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Ask Slashdot: Monitor Setup For Programmers
First time accepted submitter oxidus60659 writes "I currently work as a programmer for a small business. They have provided me with a laptop and a 27" BenQ monitor on a Neo-Flex stand. The problem is that my main screen is the tiny laptop right in front of me. The 27" monitor is on the left at a very different height position. I want to put the 27" monitor directly above my laptop so I'm looking up rather than to the left for all my coding on the bigger monitor. The stand does not have a high enough setting to accommodate this. What would be a good stand that can mount to a desk high enough to be above a laptop? What kind of monitor setup do you use when programming?"
Use a real keyboard, mouse and monitor - why do you need to look at the laptop?
Watch this Heartland Institute video
and move the laptop to the side
Plug a real keyboard and mouse into the laptops USB sockets. You don't need the laptop in front of you, just the screen, mouse and keyboard.
Donte Alistair Anderson Roberts - hi son!
Karma: Chameleon
I attach a keyboard and mouse to my laptop, then use the big screen as my main scene with the smaller laptop screen off to the side for reference. Alternatively you can find a mount with an arm that I see artists use to move your screen in almost any position.
I use an old 3000 pages "Java 1.2" book to stand the screen right in front of my head an gets the job done
use some of those huge C++/HTML/... books that are probably lying around somewhere in a corner,... (if they are lying on the ground you will probably need something new to put your feed on, but that's another story,..)
Why don't you just put the laptop off to the side and put the big monitor in front of you?
Definitely use a real keyboard and mouse, too. If your laptop can do a docking station, get one of those (some laptops only have VGA-out on the laptop, but have HDMI on the docking station).
In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is kinky.
Not sure what environment you are using, but it should be fairly similar for Linux/Mac.
In Windows, you can go into the Display Properties and select which to be the primary monitor (which the task bar appears and which Windows open on by default), you can also click on a monitor picture to select it and use the UP/DOWN/LEFT/RIGHT keys to position the monitor relative to the other monitors exactly as it is physically so that the mouse cursor lines up when moving the mouse across monitors and to/from the correct edges.
I'm not usually one to complain about the broadness of these ask slashdot questions, but this one essentially boils down to furniture advice.
There is no memory shortage. yes I have heard of XFCE. Go away.
I have a pair of 22" monitors mounted in a vertical configuration using the DS-100 Vertical. It's a bit pricey (I did get it on sale at NewEgg), but it's ridiculously strong and sturdy. You can just install one of the monitor brackets at the top of the pole and have plenty of room for a laptop below. As an alternative, you can try their cheaper single monitor arms.
Pick any monitor you wish, then put it on a pile of books. you can get it as high as you wish
Middle holds the code I'm working on (Notepad2, Delphi, midnight commander or most likely vim - with PuTTY maximised.)
/var/log/mycode" ... because I rarely get it right first time ;-)
... but my brain (personally) gets distracted if I loose something "behind" another. So having that 3rd screen lets me have 3 things open, switching between any combination of a pair.
... they distract me hugely. And a little tip from myself, have the two on the left/right slightly lower (if your taskbar is at the top, or slightly higher if the bottom) so you can move straight to the start button and system tray and have Windows "corner" your mouse cursor for you (without it flying off to another screen).
Windows taskbar sits at the top of the middle screen, as it feels most natural to me... (given I have no choice of OS at work).
Left of me is usually my inbox or a production monitoring screen, because I have that responsibility too. With web app programming it holds a browser showing the rendering of my latest code probably with the javascript debugger running. Depending on the nature of the code, it might be another PuTTY session with a "tail -f
Finally on the right, php.net or Delphi's awesome help files, or even some reference material from stackoverflow (WIN). Slashdot sits in a tab at the back there.
Most importantly, with 3 screens I've never felt I don't have enough space. My brain can only handle 2 things at once (i.e. code and code output, or stackoverflow and code, or code output and the email I'm copying it into, etc)
I like having them big enough for my poor eye sight, reasonably low brightness setting (with high contrast). Different white balance annoys me, but that's a personal thing purely.
Finally, they have to be high enough. I'm tall, and I sit upon a gym ball to try and enforce my naturally awful posture. Having the screens a little higher than recommended relieves my neck pain hugely. (Someone will no doubt tell me I'm wrong here! I personally find it works well, judging by how well I sleep at late.)
A non-distracting wallpaper (solid colour) or a good MacOSX shipped offering and no icons (no, not one!)
I've met several good programmers who swear 2 is enough, I've secretly sourced and subtly (like a ninja) installed a 3rd screen for them, they didn't even notice for the first few hours. They've all eventually converted.
It's not about *using* all three, it's about having the room to spread work out, without having to context switch yourself between stacks of windows. Well, at least it is for me.
I think therefore I am... a Linux geek.
having two desktop monitors will significantly increase your productivity.
i have three. they all get plenty of use.
If you are in an office setting, reams of paper make excellent monitor stands and are in plentiful supply.
That having been said. I'd also recommend a real keyboard and mouse with the laptop off to the side.
09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0
http://winsplit-revolution.com/
Makes working with a large screen and multiple windows so much nicer.
I use a big (30" 2560x1600) monitor, a standard keyboard and mouse, and a tower computer box on the floor
When I absolutely must be mobile, I use a laptop
I despise the thing, and try very hard to avoid it
like horizontal position so you can use your monitor.. but I assume your laptop can't do that.. so your problem is shitty laptop!
I used to develop software for a living now I just do it for fun.
I used to use a laptop as well because I was to and from the office alot, probably 40% office, 40% home, and 20% elsewhere. I only actually used the laptop keyboard/video/mouse when I wasnt at home or office though. The rest of the time It was defn far better to have a full sized quality keyboard/mouse and two monitors.
One screen was for the IDE and the other is where the application ran, I found it alot easier to debug with this setup. But its personal preference.
There are literally wall mounts everywhere now days, all screens are VESA compatible mounts now days. You can goto walmart and buy them even.
UDL
1a) important screens ( code, compiler, text to read from screen ) on the large one, unimportant ones ( logs, system perf monitors, whatever ) on the laptop
2) use a real keyboard and mouse
3) you will work on the large, main screen, and watch occasionally to your right for logs, sys perfs etc.
Religous speak to God. Insane are spoken to by God. When all shut up, one can finally hear Shostakovich in peace
Why do you have to name the brand of the monitor?
At home, I have a single 24", but I am about to go a more ideal two 24's. I consider that ideal because I am not programming full speed, and I have a television to the side as a "3rd" monitor.
At work, I have two 19" screens, but my preference would be three of them (preferably with a single widescreen), so that I have an IDE window, a debugging window to play the app, and then a third screen for browsing or other OS-packaged apps.
What Kind of neo flex stand? Is it one where it only holds the monitor, or does it hold the laptop too? If it only holds the monitor, just put a couple reams of paper under the stand. Every office has a few of those laying around.
In my current job I have four 20 inch monitors in a 2x2 square. Active apps (Eclipse and browser) go in the bottom two. Less active apps (email and SQL client) up the top. It will be very hard for me to go back to one or two monitors. If an employer isn't willing to provide your most productive set up then it's a sign to keep away from them.
Get yourself a phone book, put it under the monitor stand. Congratulations, you've just discovered what phonebooks are still good for.
FWIW I keep my terminal open on the laptop screen (same terminal on all virtual desktops) and then have the large screen for my various other programs.
when I need to access anything else. So VNC into the laptop.
Crap display, crap keyboard, crap mouse replacement, low main memory, small slow hard disk. (Unless you've got a solid state disk.)
Just use a real computer, you know you want to.
I got provided with 2 24" widescreen monitors, which gives pemty of screen real-estate, but makes for very wide anglew viewing. After a period of frustration with panning my eyes across the width of them I realised I could orient them vertically since they were on rotatable mounts. This turned out to be great -- the extra height fits more lines of code on screen at a time, and works nicely dual screen. I reccomend such a setup to anyone.
Craft Beer Programming T-shirts
Sorry if this hijacks the posters question a little...but it's the first thing that came to mind when I saw the topic. I'm not sure if others have found the same, but in cases where I've needed a KVM, including my current setup at home, I've spent what seems like man years of my life screwing with KVMs. A KVM that does NOT totally suck is an animal that does NOT exist.
My current setup works with many quirks that constantly screw with me, and it took forever to get to this point. I went through two KVMs that were totally unusable for various reasons...stuck keys in Linux only(??)...you name it. When I finally got one that seemed to play nicely I discovered that it didn't work with my T43 Thinkpad docking station. I found other users that had encountered the same issue with this switch ONLY on the T43 docking station...unbelievable. Believe it or not, just for the hell of it, I tried putting one of the bad KVMs (that I'd kept too long to return) in between my working one and the T43 and it worked...only because the two switches used different hot keys. That's the kludgy setup I have to this day.
However that setup is all PS2, so now that I'm overdue to replace my Linux workstation, I get to do it all over again, or figure out how to live without the KVM. Seriously...has anyone else found this things to suck this bad???
I work from home, and I use a vertical 24" monitor (connected to my laptop) where I can see around 135 lines of code at a glance. This is my monitor: Dell U2412MB, priced $370: http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/productdetail.aspx?s=bsd&sku=320-2676 Whenever I want to see a movie, I can rotate the monitor back to horizontal position.
You want to take care of your main screen first (you'll thank me later). It should be about level with your eyes for good posture, and not too close. I'm using a logitech mk605 laptop stand, but any will do. Or you could swap your secondary and main screen. Get external keyboard and mouse anyway, they are always much better than laptops'.
The Cloud - because you don't care if your apps and data are up in the air.
I forget the source (might have been Sharky's blog), but it was about a guy who liked to ride his bike to work. The problem was that once it got cold out, his hands got too cold. So he decided to build a system that would heat the handgrips of his bike to keep his hands warm. Of course, he ran into all kinds of trouble, and even when he got it fixed, it didn't really keep his hands warm very well. Then one day he was complaining about it, and someone asked, "Why don't you just wear gloves?"
Sometimes the solution is so obvious it's hard to see. Use a separate keyboard and mouse so you can put the laptop off to the side.
I am a programmer as well and had the exact same issue and I purchased a Mobile Pro mount from Apple for my Mac Book Pro and my Dell 27" monitor. The monitor mount uses standard VESA mounting hardware. Here is the link: http://store.apple.com/us/product/TY174LL/A/bretford-mobilepro-desk-mount-combo. This still does not make it one on top of the other, but it will bring the laptop screen up to the same height as the monitor so you can use an external keyboard and mouse.
Not good for much else.
First, get a USB keyboard and mouse that you can plug into the laptop (directly or via a hub), so you don't need to use the laptop's keyboard and trackpad. Then set up your display configuration to duplicate the desktop on both monitors. Now you can close or almost close the laptop and slide it under the monitor, or off to one side, out of the way while you work. Alternatively you can extend your desktop across both monitors, set the 27" monitor to be your main display and use the laptop's screen as a secondary monitor. This second option gives you the advantage of being able to set the 27" monitor to a higher resolution than the laptop's screen would support.
When I had a similar two monitor setup (laptop screen and large monitor), I used the monitor for my primary display and set the laptop screen for dedicated tasks. In my case, I used the laptop screen for my terminal sessions. If you use the smaller screen for always-on or dedicated tasks and switch your attention to it when you need it, it works a lot better that way.
Placing the large monitor higher up will give you a real crappy working position, pretty much the opposite of the most natural, which is to look slightly down on the screen. Do what everyone else told you, use a dock for the laptop and have a real keyboard and mouse.
c++;
HEY! since you're in an office... try a couple of A4 stacks.. that did the trick for me.//
The solution I recommend, which is how my desk is setup, is incredibly simple. A USB keyboard and mouse. Less than $50. Now make the big monitor your main desktop. Piece of cake.
I'm trying to understand this question. It seems really simple. Is there something I'm missing here?
"You cannot find out which view is the right one by science in the ordinary sense." - C.S. Lewis on Intelligent Design
Just sort it out man.
My laptop is fairly powerful in all aspects except for the utterly useless for programming 1366x768 screen. I got a 27" monitor that supports up to 2560x1440, 'borrowed' and old USB keyboard and mouse from work, put the laptop on a chair next to where the montior sits (I don't have room for a desk). That's it, make sure the air ducts of the laptop aren't blocked and the only time you'll need to touch it is to turn it on. Put the laptop screen onto the lowest power setting too!
Well, all have answerd how you can do it, I have karma to burn so here is the not so obvious answer:
You are an idiot and should not be programming. If you can not think outside the box (Get it? Box?) then you are obvious not able to do so when programming demands it.
So the obvious answer would be to get a new job.
Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
I use one of these and I'm happy with it, but there are plenty of different models available for various different uses.
Dell XPS15 1920x1080 display, with QtCreator splitting the screen in half, and 4 virtual desktops in KDE (I usually only need 2). When I need additional screens it's usually because I need to do something in another operative system (Windows or another Linux distro), in which case I'll use another laptop standing up besides my main laptop, and share mouse+keyboard using synergy.
Trade your laptop in for an 80's era Compaq "portable" with 6" CRT that supports 80x25 text-mode only.
Otherwise, complain less; code more.
I remove the stands and just hang my second row of monitors to the wall with tie-wraps and use rolls of toilet paper between the wall and the monitors to adjust the angle. It works great.
Everything I write is lies, read between the lines.
I have the same problem. I turn the laptop screen off and put it flat, so I can still use the keyboard, and just use the large monitor directly in front of me. The laptop screen will be far to low for good ergonomic use anyway and if the large screen is above it it'll be too high.
I have a similar setup with my large monitor above my laptop monitor. I have the big monitor sitting atop a stack of old catalogs. I hadn't even considered shopping around for a solution but I'm not very uptight about the tidiness of my desk (massive understatement).
Books you've read and won't likely read again. It shows off your literary prowess to anyone who visits your workstation, and you know, elevates your monitor.
50 pound sacks, mixed grains and molasses, along with healthy minerals. Not bad with a bit of milk or on yogurt.
At home, and at my last job, I had dual 24" monitors attached to a laptop. At my current job, I have two monitors on a desk mount with a desktop pc. I found that two large monitors in front of my face with a real keyboard and mouse is the best setup. I use the laptop screen as kind of an "auxiliary" monitor. I put things that distract me over there.
All sigs are created equal.
"What kind of monitor setup do you use when programming?"
We discussed this on February 14.
http://ask.slashdot.org/story/13/02/14/1832235/ask-slashdot-what-is-your-favorite-monitor-for-programming
Seriously... this is getting rediculous.
(Long version)
I've been working from home for 15+ years, big laptop on a big lapdesk, in a recliner. Decadent, yes, but productive.
About 6 months ago, I built myself a standup workstation to force me off my big arse, and added a 27" monitor above my 18.5" laptop. Loved it: more screen, felt more awake, back felt much better (highly recommend the standup to anyone having weight/back/etc issues from sitting all day)
Then I started jogging on the treadmill 30-45min a day. For all its great benefits, working at the standup tired my legs before my jog, so I went back to the recliner, but missed the 2nd screen. So I took another spin around HomeDepot and grabbed some parts and built what I needed...though it took several iterations.
Hints: don't use cheap aluminum braces, the weight of the monitor torques it too much. I'm picking up a beefy steel brace today. Unless your stand will be attached to some other furniture, and be fairly short, use metal (1.5" conduit or similar), rather than wood for the poles. I used a wooden closet rod, and it definitely bends a bit. I've been able to compensate, but will probably upgrade to metal in future.
And as a base for the whole. thing, look for a hefty patio umbrella stand. I happened to have an old one lying around that does the trick, but it may need more weight.
This probably sounds like a lot more effort than you had in mind, but sometimes the best solution is homebrewed.
007: "Who are you?"
Pussy: "My name is Pussy Galore."
007: "I must be dreaming..."
http://ask.slashdot.org/story/13/02/14/1832235/ask-slashdot-what-is-your-favorite-monitor-for-programming
I use a g15, and plug in my mouse into one of the ports, so only one cable to plug into laptop. I also make the external monitor the "main", and only use the laptop monitor for command prompts, output windows, tests, etc. When you're on the road, your laptop monitor becomes the main
1- 28" 4k monitor. If only I could buy one!
Hopefully the laptop they provided you isn't some undockable consumer version unit but a business class unit that can be - Dell's laptop docks for their business class laptops can support two monitors, and I would assume HP's can to. Get a real keyboard, mouse, dock, use the 27 as the primary, and if you feel like it, get another monitor as a secondary.
After quite some hefty turmoil in the last few months I downgraded my long-term lifestyle expectancies a bit and took on a job as a web-developer (LAMP, HTML5/CSS3/Ajax - the whole lot). The job pays 10000 Euros less than my last one but is in a neat small company building and maintaining PHP applications for a boring but solid vertical market. ... Anyway: The the companies boss has a policy of providing a top-grade work environment. I got a brand new 27" iMac - we (5 employees, 2 part-time freelancers) all are using either 27" iMacs or MacBooks with 27" Tunderbolt displays, we all have topg-grade Duo-Back Chairs and, this is a very good thing I've come to notice in the 2 weeks I'm there - we all have a desk that can change its height electrically. With the simple push of a button we can raise our desks to standing height, which is a huge plus when your stitting in front of the computer 8,5 hrs a day. Have a little presentation or demo-discussion for one or two co-workers? Raise your desk to standing height and all gather around for little stand-in. ... I actually find it fun to work at the office.
Bottom line: Better work environments pay off almost instantly. If you want to do some good, you'll try and get this across to your boss.
My 2 cents.
We suffer more in our imagination than in reality. - Seneca
...Also, if I use an external kbd, the screen of the laptop (which is a beautiful 13" FHD screen) ends up further away, and why not use good screen real estate when it's available?
In the original question you say "The problem is that my main screen is the tiny laptop right in front of me... I want to put the 27" monitor directly above my laptop..."
Decide which one it is: A "tiny" laptop screen, which you don't want right in front of you, or a "beautiful 13 FHD" screen that you do want right in front of you.
I have no problem switching from external keyboard to laptop keyboard, but perhaps I'm not as good a typist, and hence my limiting factor isn't the keyboard.
"The stand does not have a high enough setting to accommodate this. What would be a good stand that can mount to a desk high enough to be above a laptop?"
Oh, that one's easy. Use a pile of old textbooks. I recommend geology, because they tend to be a large format.
http://www.geoffreylandis.com
laptop vs. desktop , its in the word
I have my monitors sitting on multiple reams of copy paper.
I hate typing on laptops. Unless I am working at a customer site, I plug my laptop into the network and use it as a file server, and do my actual work on a workstation. I use two 24" ViewSonic monitors running at 1920x1080, and a Filco Majestouch 2 keyboard. I have almost the exact same setup in my home office as I do at work; the difference is that at home I use a keyboard with Cherry MX Blue switches that are super loud, while work I use the version with Cherry MX Brown switches that don't have the loud "click" so it won't bother my office mate. $150 may seem excessive for a keyboard, but I've had them for several years and they're the best productivity investment I ever made.
if you want the big screen above the laptop, put it on a stack of telephone books. if that confuses you, ask an old person ;)
if this is supposed to be a new economy, how come they still want my old fashioned money?
if you have a laptop and another computer, then use rdp to use the monitor for both. if just the laptop, ignore the fact the laptop has a monitor, and use the large monitor alone.
Telstra used to market a solution to this problem. They even ran ads in TV about it. Back in those days, it was called Yellow Pages. You could either look up the appropriate section in the book or just use it as a raiser block for the monitor.
A dual use solution, what more can you ask?
Really, if you have a 27" main monitor, the 13" of the notebook (albeit full HD) is nothing more than additional tool space ... ... how much "getting used to" do you really need to be able to use it in an emergency situation? From a ergonomical POV, I've not yet seen a single notebook keyboard that can keep up with even lower priced regular keyboards ... I would not want to swap my MS Natural Keyboard (at least something M$ got right) for ANY notebook KBD ...
Also, as for the keyboard - while it may be nice to be able to use the Notebook keyboard (I do that right now), I would hate using it 8-9 hours per day for coding
The outlet is about 8 feet away but my power cord is only 7 feet, what should I do?
... or other large chunk of dead tree, then put your laptop in front of it.
Worked for me. Sheesh how hard can it be? No cardboard boxes? I've used bricks before but if you're not a cheep skate like me then go to a shop that sells office furniture?
I mean I'm a software engineer and my company gave me a laptop. But what was the point of that instead of a desktop? The vast majority of the time I'm at my desk developing and a desktop of the same price would have been faster, had a bigger hard drive, and more memory.(So most of the time when it matters I have a slower machine because of the laptop.) I guess there's 2 situations where the laptop would be better, in meetings and when anybody goes to a customer. So let's see, I'm not one of the developers that visits customers so it's no difference to me and for most of my meetings I just bring a notebook and a pen since that's so much lighter than my laptop.(I mean it's not like I try to develop in a meeting since I swear, if I ever try somebody notices and decides they have to get me involved and stop my work.) Actually in the meeting scenario they could just have a bunch of computers already set up and have people just remote desktop over to their computer. Honestly it's as though they decided that something that's of benefit less than 1% of the time was a good way to go rather giving me what I'd rather have, a faster computer at a given price. (No, they don't go top of the line laptops either which would have been ok.)
Did you know 80 to 90% of the moderators on slashdot wouldn't recognize a troll even if one dragged them under a bridge.
I'm very curious what you finally settle on! I've tried a number of arrangements through the years, starting with laptop in front and underneath big monitor. I had settled on closed laptop and the 27" main screen for several years.
Lately I've liked the laptop on a monitor stand of its own to the right of the main monitor. I use the main monitor for fullscreen tmux w/ vim (or fs emacs depending), with everything else on the laptop monitor to the right (specs, email, running the app, etc.).
One thing that changed, very interesting to me anyway, is that I always kept code on the left, terms on the right, but putting the laptop monitor on the right meant that putting the code on the right side of the left main monitor kept it more centered in my field of view.
Two monitors is a noticeable productivity boost, because there's less context switching. Get one of those laptop stands (I like the one with the teardrop logo), and maybe use a stack of printer paper under each (your monitor and your stand). Definitely external keyboard & mouse.
Fancy people often use three equally sized monitors all in a row (esp. rotated vertically), but that's a bit much.
Seriously, be a man. Drill a hole in the floor with a jackhammer. Stick in a 2x4. Pour concrete. Nail monitor to the 2x4. Grab a beer. Done.
This is my current setup and I'd have a super hard time going back to anything else. Using the retina display on the go has definitely spoiled me.
That is a good way to get an aching neck. When working with a screen, the top of the screen should be slightly below your eyes.
This is a myth. People get long-term injury due to this practice.
In the early days of CAD, we had constant complaints of "digitizer neck". CAD systems used a command line on the screen, and a digitizer tablet sitting on the desk for drawing. The digitizer tablet often had a plastic overlay with grids of icons. Clicking the icon on the tablet launched a command. The user were constantly looking up and down, causing pretty bad neck pain.
The solution was to raise the monitor so the mid-to-top-third was at eye level. Pain vanished same day.
Why did this work? The pain was not caused by moving the head up and down, it was a result of certain neck muscles never having a chance to rest. If the monitor was set too low, the back neck muscles were always in tension, and never got a chance to recover. If you set the monitor at a level that allows your head to balance, your neck muscles relax, and can recover.
A proper workstation setup: Raise/lower the chair so your knees are at-or-below the hips. Adjust the worksurface (keyboard/digitizer) level with your elbows, to allow your forearms to sit level. Adjust the middle of the monitor (or top 1/3) level with the eyes. Give it a day and tweak as needed. This won't work for everyone, but it is a great place to start. This method has worked for my clients for 30 years. Many have expressed that years of pain have vanish in a one or two days. Your mileage may vary.
Disclaimer: I should point out that this post conflicts with most of what I read, including OSHA documents. Since I have no expertise in this area, you should ignore my advice. Do what OSHA suggests, as government knows best. But if nothing else works for you, consider trying the above as an experiment.
Place nail here >+
My laptop becomes my secondary screen and I use the 23" monitor as my main screen with email, help files, and references on the smaller 15" laptop screen. When in this configuration I'm using an external ergo keyboard and mouse, which really did make a difference when it came to my wrists.
I found this set up works wonders for me.
"The problem with socialism is eventually you run out of other people's money" - Thatcher.
Works great, stable, and as a plus you can take it home on the weekends!
I use my laptop for IM - and forced the front on Pidgin to a decent size. I do contract work from home, and I don't miss anything customers do to get my attention.
You have the wrong idea.
I think you'll find that the top-bottom configuration isn't very ergonomic. You'll get a crick in the neck in no time. Human necks aren't designed to angle-up for extended periods.
The more efficient way to work is side-by-side, using something like an iCurve and an external keyboard/mouse.
http://www.ijoe.hu/elevator/elevcreature.jpg
Myself and many others have used this configuration for years, and it actually works.
Use your laptop and desktop together with synergy... if your latency is low it's the best way to go.
Since when did Slashdot readers become a useless immobilized lot of what-do-I-do-please-help-me feeble self-non-starters?
Seriously: Google. Amazon. Newegg. Microcenter. ThinkGeek. You don't need to waste the time of a few hundred other people with stupid questions!!
Seems like the wrong question - really, you're making this overly complicated. The right question is: how do you work with a laptop attached to a big monitor.
- Low budget: Set the darned monitor on a couple of books, to raise it above the laptop screen. I know people who like to work this way: laptop monitor with menus and info, big screen for coding.
- Almost as cheap: Shove the laptop off to the side, turn off the screen (or close it), and attach a real keyboard and mouse.
- More expensive, but the "right" solution: buy a docking station.
Note that none of these involve buying an overpriced monitor stand.
Enjoy life! This is not a dress rehearsal.
Put the monitor stand on a brick.
Go to Amazon.com and search for "monitor stand" or "neo-flex stand" and see the thousands of results you get.
I personally like the Neo-Flex LCD Arm. It is under $70 and clamps to the back edge of a desk of in a cable hole. It is totally adjustable and easy to maneuver.
I am rephrasing the OP's question to the better and the eternal: What is the ideal monitor / hardware setup for programming?
First you want more than one monitor. But you don't want those monitors to be too big. Personally I don't like going over 24" as my head feels like it is going to swivel off looking at two 27" monitors. Plus if you develop for 27" it will look crappy on most people's little screens. Next you want as much memory as possible. Often when programming many elements of your development environment will not only each demand much memory but with leaks and whatnot you will demand more and more memory as the day wears on and thus extra memory will keep you from either rebooting or strategically turning things off. For me one of the biggest memory pigs are the VMs and they can be complete pigs. So 24Gigs is a good start for a development machine. Your primary work and IDE/compiler should be on an SSD. This will speed things like compilation time way up. Also the number of cores you have becomes quite important as this is great for most compilers and a must for any VMs. It is nice if you can dedicate 2 or more cores to a VM while still having 2 or more cores for your primary machine.
Needless to say all of the above implies a desktop. But a laptop can be a great adjunct to the primary development desktop as developing in new and interesting varied locations invigorates your code. A good coding setup should allow your code to move freely between the laptop and the desktop. Ideally you can check out your code onto the laptop and be gone in minutes. Beyond that everything on a laptop is compromising your work so the minimums would be 15" and as much memory as you can afford.
But the best setup that I have seen for server development was where each developer had a little blade machine running in a drawer instead of as a VM on their primary machine. Nothing beats being able to push a button to reboot or plug in a USB for a quick and dirty OS reinstall.
I would love to hear from people who have tried 3 monitors and those who have tried the vertical monitors.
Am I the only coder who does just fine with a single 15" monitor? Does anyone really need several large monitors just to write code?
I found that using two different monitors is extreemly distracting. I tend to close my laptop and just use main display by itself
I've made a number of happy purchases at http://www.lcdarms.com./ They are expensive, but really good.
and you fail.
Programming is all about solving problems and you can't sort out your own monitor. Might be a good time to find a new profession. I program on my laptop screen and have the browser open in the full hd monitor. I also have a standard mouse attached because touch pads are irritating to me.
Work Safe Porn
I use a 42" FullHD LCD TV as my primary monitor, and a 22" TFT as the secondary. I would like to switch the 22" to another 42" to get some more screen space (it has only 1680x1050). The only bad thing about using a TV as a monitor is that you need to turn it on by using the remote. If you use HDMI input, I can't see any difference in quality (at least on my sets). Also, it's great for watching movies!
Tee.do Lean Task Management
I have hat least two colleagues who both have a) a laptop, b) a separate screen, c) mouse and keyboard. Both of them have the screens to the side and are working primarily on the laptop.
The reason might be that the laptop sits lower than the screen. Looking down at it is more pleasant than looking at a screen with its top at eye-level (top at eye level is the maximum vertical height, not the recommended setting, isn't it?).
Why doesn't anyone design a table with its far side half a foot lower than the front side, to accommodate decent sized screens?
Borrowed from your nearby photocopying machine will let you test this out for free.
And if it doesn't work out, you return them (cost = $0). If it does, then you should know
how high a stand you like/want/need.
Wtf is this doing on slashdot? This used to be "news for nerds", not "crap nerds search for."
Use one real monitor, a real keyboard and a real mouse and switch between applications using Alt-Tab or something equivalent. Colleagues of mine switch constantly between the two and take significantly more time to switch context. Constantly dragging windows from one monitor to the other is really silly and IMHO illustrates how you aren't in control of your environment.
YMMV but, in any case, consider the cost of context switches and minimize that.
Also, in my experience, changing position frequently allows me to view things from different perspective. And for me that not only has positive physical consequences. My mind remains healthier -or so I believe- and pressure points on my body vary.
I hadn't the slightest objection to his spending his time planning massacres for the bourgeoisie... (P.G. Wodehouse)
If you can not figure out how to arrange two monitors by yourself, you probably should stick with just one and it should not be used to edit code.
Get a kanagroo stand up for your monitor. You can thank me later your back will love you.
They make perfect flat panel monitor stands. How often do you really use them anyway?
I'm planning on getting a VESA mount (very inexpensive) and attaching my monitor to the wall. Maybe you think you don't live in earthquake country. Maybe you're mistaken.
:-)
Complain to get Thinkpad T420 instead of your laptop. Return monitor. Enjoy last good keyboard on the market with a screen large enough for several 80x24 terminals with your vim/emacs sessions. Well, that works for me, you may be one of those advanced programmers who need large Java IDE with cool refactoring features.
Programmers need to be resourceful and good at solving problems. If you can't see that this simply requires a stack of books in the first instance (TODO: optimise this later), then you've failed at an extremely low hurdle my friend. Perhaps you'd be more suited to burger flipping?
Hey, here's a thought: instead of dicking around asking other people how to solve a pretty basic problem, why don't you get back to work and figure it out?
The horror!, did they not provide you with a cup warmer for your fair-trade organic double latte macchiato?
Start with a quality monitor. Not the cheapest piece of shit your employer can find. If you really are working for an idiot that believes specs first and his own eyes last, time to start looking for another job.
It does sound like your external monitor will be to high if you place it above the laptop. As one poster points out the recommended position for you monitor is to have the top of the monitor about the height of your eyes when in a correct seating position. The eyes naturally look down and so this is the best position to reduce strain.
It seems that laptop docks are hard to come by these days, my workplace will not purchase docks due to the cost and most of our laptops don't have them available anyway. There are a number of after market laptop stands / risers available, some have integrated features such as audio, USB hub and cooling fans. I have one of these, they are great!
The most important feature for me was to be able to adjust the laptop so that it sits almost vertical, e.g the stand looks like an upside down V. The laptop monitor can then be raised (you almost open the laptop all the way open). You need an external keyboard and mouse of course, but alongside your external monitor this is a great setup. As the laptop is almost standing straight up, it has a small footprint. Just use the laptop monitor for your side tasks like email, web etc and your external for programming.
It's clear that no Slashdot questions can be asked any more unless a Dice marketing "expert" can understand them. :-(
BTW, whatever happened about the odd report that Dice had deleted a Slashdot posting ?
I work from home
I have laptops from two companies. I have two servers with monitors on my desk - and a wall mounted screen.
each laptop has a sfill size screen attached to it (plus a full keyboard and mouse.) my two servers just have a single widescreen monitor attached... (24 inches)
I spent $120 for someone to come in and do an ergonomic assessment
the screens sit behind the laptops and above the laptop screens - so they are configured to be one above the other... and I had the wall mounted screen (which can play alerts from systems - OR movies / tv ) is arranged to be visible ABOVE them...
The laptops were originally sitting on reams of printer paper...
and tthat worked OK - although given its MY office - I got a handyman friend to build a set of shelving that extended my desk back about about 25 cm
and and shelve that sat on that.
the monitors sit ON That . The servers now sit in a secial cabinet to the right of my desk which also has my scanner and the second set of 2.1 speakers (the 7.1 speakers are on the shelves Behind my desk - as are my routers, switches hard drives and other things
I also invested in an ergonomic chair (that was the most expensive thing in the whole setup - besides the custom servers of course)
the point is - take the time to get it assessed. IT doesnt HAVE to be expensive and it will make a HUGE difference. I work and play at the same desk - somethings LONG LONG days. and ive never had any trouble since i took the time to set it up right and my productivity has gone up !
this enables me to work across 4 systems - with plenty of space...
I think your advice is done from false expertise. The spine comes in the back on the head, by definition the weight is forward of the spine and pulling it forward. Go look in the mirror, sideways, your head clearly lines forward.
The top of my eye view is about 2/3rd down a portrait screen, at 50cms from the screen, the difference in tilt between viewing eye level and top of screen is about 15 degrees. That's tiny, and less than the flex on the backrest of my chair.
My advice to anyone, is, move your chair and desk till you're comfortable. You body is telling you what it wants, anything else is a theory based on some idealized model of how the average person is. If you buy trousers, they're not one size fits all, so why would you think there's one ergonomic absolute rule that fits everyone?
As to this guys situation, he wants to view the screen in front, the laptop is in the way, move it to the side, plug in a wireless keyboard and mouse (or USB), and use the laptop screen as an auxillary and that would be fine. Adjust the height of the monitor by propping it up if he wants it higher, but there's plenty of excellent stands he can buy cheaply and VESA mounts make it trivial to add them.
1. Take a pile of the old tech manuals you have lying around (Venereal Basic for Dummies, Internet Exploder Resource Kit, Windows NT Networking Nightmare Guide, etc.) 2. Put this pile behind your laptop. 3. Put existing monitor stand on top of the pile. 4. Adjust height by removing/adding useless manuals as needed. 5. ??? 6. Profit!!!!
Sometimes the "writing on the wall" is blood spatter...
Love, Love, LOVE my Ergotron arm (single monitor arm, 24" Dell, way adjustable). Check it out!
My situation is similar to yours. Here's how I have it set up.
- IKEA JERKER standing desk.
- 21" (soon to be 24"-27") monitor on the left, adjusted so that the TOP of the monitor is at eye level. (Trust me on this.)
- 13" MBP on the right, on a pile of books so that the top of the laptop screen is in line with the top of the large monitor.
- The large monitor is set as primary - at least in OS X, this is a very simple setting.
- F.lux for after dark.
And that's it. Works well for me.
As others have said, get a real keyboard and mouse, but also try a laptop DJ stand like this: http://www.amazon.com/PYLE-PRO-PLPTS25-Laptop-Computer-Stand/dp/B004HJ1ZB8/ Align the two screens side-by-side, I prefer to have the tops of the screens aligned. Hope this is helpful.
I use a laptop for programming...but mostly because I work from home and it's efficient in terms of power consumption.
That said, it has 8GB of ram (so my codebase is cached), a decent cpu, and I use exernal keyboard/mouse/monitors. Also, for serious compiles I use the corporate compile farm.
I'm sorry, but perhaps I'm just old-fashioned... But ditch the laptop for full time use and get a desktop with 2 or 3 real desktop computer monitors and move on with life. The cost of doing that is minor compared to what you are, or should be getting paid. I've done similar work and I use a trio of 30" IPS displays and would never, ever, ever go back to less. The amount of work that can be gotten done on such real estate cannot be under estimated.
I'm pretty sure using these tools and devices you can solve your problem. otherwise, try #ubuntu
or #microsoft
I have a notebook computer, and I use a monitor, a USB keyboard, and a wireless mouse. I can put these three things anywhere I want them.
I use dual 23inch screens myself. I don't like the 27inch monitors. I find the 27 inch variants with the smaller pixels are a lot harder on the eyes. Plus the 2 screens gives me enough width to keep 3 other applications open and my IDE.
If you type a lot, you will eventually set your teres major, teres minor, serratus major and/or your lattisimus into spasm.
You might spend $300 on a special keyboard- but
a) it's really expensive.
b) it still forces you to hold your arms pretty close to your sides.
Try this
Laptop on the left, main monitor in the middle, possible third monitor on the right.
A cheap small keyboard on the left. ($10 at best buy or frys).
A regular size keyboard on the right (so your cursor keys are where you expect).
Mouse wherever you like it.
Try starting with the keyboards at least 8" apart. It takes under 2 minutes to get used to this set up. The right hand only uses the right side of the right keyboard. The left hand only uses the left side of the left keyboard.
Turn the keyboards til the match the natural angle of your hands.
You may also tilt the keyboards slightly by kicking up or down the legs and placing various thicknesses of yellow sticky pads under them. You can also tilt them so the inside or outside edge is higher ( so you don't have to turn your hand inwards to flatten it which puts torque on your forearm).
You will find your hands close to two feet apart (thumb to thumb)-- your muscles will not spasm. You will have less wrist carpal tunnel and less forearm tendinitis.
Hope this helps!
She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.
This company(Spaceco) has variety of monitor arms which will be useful to you. You can check the below URL
http://www.spaceco.com/sa_monitor_solutions.php?prod_id=8&page_prod_id=8
I sought specific advice regarding ergonomics for my productivity and achieved a setup I take with me to an employer. I don't really care about excuses from cheap employers, as far as the care of my spine and eyes go the main interface to my work machine has a direct effect on my well being and productivity. The physical pain from not having an appropriate set-up is simply not worth it. Quality employers understand they maximise returns by having comfortable employees.
My existing set-up(s) allow a maximum 16 hour work day to be sustained, if required for short term objectives, without ongoing injury. The goal from the set-up is to maximise productive time by eliminating distractions caused by poor ergonomics. 6 hours a day at maximum productivity and 1-3 at roughly 50% productivity. Outside of that time is the zone of mistakes and failure through diminishing returns - extreme caution. The set-up is achieved this way;
When you are at home, roll up a half folded towel and lay on your back. Put the towel under your neck so that your head is just touching the unrolled part of the towel to give your neck a good stretch. The thickness of the roll is preference after a while of practice - don't go to far at first.
hth - ymmv
My ism, it's full of beliefs.
Use the big screen as the main screen. If you are a developer, you know how to do that (I have seen many pretenders, claiming tobe, and working as developers, who does not posess basic user skills of their preferred platform, I would even hire them to type in Word).
Then get a stand for the laptop, and use it as a secondary screen to documentation etc.
For better ergonomics sit on the laptop and type with your toes. That way you have your hands free for motion control!
how IT is changing the world - http://max.zamorsky.name
Buy an IBM p/n 22P5265 in eBay. Cheap and done. One of the best 3 stands ever made.
I can do snark if you want, however.
deleting the extra space after periods so i can stay relevant, yeah.
http://www.reddit.com/r/battlestations
Great place to get some ideas and inspiration for your home setup.
Don't be a mean bastard.
Burger flipping would put this guy in near proximity to a hot grill. Not sure what forum he would post his question, "I often have to flip burgers at work. I keep burning my hand as they are very hot. Any suggestions on how other professional burger flippers have solved this problem?"
I only look human.
My mother is a halfling and my dad is an ogre, so that makes me an Ogreling
...at home, I have a hex setup, 3 large by 2 high.
...at the office, five next to one another, and two high in the center.
I put the code and the browser in the center ones, and the SQL, Outlook and other non-mission-critical stuff on the peripherals. I pivot my head quite a bit, but no neck ache.
Agreed, I have a 32" 1080p TV as my "main" monitor, and it works great. Next step, however, will be something like this - still big, but with a much better resolution.
LegendMUD
Do you still have the original stand for the monitor?
Put the monitor back on its stand. There are laptop 'stands' that have a VESA bolt pattern on the back so you can mount them on a monitor arm. They're like $30 or something on Amazon. Get one of those, put the laptop onto it and put it next to the display at eye level. You can even float it off the side of your desk if you don't have one of those monster desks.
Just because it works, doesn't mean it isn't broken.
I got a pivot display a while back, and I could not be happier. It is so easy to read code without 10" of whitespace on the right. If your monitor isn't capable of this, then you might want to flip your laptop and suffer great amounts of workplace bullying.