree picture, both of those edges would have a blue tint to them, a bit like you see on 0_deg_avg.png when you look at the right pocket on the upper left of the W, it's all blue. Or when you compare the right side of the leftmost / and the leftmost \ strokes, again they are both correctly blue despite being opposite slopes. I guess I have a bug to report ;)

And I'd still like to hear from someone with deeper Windows OS experience that can comment on sub-pixel kerning support.