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?"

Comments

Shove the laptop to one side

[Eunuchswear]

Use a real keyboard, mouse and monitor - why do you need to look at the laptop?

Re:Shove the laptop to one side

[xaxa]

Use a real keyboard, mouse and monitor - why do you need to look at the laptop?

Not doing this is either illegal, or close, in the UK: http://www.hse.gov.uk/msd/dse/guidance.htm

Except for infrequent short-term use, a real keyboard and mouse is necessary, and a docking station or stand that holds the laptop screen up to the correct level (top of screen just below eye level, at least an arm's length away) or a separate monitor.

(I had the annual "watch this video on using computers" thing on Thursday. We all laughed at the poor production and daft people in it, but I think everyone went back to their desks and adjusted something that wasn't quite right.)

Re:Shove the laptop to one side

[hawguy]

I try to avoid using external kbd for a laptop, cause I want to get used to the kbd on the laptop for those occasions when I have no choice. 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?

I have my monitor on a stack of printer paper to get it high enough to clear the laptop screen, so I have only a few cm between the top of the laptop screen to the bottom of the external screen. I can also regulate the top of the laptop screen by tilting it backwards/forwards and align it pretty perfect with the external screen.

Maybe you should also forgo using a second monitor so you can get used to using the laptop monitor only for those occasions when you have no choice.

I have a laptop and desktop both at home and at work and regularly switch between them without any problems with the keyboard after a few minutes of typing - one of the laptops is netbook with a smaller than normal keyboard.

The only keyboard I have trouble getting used to is the rack mounted KVM keyboard in the server room because that one has a non-standard layout for some of the keys.

Re:Shove the laptop to one side

[Jane Q. Public]

"It's a complete no-brainer."

It's only a no-brainer if by that you mean a brain wasn't used in coming up with it.

This suggestion is not very efficient, and it is not ergonomic at all.

Looking down at a laptop on your desk is NOT a good, ergonomic working position. Simply substituting another monitor wastes good monitor space.

The solution? Put the laptop up on a stand next to the other monitor, and use both.

For good ergonomic working conditions, the top of your monitor(s) should be at about eye level. So place your main monitor at about that level, and raise your laptop up so they are side-by-side. Especially if the laptop has a high-resolution monitor.

That gives you the maximum screen real estate, AND the most ergonomic setup.

Re:Shove the laptop to one side

[maxwell demon]

Dear Slashdotters, I ran out of toilet paper and need to do #2 soon, what should I do?

Use the three sea shells.

Re:Shove the laptop to one side

[blippo]

First of all, to avoid neck pain, strained eyes and a generally bad posture, keep the top of all your monitors level with your eyes - or lower.
Looking up will make your eyes blink less often (or not at all) and will make them dry. The neck isn't good at looking up either, and
a "vulture neck" isn't a chick magnet...

Use a good separate keyboard and mouse, the best keyboard is the Model M ! Unicomp makes several variants with 104/105 keys and usb. It's awsome!

Really?

[Ziggitz]

I'm not usually one to complain about the broadness of these ask slashdot questions, but this one essentially boils down to furniture advice.

Just sort it out.

[seyyah]

Just sort it out man.

The not so obvious answer

[houghi]

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.

Decide [Re:Shove the laptop to one side]

[Geoffrey.landis]

...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.

Re:Decide [Re:Shove the laptop to one side]

[Deekin_Scalesinger]

This, and /endthread. I have enjoyed /. lo these many moons, but these types of "questions" border on something you'd see on the late (and little missed) Call for Help on TechTV. Please, please start raising the bar again, huh?

Sissy

[Chemisor]

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.