Asklemmy

Web developer. I use three monitors.

It's absolutely essential. I have code open on one screen, the browser to show updates on another screen, and notes and other random stuff on the 3rd screen.

It's useful for lots of other stuff too. Doing taxes and business paperwork: notes on one screen (tiling windows to keep them organized), forms to fill out on another.

The effect on productivity is absolutely enormous. I could never go back to a single screen workflow.

I use 3 monitors. One is for the task I'm doing, one is for reference material for the task, and the third is for my sanity. That last one is where youtube/memes/whatever are. I can focus extra hard if I need to, but I prefer not to. When I started out, I used to get home completely burned out, and incapable of doing anything but eating, showering, and vegging out in front of the TV or PC.

I operate a ZLD plant processing blowdown for a combined cycle power plant. I have two computers at my desk. The left computer is for email, data entry, training, and monitoring a few power block and BOP things via PI; this is with two monitors, one above the other. The right computer is for operating the plant directly and monitoring native trends; this is with four monitors, 2x2.

I'd say I don't need more than this, but I would feel some pain if I had fewer. I would love to have another monitor or two to display camera feeds, but my plant never figured out how to get the cameras set up so we just climb ladders to look into sight glass windows once in a while. Or I might be the only one who actually bothers with that lol. Really the 4 monitor rig could and probably should be replaced by a big 4k screen if the software supports windowed instances instead of full screen like we have been running. It wouldn't surprise me if this POS program can't do that though.

Not a software developer, I just do QA on written documents, and being able to have 3-4 windows side by side is really nice. I usually have 1-2 tracking spreadsheets open on the left, and two documents side by side on the right. I use a laptop at work as well, so sometimes I'll leave it's screen on for email and Teams chat so neither interrupts my work.

I have four monitors. Two slightly angled directly in front of me, one angled on the left and a small 10 inch directly below my two main monitors that I use specifically for discord and my friend's chat app he's working on.

Why two directly in front of me with the split in the middle? I only have to shift my head slightly to move between the game I'm playing and whatever I'm watching.

But it's more useful when I'm working on pixel art because I can have my drawing on one main monitor and my reference in the other while having a show or stream on the secondary angled on my left and chat stays on the small monitor.

As for if that helps productivity, I have no idea.

But I sure like my setup now.

I bought a second display for my last job because the pan got us wfh. I’m on a Mac and ran my Windows VM o the second display. My current job doesn’t allow me to connect to VPN from a personal device, so the second display is dormant. I throw web browser windows for things I want to look at later over there so I don’t forget to come back to them (I have a billion open web windows / tabs on the main display).

A little different, but I do a lot of random 3D printing related stuff on my computer including CAD. I got one of those small ultra wide monitors meant for a raspberry pi, and put it under my main monitor. I run rain meter widgets on it for time, media control, etc. I also throw videos and stuff on there for while I'm working. It's been pretty sweet! I can use solidworks on top, and have a little video working on the bottom, and have a clock easily visible for time management.

Independent IT Contractor: I have a 4-wide 1080p screen setup. I keep Slack/Teams on one screen, the semicircle setup means I can only really look at 3 at the same time. I upgraded from 3 screens because I kept having to juggle windows around while troubleshooting someone's webserver.

Also used this setup when I was really heavy into FFXIV- I like having wikis/alerts open and visible, so one screen for that, the game, discord, and then the last one was just for youtube/netflix.

At home I have the game I'm playing on one screen and Discord and a web browser on the other so I can communicate and look things up without needing to alt tab.

For work I generally have references, teams, email, and other stuff on other screens and a main one that I'm working on. Like querying a database while testing, editing screenshots for docs and issues, having reference docs open, etc. I don't do development itself, but do a lot of requirements documentation, testing, and project management stuff on web apps. Sometimes it is just two screens, but sometimes I have the laptop open too and put teams and email on it so I don't have to bring it forward if something comes up.

Two monitors one computer? Bah! Why not two monitors two computers!

One main monitor connected to my Windows machine, and a second monitor next to it connected to my work Mac. Using Synergy, one mouse and keyboard plugged into Windows controls both machines.

Then, add a Framework laptop propped up on the left running Linux, also controlled with Synergy. Three monitors, three computers! Now when people ask what OS I run it's an easy answer: all of them at the same time lol

Software engineer. I use three monitors. I primarily use macOS, if anyone's curious.

Main monitor is a 42" 4K LG C3 OLED, two side monitors are 34" 4K LG IPS displays in vertical orientation.

For work, I keep my IDE and browser on my main monitor and I use it for most other applications that I might use, but usually just my IDE and browser.

Left monitor is used primarily to display my Jira board and tickets, which takes up the bottom 2/3 of the screen. I use Firefox's video pop out feature to place YouTube or other videos in the top 1/3 so I can watch them while I work, if I want.

Right monitor is used primarily for Slack and Spotify. Slack takes up the bottom half. Spotify takes up the top half, and I often listen when I'm not watching videos.

Could I do all of this with spaces? Of course. Absolutely. I've had a one monitor setup, two monitor setup, and now a three monitor setup. Honestly, I really just like that I don't have to switch spaces all the time. I can reference my Jira tickets while I work and chat with people all at the same time without having to switch spaces around any time I want to see certain details about something in a ticket or something someone said.

I also play games (separate PC) and stream, so the three monitors is useful for that, as well. I have the game up on my main monitor, and I use the side monitors to show my Twitch chat/bot, OBS, Discord, etc.

I have three, but while I felt the move from 1 to 2 all those years ago was an insanely huge boost at work, I find 3 to be a nice to have, but I don't miss it if I only have 2.

Others may have a workflow that heavily relies on three, but I don't get pissed off until circumstances whittle me down to only one.

I work in IT. I have three, 2 standard orientation and a third vertical.

I use one for email and tickets, one for general browsing and remote administration, and the vertical one split horizontally with Teams on top and my terminal client/file browser on the bottom.

Three 27" monitors. Right one is portrait, has Slack and music player split screen, left is email or reference material, center one is for doing the actual work.

I work in a customer facing role but also do graphic design, write books, make music, and occasionally code things.

Massive productivity boost. When I work from my laptop I feel like a grandma.

I have two monitors: a 27 inch 1440p and a 17 inch CRT for retro gaming. No productivity.

1. IDE
2. Browser
3. DB Client or browser dev tool

At my job I use 3 screens. Laptop screen is for Outlook and Teams, the middle screen is for the needed local main application and the right screen is for remote server connections. Having just 2 screens or even only 1 screen would lower my productivity.

At home I'm a single screen user, but its a 4K 28" screen and large enough to hold all my crap.

• Monitor 1: Outlook
• Monitor 2: Browser and various messaging apps
• Monitor 3 (the big screen): IDE

I always have used 2. I use multiple desktops really hard (for a long time in Linux and MacOS, and with third party Windows stuff till they finally caught up) and find it more convenient for compartmentalizing than multiple monitors.

The only times I want to (and occasionally do) go more than 2 is watching F1 with data viewing and so many camera angles up

Three monitors here. I'm an engineer so left monitor is usually reference material (drawings, spec sheets, formulae, etc), center is usually my primary workspace (email, python, CAD, etc) and right is music, communications, and calendar for the next goddamned meeting.

Left and center are 24" 1080p, right is 15" laptop. I'm thinking of upgrading the next time the office gets tech money.

I used to use my 3rd monitor for company email and chat programs so they would stay out of the way of my actual work.

Chat/docs/IDE across three monitors. Throw in a terminal and music player too tiled on the two vertical monitors.

I have three. Left for email, right for Teams, middle for whatever I'm working on. Then I cover up Teams and Email (in that order) when I need to see multiple things at once (e.g., a second instance of VS or SSMS or a browser).

On a Mac the Expose features such as ability to customize your screen rather than have to deal with fixed real estate plus additional virtual desktops are also highly notable in that regard. There are definitely advantages of having additional physical screens over the window management approach, but also vice versa too. I would say just try it, but note that it does take quite a bit of getting used to, as too in a sense does multiple monitors especially if trying to use different windows from the same app - browser - on different ones.

Also if cost is no factor at all, instead of multiple monitors you can have large nice screen + laptop, for the ultimate portability. There too there are advantages and disadvantages both - e.g. while working on one the other will fall asleep, if the nice screen is a separate computer rather than mere monitor.

To someone wondering what to try: something will appeal to you - listen to your inner voice and let it guide you! If you are wrong, you still learn from the experience;-).

After having tried most standard configurations at various jobs and home (never a third monitor though, I prefer the ease and simplicity of a single large monitor. Everything is a few keystrokes away but I tend not to need to see all things at the same time. Sometimes, extremely rarely, it does seem too constraining, but not enough to justify the additional cost of a second monitor (not just money but setup and my attention time), and this works well enough for me. Others will similarly do what works best for them in turn.

I have 2x27" screens. 1 is 1080 the other 1440.

For work, I would say it's invaluable (software developer) to have say VSCode/VS running on local machine and say an RDP session open. Or to have open Jira issues on one screen or basically the actual program code and another screen with information/testing environments. It's far better than finding the window you need all the time with alt-tab/the task bar.

Outside work, I generally have youtube on the 1080 screen while doing other things (games/personal development etc) on the 1440 screen.

As for a third monitor. I think there's definitely valid use cases. But, I have a big desk but another 27" screen would just take up too much space. I am tempted in the future to replace the 1080 with something higher resolution though.

Not a computer person; just a worker with an office. I keep my laptop vertical to the right with my email/calendar usually open. I use a monitor left of this - it's big enough that I can comfortably have 2-3 windows on it - so i can have 4 things open at a time. When i have a zoom, meet, or WebEx, that takes one; second is whatever I'm supposed to report in that meeting; third and fourth are what I'm actually working on. My biggest problem is that the vertical laptop has the camera and in some video meeting apps I'm in portrait while everyone else is landscape.

Used to have two. Went back to one. Professionally I feel like 2 monitors is a must ( excl. Laptop ). Or a single big ass monitor.

We've got ( a single ) curved screens at work. It also works because it's wide enough.

Professionally I do believe it boosts productivity. Personally/at home not really ( for me ). It can be convenient if you play an MMO and want to look something up while still seeing the game.

I do have a spare monitor but I disconnected it as I was rarely using it.

Two 4k 32 inch monitors and docked laptop screen.
One monitor directly in front which holds code, research or video call.
One monitor to the right mounted vertically and angled towards me that holds a terminal, notes/email/jira or reference documentation for whatever I'm doing on the middle screen.
Laptop is to the left of the main screen and has slack open.

I'm big on tilling window managers, so I tend to do a lot of flipping between workspaces rather than apps, in my mental model. I've gotta use a Mac for work which sucks for tilling, but I can mostly make it work.

Not an IC anymore but my workhorses for the better part of 13 years were 13” laptops. Nice and simple. I don’t get the multiple monitor thing honestly.

I do a lot of video editing. 3 monitors all the same size. Right is main edited output. Center is all my editing tools. Left is file management, chat, stock footage, etc.

spaces > monitors

portability > exactly what I want

Primary "workspace", comms, docs/reading/reference data.

I'm a 3 monitor person as well. 34" ultrawide as my main with two 24" widescreens side-to-side immediately above it. I use it for work and personal use.
Ultrawide has my main programs for work: internet browsers and job specific programs get about 60% of the real estate on the left, while pdf's, and other less essential programs go to the right 40% of the screen.
The top left monitor gets Teams, Excel docs, or auxiliary browsers.
Top right gets email and media (YouTube, Spotify, etc) or any overfill if I'm dealing with a particularly cluttered job.

For personal, ultrawide is obviously used for games, movies, etc, while top left has task manager, MSI Afterburner, and Throttlestop (I run a laptop). And the top right has Discord.

I have three monitors. Middle is an ultra wide with the tests and another window of stuff (the app, data, etc). Right is a 1080 with docs. Left is a 1080 with the code in question.

I use two monitors: one in landscape orientation and the other vertical. I usually keep console windows in the vertical one and that's where I write code. Typically its code editing on the left side and a few console windows with compiler/server output on the right. Landscape gets firefox web UI: current app, time clock or notes window.

So that's two workspaces. I have additional monitor-level workspaces I can flip to: #3 for chrome (google products), #4 for signal/thunderbird, #5 for keepassxc, #6 for an additional set of console windows for a second project, or for other things like system upgrades and etc.

I run pretty much the same workspaces on my laptop with only one monitor, the main difference is having to flip back and forth more. Its a little more mental overhead. On the dual monitor rig I like the vertical orientation for my code window, I can see 2x the amount of code at once.

Overall I'd say the productivity boost from multiple monitors is low to mid. Its nice to have but I can still get work done on a laptop screen. That said I do most of my work on the dual setup.

1. Teams, Outlook
2. VNC/Second virtual machine monitor if needed
3. Virtual Machine

At work I have two monitors. One for input (my IDE for programming) and one for output ( the browser to watch changes for my react app).

At home I bought the 49 in. Samsung and have three monitors. Third is normally the log output.

Been doing it for years as a sysadmin. Great for documentation and multiple terminal windows. Interrupting programs (email, messengers) on the small screen so they are easy to review but out of direct line of sight.

Small screen makes it easy to screen share with others. They can seen the whole thing at a reasonable size.

I have 5 if you count the one on my server.

One 1440p, 3 1080s- one in a vertical orientation for reading through lengthy config files. An additional 1080p that is used for specific servers, so I’m not sure if that counts since it’s technically a different machine ?

Use case varies drastically but, left to right:

Monitor 1 on the left is typically used for for videos throughout my work day, usually some Indian guy explaining a very technical concept in fractured English in a notepad document- that’s how you know you’re in deeeeep

Monitor 2 is the 1440 and it’s the main event so to speak. Whatever I’m working on the most at that moment goes onto that monitor.

Monitor 3 is the vertical monitor and used mostly for comms separated into 2-3 sections. Video calls on top, work chat underneath that. Config files opened in notepad++ when not actively using the comms.

Monitor 4 is technically on a different machine as well but it stays on my desk and looks like a normal part of the setup. I use mouse without borders to use my keyboard across both systems.

Monitor 5 is attached to an Dell Poweredge that I use as a proxmox host, which itself is used to host a pi-hole, home assistant, graylog, an truenas instance running plex. The truenas thing will probably go away and I’ll run the plex server directly on a machine with more graphical capability. On its other input is an old datto that doesn’t really do much yet.

Note: not a software dev, but a network engineer

Really, the more monitors the better as far as I'm concerned. For my home desktop I just have an ultra widescreen and it's basically fine for most stuff as I functionally treat it like two monitors when doing anything outside of a game - I'd still love a second though, especially for while gaming as I miss having a wiki or whatever up in view.

For work we provide everyone with a laptop and two monitors, so that's three screens. Even the least technical of our staff love it and would hate to go back to having less screens. It's so helpful having multiple websites/spreadsheets/whatever open at once when working on anything involving comparing information.

Web developer, couldn't go without three monitors. Just three 1080p panels. Center monitor has the code editor, right has the browser, and left has the ticket or designs or the music player or Slack.

Not a developer, but I will always use 2 monitors when I can - using the secondary for Outlook: inbox on one side, calendar on the other. I will also swivel this for showing presentations/plans/documents to members of my team in face to face meetings, and will move Zoom windows to in webinars etc it whilst I get on with some actual work on the main monitor.