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Bhagya
Bhagya

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How many monitors do you use for coding?

Developers, how many monitors do you use for coding?

I am using 3 and you 👇

Here we go💪​

Top comments (69)

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kasuken profile image
Emanuele Bartolesi

One wide-screen 49 inch.

setup.emanuelebartolesi.com

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volker_schukai profile image
Volker Schukai

Is it good to work with? Is this windows or macos? Do you use a window placement tool?

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kasuken profile image
Emanuele Bartolesi

I use Microsoft PowerToys to split the screen in three parts.
The main in the center and two bars on the sides.

I will write a blog post about my monitor setup here on dev.to

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camco profile image
Camco

I have never seen anyone who has the same setup (49 SUW using power toys)... Which I have been doing for 2 years now and thought I may be crazy! I went from 4x 24" down to a single 49" SUW. Now I want to stack another 34" on top 😎

Ps, your setup is super awesome!!!

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Peter Benjamin (they/them)

1

The constraint of 1 monitor and its real-estate forces me to be intentional about what I'm focusing on. More monitors lead to a lot of distractions for me (e.g. chat apps, browser tabs open to Twitter/YT/HN, ...etc).

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aktoriukas profile image
Gedi

i guess depends what you are coding, but as web dev i can't even imagine productive day with one screen.

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2kabhishek profile image
Abhishek Keshri

Here's my workstation!
my workstation

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jonrandy profile image
Jon Randy 🎖️

One

I've used multiple screens in the past, but always find I'm more productive with just one.

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Keff

I'm on the same boat, even if I have 2 screens I tend to prefer using the one in front and ignoring the secondary screen!

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crowdozer profile image
crowdozer • Edited

2... I prefer having one screen for everything I'm primarily using (vscode, my browser, or my console if doing tdd) and a second screen for any of my command lines that are open but not immediately needed. I prefer alt/tabbing between two windows that are in my immediate view rather than looking left and right between things.

Any more than 2 monitors I find cumbersome and I don't make much use of them. I do have a third monitors at home, but it never gets used while doing any dev. If anything, it's for extras, like youtube.

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pengeszikra profile image
Peter Vivo

I work my MacBook Pro 13inc M1 touchbar with extra monitor if work hard. But so many times 1 screen is enough. I like this machine for extreme mobility. I can coding with 8+ hours without power supply. Doesn't matter where I sit down, even I can share my mobile net. Extra: I use Touch Pad instead mouse, so it is really nomade way of coding.

home office with cat

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krampusnuggets profile image
Brandon Williams

My setup is a bit unconventional. I have my main workstation and a macbook.

I have 3 monitors on my main workstation where actually write my code. Then I have 2 more monitors, macbook and another monitor.

I'm currently working with React Native so the macbook mainly handles the emulation for iOS and Android if I don't need the physical devices.

I use VSCode's Remote Development extension to SSH into the macbook and work in the project folders from my Windows workstation.

TL;DR - I have 5 monitors.

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chrisgreening profile image
Chris Greening

Usually 3

My job is a lot of quick juggling so being able to have VS Code, RStudio, terminal(s), AWS, Stack Overflow, docs, Slack, Asana, and Spotify all on screen at the same time is pretty great

I'm frequently on the move though so working with just my laptop screen is something I'm also used to, it's just a slightly different workflow

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James Auble

Two. One for my browser/devtools and one for my editor (VSCode).

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ibrakhimzhanovit profile image
Islam Ibrakhimzhanov

Me too

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corem96 profile image
Jorge Escamilla

I'm equaly productive using one or many. Now in my current position/job I'm using just one: an "amazing" 18" with a low resolution... which is a huge pain! but job politics doesn't allow me to use a wider neither another one. So any way, I'm still trying toget used to it :(.

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hacksore profile image
Sean Boult

I'm a single monitor user 🖥

It's more ergonmic to have only a single one as you're not relying on moving your head around.

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tmlr profile image
Tony Miller

I currently have my 27" 4k as main one and laptop monitor for stuff like background videos, slack, mail, etc. I type on my laptop's keyboard and laptop's monitor is under my main monitor. This setup worked for me perfectly for almost 5 years now. Although, I want to try having another 27" 4k in vertical orientation for docs and reading stuff.

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Keith Lee

I'm an embedded developer. I find that the absolute minimum is two. I'm often sifting through datasheets, app-notes and other technical documentation as I'm working and when I'm restricted to a single monitor, my alt and tab keys get a real work-out, and my productivity plummets.

For the past while, I've been using a laptop with an external monitor and I have to say, this is one of the absolute worst configurations for my eyes and neck. the setup in this reply seems optimal to me: dev.to/2kabhishek/comment/1pdhi

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miiragxe

Personally, I use 1 external monitor along with macbook air screen and that's it!

External monitor (24") for browser, UI preview, debugging, major tasks, terminal
Macbook Air screen for only VS Code

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Mario Gutierrez

1 monitor and herbstluftwm. Used to have dual monitors but got tired of moving my neck. Once you get used to tiling window managers, the workflow stays the same if you're on the laptop at a coffee shop or at home.