Ask Slashdot: Monitor Setup For Programmers 312
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?"
Shove the laptop to one side (Score:5, Insightful)
Use a real keyboard, mouse and monitor - why do you need to look at the laptop?
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This. ^
It's a complete no-brainer.
Re:Shove the laptop to one side (Score:5, Insightful)
"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.
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The solution? Put the laptop up on a stand next to the other monitor, and use both.
That's half of the solution. The other half is get used to using the laptop as the secondary display. It's smaller, and should be used for reference information/e-mail/whatever while the big screen display is the one you do your actual work on. That's how I have my desktop set up (admittedly, in this case it's the difference between a 22" display and a 24" display, but it's the same logic). The bigger better display gets used as the main display, and the smaller one that's a bit finicky gets used for inform
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If you're doing serious programming, you should use the best keyboard you can, and in most cases a cheap USB keyboard is kinder to the fingers than any laptop keyboard is going to be, thus reducing the risks of RSI and similar injuries.
By all means leave the laptop open so you can have an auxiliary screen as well as your main screen. Anyway 13" laptop sceens are a joke for doing anything serious, 17"+ laptop screens are the One True Answer :-)
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Anyway 13" laptop sceens are a joke for doing anything serious, 17"+ laptop screens are the One True Answer :-)
17" laptop screens are not laptop screens.
If it weighs more than 2Kg it's not a laptop.
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Anyway 13" laptop sceens are a joke for doing anything serious, 17"+ laptop screens are the One True Answer :-)
17" laptop screens are not laptop screens.
If it weighs more than 2Kg it's not a laptop.
Nonsense. Defining the weight limit for a laptop is above your pay grade.
17 is quite nice for a laptop, even when most people use them as table tops most of the time.
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Anyway 13" laptop sceens are a joke for doing anything serious, 17"+ laptop screens are the One True Answer :-)
17" laptop screens are not laptop screens.
If it weighs more than 2Kg it's not a laptop.
That's just BS. My Precision M4200 weighs just over that and I can use it on my lap just fine. It's a big laptop, but it's a laptop.
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17" laptop screens are not laptop screens.
If it weighs more than 2Kg it's not a laptop.
I'm 6'11". For me, a 17" laptop is really just that, a laptop. Smaller laptops have never interested me. I do not need to worry about a little extra weight on the laptop and I enjoy the fact that keyboards on 17" laptops are nearly full sized and usually come with a numeric keypad as well. (although, I hate the race for cheapness in all laptops that is making 90% of them with the horrid "chicklet" style keys.)
As a developer, I will generally spend $1500 to get a good desktop replacement laptop with a 17" sc
Re:Shove the laptop to one side (Score:5, Informative)
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!
Re:Shove the laptop to one side (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
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I don't use internet, so that I can get used to working during those times when the network is down.
Decide [Re:Shove the laptop to one side] (Score:5, Informative)
...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.
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I've seen folks use a ream or two of copy paper. Works like a charm.
Re:Decide [Re:Shove the laptop to one side] (Score:5, Insightful)
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Please, please start raising the bar again, huh?
I've got a couple of reams of paper that you can put under it if you like...
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Get a contractor to install a bidet for you. Never again will you have to worry about running out of paper.
Re:Shove the laptop to one side (Score:4, Funny)
Dear Slashdotters, I ran out of toilet paper and need to do #2 soon, what should I do?
Use the three sea shells.
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Use a real keyboard, mouse and monitor
Yes. Always.
why do you need to look at the laptop?
Mo' screenz 's mo' better.
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Re:Shove the laptop to one side (Score:5, Interesting)
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 [hse.gov.uk]
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.)
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The laptop screen is still useful for a secondary monitor - think tool palettes, documentation, log file, etc.
Just be sure to logically position it to match where it is physically with the DE's display management tools.
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This, definitely. And rotate the external monitor to portrait mode. Both orientations have their strengths, so why not have both available simultaneously? If you haven't tried it you'd be amazed the difference it makes when you can see an entire function / code block at a glance without scrolling, and I find the lack of clutter from having only a single full-screen program window on the screen more pleasant as well
My own setup, after several months of adjusting and optimizing is a portrait-mode 21" monit
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Get something like one of these - dual-arm Ergotron [ergotron.com] mounting system or equivalent. That one comes with a laptop platform in case you don't have two monitors, and the arms have cable channels, so you should be able to move things around frequently without too much effort or risk of tangling the cables. The screen bracket is on a swivel, so you don't have to stick with the portrait/landscape orientation.
Only downside is that when switching between orientations, I didn't get a monitor with an accelerometer,
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But the laptop monitor probably has a very different pixel density as the large monitor, so even if you place it at the right height, it'll probably be difficult to use them together.
When dealing with a worker as expensive as a programmer, getting a second monitor of the right size, or even go all they way up to three, pays off extremely quickly.
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But the laptop monitor probably has a very different pixel density as the large monitor, so even if you place it at the right height, it'll probably be difficult to use them together.
Nah, I did this for years and it was barely noticeable. One does not overlap windows between screens.
When dealing with a worker as expensive as a programmer, getting a second monitor of the right size, or even go all they way up to three, pays off extremely quickly.
Absolutely. The best I've seen is one big 16:10 in the center
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I was going to say, "if the problem is that the main screen is your laptop screen, then don't have that be your main screen. If you can't figure out how to do that, then you might want to rethink your vocation."
If you need me screen real estate, buy another screen. This ain't hard
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If you need me screen real estate, buy another screen. This ain't hard
Unless you're on a macbook. Which for practical purposes limits you to one external monitor. (Yes USB solutions exist, but so far they suck IMO.) That's for the 2011 mbp - maybe they fixed this shortcoming in the 2012 model?
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I think for the retina display Macs, there are 2 Thunderbolt ports and an HDMI port, so you can go to 3 monitors without doing anything fancy with daisy-chaining thunderbolt.
Yes - the 650M graphics chipset supports up to four active displays, so you could use three external monitors and still have the laptop screen available.
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one really big external monitor is almost certainly better than two medium-sized monitors, though - no gaps, so head/eye movement is reduced.
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At home, I have a duplicate dock but just my own personal monitors (smaller, but still two of them). The only time you have the notebook open is when you are using
Um (Score:2)
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).
Use the Display properties properly (Score:2)
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 corr
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Really? (Score:5, Insightful)
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Stacking books to change a monitor's height is actually a health and safety violation in a business environment. Daft, I know. But that's the reality these days.
Than he can have them buy him a stand.
But what I would find annoying is an employer that would designate the sole computer for their "programmer", a laptop.
Sure, I have a laptop at work, but it's not my only or even primary work machine...
Ergotron DS-100 Vertical (Score:2)
Simple solution (Score:2)
Pick any monitor you wish, then put it on a pile of books. you can get it as high as you wish
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Get yourself a copy of Winplit Revolution (Score:2)
Makes working with a large screen and multiple windows so much nicer.
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Or get a "real" os with tiling window management. I am using xubuntu+xmonad and it is the best thing since electronic transistors!
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A big monitor and ... (Score:2)
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
No-brainer. Got same problem, solved it thusly: (Score:2)
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.
Rotate your monitors (Score:2)
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.
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Be thankful if you DON'T need a KVM (Score:2)
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 t
Re:Be thankful if you DON'T need a KVM (Score:4, Informative)
I know your pain. I've been through many problematic KVMs. :(
However, I've recently bought one of these:
http://www.aten.co.uk/products/productItem.php?model_no=CS682 [aten.co.uk]
Works wonderfully, between my docked Dell Laptop (work machine) and my no-brand tower desktop (personal machine). Monitor is a Dell 24" ultrasharp, keyboard is a dell branded one, and mouse is a Logitech MX518.
This KVM just 'works' - I really am impressed with it. Hotkey is scroll-lock twice plus enter, which is an extra keypress compared to other KVMs I've used, but never fails to switch. It even comes with a proper button on a cable should you wish to use that instead of the hot-key combo.
Hope this helps.
-Jar
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This isn't a plug for KVMs, but between my two windows stations at work - I have a laptop with 2 23" screens and a desktop with a single 22" (used to be 2, "upgrade" from the desktop side eliminated one due to graphics card incompatibility). I use Input Director to shift the main keyboard/mouse focus to the desktop and back.
I'd bet there's software out there for linux/windows hybrids etc to cover this. I gain the additional screen and resources of a second machine - while being able to display network sta
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I also used Input Director for a while, until I realised that it doesn't work if the remote/slave [Windows] machine is 'locked' or awaiting a Ctrl-Alt-Del login (which is required for Domain based machines) - real shame because I was really started to like it ...
-Jar
First things first (Score:2)
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'.
Close the laptop (Score:2)
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 secon
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Exactly what I do, also it's nice to sit your laptop on a cooling pad like http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005C31HC0/ref=oh_details_o05_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc= [amazon.com] if you do not use a dock.
Bad ergonomics (Score:3)
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.
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This is the point I came here to make. Looking to the side all the time is bad, but so is looking up all the time!
The OP needs to solve a different problem.
Inexpensive USB keyboard (Score:2)
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?
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No, what you want is an expensive USB keyboard. Like a nice Unicomp version of the Model M [pckeyboard.com], or maybe a nice capacitive switch keyboard [elitekeyboards.com]. There are so many (pricey!) options.
Also, I hate cables moving around getting tangled, so I got a wireless mouse.
Just sort it out. (Score:5, Funny)
Just sort it out man.
Get the laptop out of the way (Score:2)
Comment removed (Score:4, Insightful)
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Are we really wasting time on this question?
This is the: ' I need 3 highlighters in different colours in order to study crap ', delay, delay, delay, because the OP has no clue what to do. The perfect setup isn't going to suddenly make you 100x more productive. Besides it's actually easier to adjust your setup after you done some work. Once you know what you are doing you optimize, rather than some kinda weird guess at fu
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I mean seriously. This is like:
>Hey there new programmer
Err, Hello?
>Weren't you supposed to be here at 9:30 ?
Umm, yes but I couldn't come up the elevator.
> Why not?
Well I didn't know which floor.
> Isn't the floor written on that big board near the elevator?
Oh ah, well I suppose it could have been
> So how did you get here?
I just walked up the stairs and stopped on each floor to see if I saw the company name
> But we are on the 32nd floor?
Yes, it did seem to take a while, especially the knoc
Newstar has plenty of monitor arms (Score:2)
I use one of these [newstar.eu] and I'm happy with it, but there are plenty of different models available for various different uses.
Use whatever's handy (Score:2)
Dual Monitors and ditch the laptop screen (Score:2)
Build it! (Score:4, Interesting)
(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.
Get a dock (Score:2)
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.
Slightly OT: The importance of a good setup (Score:2)
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
lap or desk (Score:2)
Dual Monitors and Decent Keyboard (Score:2)
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 lou
telephone books (Score:4, Funny)
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 ;)
use rdp or use the monitor alone (Score:2)
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.
27" - 13" - no contest! (Score:2)
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 keyboar
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
Related Problem (Score:2)
Put your big monitor on a phone book (Score:2)
... or other large chunk of dead tree, then put your laptop in front of it.
A cardbord box? (Score:2)
I wish companies would quit laptops for dev (Score:2)
Sissy (Score:5, Funny)
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.
When plugged in... (Score:2)
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.
Cinder Block (Score:2)
Wrong question... (Score:2)
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"
Here is a better question: (Score:2)
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 env
LCD Arms (Score:2)
I've made a number of happy purchases at http://www.lcdarms.com./ [www.lcdarms.com] They are expensive, but really good.
Your First Problem Solving Task (Score:2)
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.
Master Alt-Tab (Score:2)
YMMV but, in any case, consider the cost of context switches and minimize that.
Also, in my experience, changing position frequently al
Sure you're in the right job? (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:if you really want to boost the height,... (Score:4, Funny)
(if they are lying on the ground you will probably need something new to put your feed on, but that's another story,..)
Your food comes in sacks?
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Your food comes in sacks?
He's American.
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Or don't have such a tiny laptop! I have a 17" MacBook Pro, which I realise isn't for everybody, but it makes for an awesome machine in a great form factor. I can work on it productively out of the office and it doesn't break my back cycling to and from work like most equivalent PCs do. In the office it's hooked up to a 24" screen too.
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Four reams of paper stacked up. Set monitor on pile. Place laptop in front. And like everyone else mentioned, plug in a keyboard and mouse.
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None of my monitors have their top slightly below my eyes. I eyeball monitors all day long (10-16 hours a day). My neck is fine, thanks for asking.
Not all people are alike, no matter how much specialists struggle to classify them and put them in little boxes.
Re:usb keyboard and mouse (Score:4, Insightful)
The fact that your bad posture hasn't hurt you - yet - Doesn't mean the same basic laws of physics don't apply to you as apply to the rest of us.
Your skull should normally "balance" atop your spine. Any deviation from that requires the active use of muscles to offset the imbalance; and if you maintain such a position for long periods of time, eventually those muscles get tired. At that point, you start risking damage as secondary muscles try to do the same job much less efficiently.
Perhaps you have exceptionally strong/enduring neck muscles. Perhaps you've just gotten lucky so far. Perhaps you just haven't hit 30 yet and still consider your body indestructible. Doesn't matter - It doesn't hurt you to have an ergonomically-friendly work area, so why the hell would you deliberately make it otherwise?
Digitizer Neck - and the cure (Score:4, Interesting)
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.
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Surely you mean the bottom of the screen should be slightly below your eye level.
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It's not waste. It's an emergency reserve.
Every company runs out of paper sometimes.
Re: (Score:3)
Silly, silly child. I have an i7, 16GB RAM, 2GB GeForce, 17" display, and a 7200 rpm HD with plenty of space. If I so desired, my boot/app drive could be SSD and spinning storage in my second bay. At the office I have a USB dock for keyboard and mouse. At home, I have keyboard/mouse/22" monitor for immediate hook-up. My machine is by *far* more capable than 99% of desktops out there....and it's mobile.
The whole 'get a real [desktop] computer' line is horribly outdated in modern computing.
Re: (Score:2)
slow hard disk might be good for programming - it'll help you notice performance issues where you're hitting the disk too much.
You shouldn't test your programs primarily on hardware that's better than the hardware on which it will be deployed.
Re: (Score:3)
Works all around unfortunatly!
The programmers machine shoudl be the worst in the company,
That way you know it's going to work if it works on theirs.
However we would like this kept a secret. Don't tell!