Ask Slashdot: What Is Your Favorite Monitor For Programming? 375
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 (Score:5, Informative)
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 (Score:5, Insightful)
2 monitors are much better than 1 large monitor in my experience, but that may mostly be because of the habits I've gotten into. Newer versions of windows work a bit better with single monitors, but its still not as convenient as having 2 separate ones.
Re:27" FTW (Score:5, Insightful)
2 monitors are much better than 1 large monitor in my experience
I agree - one in portrait mode for a full-screen web browser for reading documents and the other in landscape mode for interactive work.
Re:27" FTW (Score:4, Insightful)
I'm glad someone else gets it - many tasks are suited to length rather than width. Whenever a company supplied me with 'pivotable' monitors, I used to get strange looks in the office, even from supposed techies, about why one of my monitors was rotated pi/2.
Monitors that come with a pivotable base aren't the norm, so perhaps it's worth investing in one of those dual vesa mounts that clamp to one's desk. They're typically adjustable for a variety of angles.
Re:27" FTW (Score:4)
Whenever a company supplied me with 'pivotable' monitors, I used to get strange looks in the office, even from supposed techies, about why one of my monitors was rotated pi/2.
I have worked in places where very many people used it so I guess you could now be the one giving strange looks at the ones giving you strange looks for that. Especially the "supposed techies".
I do not use it myself, but I might need to when I run out of 4:3 monitors.
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I've got three monitors:
I'm doing a lot of work with wireshark, analyzing logs from serial consoles and stuff like that, so that configuration suits me perfectly. I also get this mediaval castle feeling because I'm perfectly shielded from my coworkers!
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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 (Score:4, Informative)
it renders fine if your OS is smart enough to do the sub-pixel kerning intelligently.
Re:27" FTW (Score:4, Informative)
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.
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oookay, science done. Result: Apple fails! :P Sub-pixel kerning continues, but does not adjust for the new pixel orientation.
And I'd still like to hear from someone with deeper Windows OS experience that can comment on sub-pixel kerning support.
I haven't tested on the newest variants, but at least by default XP also fails. (thus the question about do those exist ^.^) I do wonder if with Windows 7 or 8 you could get clear type working by going to Adjust ClearType text and selecting the specific monitor in Pivot. I doubt that it helps, as the problem isn't really RGB vs BGR (which I believe it does handle), but vertical vs horizontal subpixel layout, and at least based on http://www.lagom.nl/lcd-test/subpixel.php [lagom.nl] at least Vista did not support thos
Re:27" FTW (Score:5, Insightful)
It's a shame 4:3 and 5:4 monitors are so hard to find. That solves both the length and width issues when coding. I find one 4:3 is good enough to replace two 16:9 (one of which is portrait).
I'm also a huge fan of a low dot pitch, which also seems to have gone the way of the dodo these days. I'd rather code on a 15" 1600x1200 over a monstrous 27" 2560x1440 any day.
My setups are otherwise similar when I'm required to use 16:9 monitors. Otherwise, I'll go with a pair of old 4:3 whenever I have a choice. I'm usually significantly more productive on those than on the 16:9 (having to drag the right window to the right monitor is a huge distraction).
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2560x1440 is more pixels in EVERY direction. How is that *worse* than 1600x1200? Hell, think of 2560x1440 as two 1280x1440 displays side by side... *much* better than 1600x1200.
He's talking DPI, or density of the pixels. A 15" 1600x1200 monitor will have SMALLER pixels, than a 27" 2560x1440. Yes there maybe less pixels overall, but being smaller, the fonts* will appear less jaggy, which is a big concern for serious coders who stare at text all day.
* Of course, if the font is too small, it can be sized up in the editor, and STILL not be jaggy.
-Jar
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Whereas I concede your point to a degree, most of us with non 20:20 vision have a set focal distance for comfortable reading, regardless of font size. I couldn't code on a 50" plasma from 8 feet away no matter how big the font was - it would give me a headache.
Re:27" FTW (Score:5, Interesting)
I have 2xU2211H, both oriented portrait. I can see having one landscape if you need to work on video or something, but I don't.
I'd always go for the smallest display at a given resolution, to get the highest DPI: I much prefer 22" 1920x1080 to 24" 1920x1080. Still, I wish someone would make 200+ DPI desktop displays. Some day.
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"don't see the point in going up to even 22" on a desktop. To compensate for the slight increase in view distance maybe a 19", but no more"
You can't get 1920x1080 at 19" or 20", unfortunately. At least not that I've found. Standard res at 19" and 20" is 1600x900. Basically, it's just about impossible to buy a desktop monitor higher than around 100dpi: it's a barrier. If you look at where the resolution jumps happen, it's _always_ at around 100dpi. The smallest monitor you can usually buy these days is 18.5"
Re:27" FTW (Score:4)
Single-column PDFs and Word documents are invariably formatted for Portrait and yet the majority of displays are Landscape-only.
If governments were truly conscious of 'saving a tree', they'd mandate use of pivotable monitors.
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A widescreen 27" monitor is fine for portrait windows. I typically have some terminal windows, web browsers, and PDF windows open, and most of them are portrait. The advantage of the landscape monitor is that I can fit them side by side easily. There's easily space for a couple of portrait-A4 windows on the screen for documentation / procrastination and for my terminals floating either below or between them.
The main reason for landscape monitors is that most humans have two eyes that are next to each ot
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A sheet of A4 paper is far smaller than my screen.
The A4 paper was probably printed on a printer at 1200 DPI. Your monitor is probably lucky to have 100 DPI. Depending on font and other factors, it may be necessary to zoom in on your monitor to be able to read the A4 document.
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2 monitors are much better than 1 large monitor in my experience
I agree - one in portrait mode for a full-screen web browser for reading documents and the other in landscape mode for interactive work.
Agreeing here too, but why isn't "2" replaced by "multiples" ? ;-)
hehe...
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Indeed, more is definitley better. If you own 5 monitors scattered over a couple of PCs and a couple of laptops (pretty conservative here) . Between cheap old dual head cards that you certainly already own, Synergy (google that if you have to), and/or Zonescreen ( everyone really needs this, it even works with my HP touchpad) you can get that evil genius wall of data effect. :)
And now you have a project that will kill your weekend.
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Dell 30" with ridiculous resolution here (2560x1600?).
I can relate to your vertical needs but not to *grandparent's complaint that 30" is too big.
I'm not using any fancy IDEs. Screen, vim, and make do the trick. Also running Ratpoison so split vertical and now I have 2 vertical spaces good for a browser to render my work; and with sufficient width to easily still be useful for code editing.
TL;DR 30" took a little getting used to but is my favorite.
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Seconded - one portrait. Amazing how much it makes your life easier a lot of the time.
Of course, if you have the space, keeping a third one, (maybe your old monitor) is good too.
I use it keep track of mail, VoIP and messages without having to tab between screens.
Of course, it still sucks that as standard win 8 only shows you the task bar on your 'main" monitor.
Re:27" FTW (Score:4, Informative)
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.
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One thing that annoys me, though, is that when I start something on a secondary monitor, it opens on the primary one. Anyone knows how to fix that?
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I agree, layout of most apps are designed for a certain screen shape. When you only have a single larger monitor, maybe 50% more area, you wind up with two abnormally skinny apps side by side or on top of each other. Two regular sized monitors are better IMO
Also, 1920x1080 monitors are the defacto now just about, and you will get a better $/pixel value getting two of those instead of one less common resolution.
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Just make sure you get a monitor that works well in potrait. Many (even those that come with stands that swivel to portrait) look like shit in portrait mode. Something about the eyes seeing it at slightly different angles.
I'm not sure what spec to look for when finding a portrait-friendly screen, perhaps someone can enlighten me.
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It works in other things as well. I'd rather have two girls at 115 lb each than one at 230.
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I've been using variations of this (non) integrated development environment for more than 15 years, current version:
- 2x24" running linux with up to eight 130x80 rxvts in up to 48 desktops to use vim and make in...
- 2x22" running linux with VM / windows for surfing, email etc
- 2x19" with kvms to the multitude of test systems on the lab bench
The first system uses fvwm simply because I like its multi-desktop pager and I haven't bothered to update it for the last te
Re:27" FTW (Score:5, Interesting)
I too prefer a pair no matter the size. When developing in something like Visual Studio I have to run it in full screen. So the second monitor gets used for e-mail, web browser, references, etc.
I use 2 U2711 at home and it's wonderful. I also use a 17" alongside those. I use the smaller monitor for consoles or running something like uTorrent. Some people get caught up on the whole 16:10 vs. 16:9 issue, but at 2560x1440 there's plenty of vertical resolution there.
At work I use a pair of 22" 16:10 monitors. That's an ok setup and I've been using something similar at three jobs now. I'm considering picking up another pair of 27" monitors to use at work though. Either the 2713HM or perhaps some of the cheap Korean ones. Perfect color isn't a must for me when coding, so I don't need the 2711 or the better 2713 model.
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I used to agree with you, and was religious about getting dual 24" 1920x1200s for my setups (usually Acer). However, last time I upgraded my home machine I finally decided to bite the bullet and shell out the 1k for a 2560x1600 30" (in my case, a DoubleSight DS-309W).. and I could not be happier. The difference in vertical screen space is surprisingly noticeable, and it just about fills my useful-field-of-view at about 22-24" viewing distance, so I don't find myself having to turn my head very much. I have
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I too prefer a pair no matter the size.
Mmmm, breasts.
Re:27" FTW (Score:5, Informative)
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.
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Another +1, I am cheap though, I only have the 24" versions (one older one with a cold cathode backlight and one newer, LED backlit). 2x good screens are absolutely wonderful to code on.
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Have the 24" version. Equally awesome for PS3 hookup.
Regardless go 16:10 (Score:5, Insightful)
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2560x1440 is great too. It's just a matter of getting to a good overall height, and the 27" monitors have that.
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I recommend a Hanns-G/Hannspree HZ281HPB [google.com] 28-inch 16:10 monitor. You won't likely find a new unused one now, but it isn't hard to find them used or refurbed on eBay. I bought two from different sources on eBay for about $200 each. I can't remember what computing was like before this. I almost bought a third for gaming, but I do very little FPS gaming and most of the games I play wouldn't benefit much from being strung across three monitors.
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I'll second that, I'm not sure that is the specific model that I own but it looks like it. I also got 2 of them, for $300 each at the time, and have one in portrait and one in landscape. Great for programming on, gaming is good also. Not a single broken pixel in either monitor, but the primary monitor does occasionally flicker just after I turn it on.
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I recently finally bought a dual-monitor stand (for US$20 with $40 rebate) for mine, and it includes the ability to rotate them, so now I can finally do that, too. I don't need portrait mode all the time, but it's nice to be able to get it on the fly as needed with just a few moments of effort. (The only downside was that the support column was IMHO too short, requiring that I either leave the desk below them completely clear or clamp the thing to a secondary stand of wood... which I will likely build in
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Just you wait until you're older and your eyeballs get lazy... your tune will change. ;-)
Dual Head (Score:2)
Personally I find dual 19" monitors to be both cheaper, and more usable than a single large screen. Work is usually divided between 1 primary monitor where I have my actual code, and 1 monitor that is being used to display information, references, email, IMs, etc. Combined with some software like Winsplit [winsplit-revolution.com] (No affiliation, just an awesome free product that I've used on every computer I've touched in the past 8 years) you can organize a large number of windows in ways that make sense very quickly. Obviousl
Varanus bengalensis (Score:2)
See for yourself http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bengal_Monitor [wikipedia.org]
Oh! You mean like, a monitor monitor, the hardware kind? Um... Lemme get back to you. I think it's an HP from the days of old...
24" 1920x1200 matte IPS (Score:2)
27" Korean's (Score:3, Interesting)
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There are even people who make a nice margin testing them and selling them as guaranteed no dead pixels on eBay. I think some of them are the original sellers.
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£357 + shipping to north america for a 27" display, I may as well go to the Apple store and buy a 27" Cinema display. It'll work out to about the same cost for me....
The point of the Korean ones is that they're half the cost, or less.
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Agreed; I quite like mine. No dead pixels, though pixels will "sparkle" (not sure how else to describe it) if left on for a few days; power cycling or turning it off at night avoids this problem. Otherwise, it's great; beautiful and bright, good color and contrast, good response time. 2560x1440 is a good aspect ratio and plenty of vertical pixels. Cost was $290 USD on eBay, including DHL express shipping (48 hours from warehouse in Seoul to my place in Seattle) and an included adapter for US outlets (the po
definitely 16x10, and 2 screens is great (Score:3)
I'm really happy with my two Samsung SA450s. I paid under AU$300 each for them, and they rotate, so it's a pair of 1920x1200 screens, one sideways for code. With a decent graphics card (I splurged and got one that costs about the same as one of the monitors so I could have two separate DVI links) it's a nice programming rig. The sideways one gets over 100 lines of code on screen at a readable resolution.
For coding I love my 90 degree tilt widescreen (Score:2)
When they finally bought me a second monitor at work it was a widescreen format. That didn't work all that well with the existing 4x5 aspect ratio. So I took my new monitor and turned it 90 deg. Thankfully the mount supported this. So now I have my original monitor for general web/mail and my new monitor is where the coding gets done. Having a monitor that has 50% more vertical real estate is awesome for working on code and documents.
Size isn't everything... (Score:3)
The size isn't as important as the orientation (queue the jokes). Two wide screen monitors, one setup as landscape, and one as portrait. It's actually a great setup for anything that involves reading or writing.
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Seconded (pun very much intended)
Quantity > Quality (if that makes any sense)
NEC LCD2490WUXi2-BK 24" (Score:2)
NEC LCD2490WUXi2-BK 24" ...if you can find one. I bought mine used about six months ago for surprisingly little when my NEC 19 inch tube monitor finally bit the dust. It's color accurate and 1200 pixels tall. (I have a hard time working on "HDTV" monitors. They're too short.) It's a little thicker and heavier than modern flatscreens, but I don't mind at all.
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Seconded. This is a solid workstation monitor for graphics or text. I have the LCD2490WUXI rev 1, which I bought it to replace my FP950 when something in its vertical deflection opened up.
It comes with or without a color calibrator. The regular gamut 1920x1200 IPS display has full adjustments for color, gamma, black level, backlight brightness, pixel overdrive, display scaling, etc.
The scaler also includes an adjustable border overlap, so that you can make the monitor display the image as if the bezel was f
IBM T221 (Score:3)
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Where'd you rent the crane to install them? My local Lowe's doesn't have anything big enough.
Cost (Score:3)
I'm trying to keep the cost down reasonable,
Why? If spending $1,000 makes you 5-10% more productive, then do it. If you can find a cheaper one, great, but don't screw yourself in the name of a false economy.
30" (Score:3)
My favorite is a 30" 2560x1600. The vertical pixel count is very nice. The Koreans can deliver these at a reasonable price. If you have money you can get them for about 1K in a nice IPS flavor.
I don't like the 27" 2560's because the dot pitch is marginal for my below average eyesight.
And I have yet to find a 1920 x 1200 27".
Right now I am using a cheap pair of 27" 1920 x 1080, but I am definitely going to at least one 30" 2560x1600 in the next couple of months.
24s or larger (Score:2)
You could also consider doing whats called a "PLP" setup, for portrait/landscape/portrait. Here's an example [imageshack.us].
Koreans (Score:3)
I have one of the Korean 27" screens - they seem to be generally great. I went for a slightly higher end model to get HDMI etc, and I have no dead pixels at all. I can see slight variation in the backlight when it's full white but I've seen it at least that bad on every monitor I've ever owned (costing a lot more than this). Highly recommended (and if you don't want to go the eBay route, monoprice are now rebadging these themselves!).
24" 1920x1200 + secondary screen (Score:2)
I have a Samsung S24A450UW (1920x1200) + a legacy secondary screen (an odd 1680x1050).
I like having two screens. The main screen has most of my work stuff, and has multiple virtual-desktops. The secondary screen is static, and shows mostly mail, irc, todo lists, and a secondary firefox window for reference stuff. (I use Gnome 3, but presumably most window managers have that option, although I moved to Gnome 3 after 10 years with FVWM, but it had become too annoying to configure correctly)
I also find it nice
Dell U2412M (Score:3)
I purchased two of these a few months ago (replacing a couple of 1680x1050 Acer displays), and I couldn't be happier.
27" is great... BUT. (Score:2)
If you get a 27" monitor, it had better be very high resolution (2560 x
Contrast ratios are touted to be in the many millions to one, these days. Big deal. As long as it's over 100,00 to 1, you probably won't notice the d
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Caveat emptor re linux support for USB adapters. I needed a solution in a hurry from the local electronics store for a Windows 7 laptop but unsurprisingly drivers were lacking for Ubuntu.
Which is kind of a shame when today's Android smartphones include USB OTG support, e.g. for plugging in external displays. Perhaps I'll learn some C and hack together a driver by 2015!
Acer 26" (Score:2)
Dell U2412M or ViewSonic VP2770 (Score:5, Informative)
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 (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Monoprice IPS in March (Score:4, Informative)
Some of the Korean shippers will let you pay a little extra for a monitor with no bad pixels.
HP LA2405x and Asus PA248Q (Score:2)
Note PWM LED issues (Score:2)
http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/articles/pulse_width_modulation.htm [tftcentral.co.uk]
Go for top end Dell, the ~$1000 Eizo range.
Any Australian tech forum has a post on the Korean IPS options:
"27/30" Korean Monitor Guide/Help Pt2"
http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies.cfm?t=2023067 [whirlpool.net.au]
Dell or Apple; Acer, too (Score:2)
Got to see them in action (Score:2)
HP ZR30w - 30" 2560x1600. Never going back. (Score:3, Interesting)
NEC EA243WM (Score:2)
I just recently upgraded to this monitor, and I love it. Adjustable height, can be rotated to portrait mode, LED backlit.
I love having 1920x1200 - those extra vertical pixels are worth the extra price vs. the ubiquitous 1920x1080 screens.
A friend of mine has a cheap Korean 27" monitor (Score:2)
I use 2 of the Korean monitors (Score:2)
I don't program with them but I can give some feedback.
Mine are from Auria bought from MicroCenter. They are 27inches and have a glossy finish which you may not like on your screen if you have things that could reflect behind you. Neither one had a single dead pixle and after about 2months of use I really like them. The stands did NOT allow for pivoting but I'm using a dual stand off of Amazon anyway so I could pivot if I needed to. You MUST use the included DVI cables as they're apparently some new version
I dont code for a living (Score:4, Interesting)
most of the time, but I personally find widescreens to be mostly useless for large text displays unless stood in portrait mode (IDE's like visual studio do make use of the side area, I guess)
maybe I dont have 1037 nested if's in a billion line widget, but its sort of rare for me to go much over 80 columns
Depends on the language (Score:2)
no single monitor... (Score:3)
3- 24" 1920X1200 monitors. It is getting HARD to find 4:3 monitors nowdays with the useless Widescreen trend. Works fantastic, I can have multiple Xterms open as well as multiple VM's Makes it all a breeze.
Ignore the idiots saying to get a 27" or 30" (Score:4, Informative)
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I personally use a 50" TV as a computer monitor. However, another reason to be wary of TV's is many have overscan, which basically will cut off the edge of your screen. You will have to configure a custom resolution that compensates or use scaling(which degrades image quality).
Majority of TV's will be 1920x1080 because that's standard HD. So the larger screen size doesn't buy you more screen, just makes it bigger so you can sit farther away.
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Majority of TV's will be 1920x1080 because that's standard HD. So the larger screen size doesn't buy you more screen, just makes it bigger so you can sit farther away.
True. This is good for your eyes as they are more relaxed not having to focus that close.
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What about your neck? How is gazing at a 50 inch TV in the distance while glancing down at a mouse and keyboard good ergonomics?
Re:DONT get a TV (Score:5, Funny)
You can look at your keyboard?!
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GET a TV (Score:2)
My Panasonic 32" HDTV has an option to turn off the overscan so I can use it perfectly as a monitor. It even has an older dsub/vga input so I can hookup older PCs.
The difference is the pixels are less squarish because of a cheaper filter technology (more expensive TVs come with a better filter and result in monitor-like pixels) and the colors are slightly over-saturated. Despite this I am happy with it because I can sit 1 foot further away from the TV, and since I have it mounted into the wall above my de
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Unless the TV can handle a high resolution you're not saving any money by getting one in the place of a 'real' monitor.
seeing as most TV sold this days are 1080P, meaning they are doing 1920x1080 resolution.
Computer monitors are barely beyond that.
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“Letterboxing” is the black bars on top and bottom that you get when you put a wide aspect ratio on a narrower-ratio monitor without stretching. It's not a synonym for “wide-screen.”
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It's not a synonym for “wide-screen.”
I suppose it is if you've never seen a widescreen film at its native resolution before....
Besides, if you get a 1920x1080 display and put it in portrait mode (which requires not buying the cheapest one you can, admittedly), it's actually better for reading stuff like webpages/documents than a 4:3 monitor is, even if the 4:3 is in portrait.
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Pretty much this. I got given one (attached to the laptop) for my first programming gig. I think it was an accident and they handed me an "executive" class laptop, but I just hemmed and hawed about having so many tools set up on it that it would probably cost them more in terms of time to take it back. Which was true anyway.
Since then, all the screens I've worked on have had fewer vertical pixels, which to me has been like progress in reverse.
Re:12" ThinkPad hardware text-mode (Score:4, Funny)
560Z if you want details. 800x600 pixels, 100x37 with 16x8 characters -- perfect ssh client. Main machine has a 19" for opening GUI stuff when really necessary.
OMG SO HARDCORE
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Or two colors: Black and green|amber|white
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Well unless the submitter is planning on developing iOS/OS X software, perhaps you missed the point about "trying to keep the cost down reasonable" ?
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Well unless the submitter is planning on developing iOS/OS X software, perhaps you missed the point about "trying to keep the cost down reasonable" ?
There are such things as VMs, so basic platform isn't too much of a problem. Also, I do most of my Linux programming on a Mac, because I work entirely with scripting languages (Perl, PHP, Python, JavaScript etc.), and it's trivially easy to set up a compatible working environment on OS X.
But you're right - the cost of hardware is very high. The 27" Thunderbolt monitors (and/or iMacs) come with the brand tax applied, as well as some confidence about their construction, quality and engineering. I have 27" iMa
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For programming? Writing code *is* a desk-bound activity. Or occupying a table at your local Starbucks cafeteria, if you prefer a hipster-coffee analogy. :)
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This!
A point so often forgotten in the big-screen discussions. Don't get me wrong, I love a nice 27" monitor, actually I think they are fantastic, just make sure that you can set it low enough (adjustable stand or adjustable table height) so that your neck is comfortable. How tall you are affects things also. A good rule of thumb is that while you look straight forward, the upper edge of the monitor should be under your eye height. Thus, a slightly downward angle is natural for your head.
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Yeah, baby!
http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/?id=20111003 [userfriendly.org]
I've got an Epson LQ-2090 and bi-color paper, for when I just want to curl up with some good code to review.