Anyone else felt like "Too much monitor" after getting a large screen?

cxld · 2013-04-18 23:24:19

I recently decided to get a 24 inch, 1920x1200 monitor going from a 17 inch, 1280x1024 monitor, and now I feel like I have too much space when I'm trying to be productive. I had grown very accustomed to my 17 inch monitor and working on a single screen. I switched to dwm several months ago, and have tweaked it to what near personal perfection. People always seem to rave "Moar, bigger monitors!!!1One," but I have so much space that goes unused unless I'm booted over on Windows playing a game. In my normal, productive workflow, I'm staring at a terminal coding or staring at a browser looking at the results thereof. If I get an instant message, I have Caps+E mapped to bring up my buddle list and chat window like so:

+-----------------+
|                 |
|     XTerm       |
|                 |
+-----------------+
|        |        |
|        |        |
+-----------------+

I don't like to have them present constantly because I find them distracting, I think that sums of my issues with a large monitor in general: I'm nearly always focused on a single task, and I don't want to be bothered by other things when I'm doing it, but having a large monitor seems conducive to doing multiple things with the negative side effect of having tons of wasted space, and a browser window that's always damn wide. I'm on the fence about returning the monitor right now, and I think I'll give it at least a week (day two right now).

Last edited by cxld (2013-04-19 00:41:30)

graysky · 2013-04-18 23:45:42

You'll get used to it although 24" is probably as big as I would want... think mine is 22".

dudefellaguy · 2013-04-19 00:34:58

I felt the exact same way when I got my the monitor I am currently using. I went from 1024x748 all the way up to 23' of 1920x1080. It was a little wierd at first, but I changed my workflow a little bit and I started loving it!
With a screen that large, I highly recommend trying out dynamic/tiling window manager to really get the most out of all that space. A few selections from the list: i3wm is easy to learn, small, simple, and is a good place to start; xmonad is super powerful but the config file is written in haskell, so it's a little hard if you're not familiar with the language and pulls in a huge package (ghc); awesome is very powerful and customizable but the configuration files are written in Lua, so same goes about the language, but it's not as crazy as haskell.

cxld · 2013-04-19 00:41:13

It was a little wierd at first, but I changed my workflow a little bit and I started loving it! With a screen that large, I highly recommend trying out dynamic/tiling window manager to really get the most out of all that space.

I actually left out a word in my original post, it should've read "I switched dwm to several months ago, a..." Using dwm really helped my single-monitor productivity as it made context switching a lot easier and more focused.

EDIT: Fixed.

Last edited by cxld (2013-04-19 00:42:07)

felipense · 2013-04-19 00:46:23

There are tearing in the dynamic/tiling window manager ?

Last edited by felipense (2013-04-19 00:46:36)

drcouzelis · 2013-04-19 01:40:10

Someone once told me that once I experience a dual monitor setup I'll never want to go back to single monitor.

I've had the option of dual monitors. I'm still greatly preferring my single monitor.

And while we're at it, I want a nice new 4:3 ratio LCD monitor.

zezhyrule3 · 2013-04-19 01:55:21

Tiling window managers work great with large screens and resolutions. Never any wasted space :3

If you get distracted easily... :shrug: I don't see it being any more distracting than if all the windows were maximized. They're still all at your finger tips, you just have much easier access to them when you can view them all on the screen at once.

Last edited by zezhyrule3 (2013-04-19 01:58:27)

z1lt0id · 2013-04-19 02:24:48

felipense wrote:

There are tearing in the dynamic/tiling window manager ?

Not if you use the latest compton-git package from aur.

jnbek · 2013-04-19 03:16:55

No such thing as too much Monitor!! :-P I have 2 X 24 X 2 at work, and I still need moar real estate!!!

z1lt0id · 2013-04-19 03:18:50

I have a 27" monitor but its only 1920x1080. I want another one

smakked · 2013-04-19 04:08:25

as it has been said never to much screen real estate, i have a 27" at home and about to ad another one. At work o look at 8 x 42" screens all night

nocain · 2013-04-19 07:32:07

Yes, I am not a fan of Large monitors for working on.... I think 19" 4:3 are perfect. I prefer having 3 monitors as opposed to having 1 super large one as it keeps me more focused on what I am working on, on the monitor I am looking at.

I have considered getting 1 21-24" 16:9 or 16:10 for my center monitor to position so I can have more vertical space. I hate wide screens horizontal for work as most desk distances balanced between chair keyboard and monitor causes me to either have to strain my eyes to see clearly in the peripheral areas or I have to pan my head. At least this is what I have noticed when I have used 12"+ screens so they are wide as opposed to being tall.

litemotiv · 2013-04-19 08:32:25

Portrait!

NEC-MultiSync-P232W-BK-Professional-Desktop-Monitor-portrait.jpg

Arch Linux

#1 2013-04-18 23:24:19

Anyone else felt like "Too much monitor" after getting a large screen?

#2 2013-04-18 23:45:42

Re: Anyone else felt like "Too much monitor" after getting a large screen?

#3 2013-04-19 00:34:58

Re: Anyone else felt like "Too much monitor" after getting a large screen?

#4 2013-04-19 00:41:13

Re: Anyone else felt like "Too much monitor" after getting a large screen?

#5 2013-04-19 00:46:23

Re: Anyone else felt like "Too much monitor" after getting a large screen?

#6 2013-04-19 01:40:10

Re: Anyone else felt like "Too much monitor" after getting a large screen?

#7 2013-04-19 01:55:21

Re: Anyone else felt like "Too much monitor" after getting a large screen?

#8 2013-04-19 02:24:48

Re: Anyone else felt like "Too much monitor" after getting a large screen?

#9 2013-04-19 03:16:55

Re: Anyone else felt like "Too much monitor" after getting a large screen?

#10 2013-04-19 03:18:50

Re: Anyone else felt like "Too much monitor" after getting a large screen?

#11 2013-04-19 04:08:25

Re: Anyone else felt like "Too much monitor" after getting a large screen?

#12 2013-04-19 07:32:07

Re: Anyone else felt like "Too much monitor" after getting a large screen?

#13 2013-04-19 08:32:25

Re: Anyone else felt like "Too much monitor" after getting a large screen?

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