Comments on: Open Thread: What Do You Stare At All Day?

By: kafka

kafka — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 12:51:30 +0000

I use 2X 19″ monitors and through them I stare at flex and flash all day long…

By: Rajeev

Rajeev — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 11:09:45 +0000

One Monitor with Desktop hidden. A Immersive 3 D Internet would be of interest.

http://tekno-world.blogspot.com

By: David Marx - Search Engine Optimization

David Marx - Search Engine Optimization — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 10:34:14 +0000

Am jealous of the hardware on display! Am running a 17″ LCD and 15.4″ laptop screen. Use the laptop as my internet machine and the pc as my primary workstation. Good way to act as a virus buffer. 22″ LCD coming soon!

By: Ben

Ben — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 15:10:50 +0000

I currently have two Dell 19″ LCDs at 1280×1024 resolution at work. At home I have a single of the same.

I’m saving up for the 24″ or 30″ model for home…

By: Chris

Chris — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 22:48:50 +0000

I found having 2 monitors was great, I could work on one and watch TV on the other!

Actually, I’m using a 24″ iMac with icons littered about on my desktop. I hate that but never have time to clean it up. Great thanks, now I’ve got that to stress about. – Chris

By: Leonid Mamchenkov

Leonid Mamchenkov — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 22:10:25 +0000

My HP nx6110 laptop is my only window to the world. It hits right on the Golden Mean between multiple monitor setup, which is extremely immobile and a super-tiny screen of any smartphone. I can’t fit it to the pocket, but it takes me just a few minutes to pack it into a bag and move.

I wish it could support a higher resolution (above the current 1024×768), but I sort of got used to it.

By: El Casey

El Casey — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 20:04:26 +0000

Currently I’m using a single 24″ LCD at 1920×1200. I recently switched from two 20″ LCDs at 1680×1050. Eschewing multi-head? Not at all, I just can’t afford a second 24″ at the moment. My ideal setup would be 3 x 30″ LCDs, but the next time I have a spare $3600 I’ll probably spend it on something besides monitors.

Ubuntu Gutsy with Compiz Fusion, one transparent GNOME panel on far right to handle notification area (systray), Awn dock on the bottom, Cover Flow shift-switcher (think Alt+Tab, but it looks like Cover Flow).

Six workspaces, one with a screen session usually in IRC, web, email, other terminals (usually htop and some network tools). The other two are for any miscellaneous apps to which I want to give the entire desktop.

I prefer keyboard shortcuts over hauling the mouse all over the place.

By: Paul

Paul — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 19:35:18 +0000

Just one 1280×1024 19″ LCD, but saved from alt-tab purgatory by Compiz-Beryl.

I have 4 desktops, one for email and sticky notes, another has a full-screen Eclipse, the third often has a full-screen terminal window opened, or several 80×24 sized terminals, and the fourth is full of various browsers for site testing. I used to try to do this with one desktop, the taskbar and alt-tab, and would have killed for a couple more monitors! Now I can get an overview of all the open windows or all the desktops and bounce around pretty quickly without ever leaving the keyboard, and one monitor is enough.

I keep the desktop clear as a rule. Just an oversized, unlabeled trashcan icon, removable media icons, and whatever files I’ve put there temporarily. Top of screen has a single line taskbar, system tray, system monitors, clock, and Gnome menu icon.

By: mike

mike — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 16:22:14 +0000

the built-in 15″ of my macbook pro, and a samsung 216bw. i’m loving all this real estate!

my desktop contains only drives, and a single alias to my home directory. don’t care much for clutter.

By: Brad

Brad — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 14:54:40 +0000

I use three 17″ displays with desktop icons turned off. I guess that part doesn’t really matter, since you can’t see the desktop anyways. I will re-use windows rather than close them, so there’s always more windows open than some people use in a session.

My taskbar is two rows high usually to accomodate, because I like to be able to see the window’s title. Taskbar grouping is a lifesaver.

If I’m just looking to do some casual browsing, or if I’m looking up something for a group of people to look at (like a youtube video) I’ll instead use the Media Center PC in the living room, which is connected to a 42″ LCD. With a wireless KB and mouse, it’s comfortable to browse from the couch, and it beats 5 people huddled around the computer desk.

By: Anthony Williams

Anthony Williams — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 14:26:41 +0000

I have a 17″ laptop screen and 19″ LCD. Usually I use one or the other, but occasionally I use both. I always maximize my windows, so I don’t have a desktop background, and have very few icons on my desktop. I prefer multiple tabs to multiple windows in my browser.

I use split-pane editing in my text editor. By having a full-screen editor with split screen, I can view two source files side-by-side, with a decent number of rows (85) of each visible.

Having a similar facility in a web browser might be useful, too — separate windows is too much, as they are generally too independent, but sometimes it is nice to be able to view two things at once, without having to switch tabs all the time.

By: Michael R. Bernstein

Michael R. Bernstein — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 01:32:17 +0000

Single 20.1″ LCD (1600×1200). Not very exciting, but I spent a bit more to get a higher contrast ratio, which makes long work sessions in front of it bearable (especially if I dim it a bit).

By: Komra Moriko

Komra Moriko — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 00:29:00 +0000

I have a 23 inch Apple Cinema display, and a colleague has the 30 inch — says it makes him more productive. A larger display is definitely the way to go. Can you remember having 17 inch CRT’s?

By: Jason Johns

Jason Johns — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 00:01:59 +0000

21″ Dell widescreen monitor next to my 13″ Dell Latitude D630. Ultramon rocks my dual-monitor setup.

By: Michael Larocque

Michael Larocque — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 22:52:00 +0000

23″ Apple Cinema Display and a 24″ Dell 2407WFP hooked up to my dual G5 in my home office.

By: Mike

Mike — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 22:16:15 +0000

13″ laptop screen + 19″ LCD. If I could figure out a way to get more, I would. After a few minutes of only one screen, I try dragging things to the other.

After going with two screens for so long, I don’t know how you can work with one.

Computer desktop is sadly less cluttered than the physical desktop.