Monitor for software development

mobi-logic · May 14, 2015

I am looking for external monitor to pair with me rMBP 15' late 2013 with dGPU.

I am into software development and hence the monitor will be used primarily for writing code, using consoles and terminals to connect to VMs and reading online books and documents.

I am too confused that which monitor will actually meet my needs. I am looking for a screen size of around 27 inch but based on feedback I receive I might change the size as well.

I am targeting the following monitors and will need help of forum members to help me decide based on the needs I mentioned above.

Following is the list of monitors I am considering, any other model suggestion is more than welcome.

1. LG Electronics UM65 34UM65 34-Inch
2. Samsung 28-Inch Ultra High Definition LED Monitor (U28D590D)
3. Dell Ultrasharp UZ2715H 27-Inch Screen LED-Lit Monitor

Thanks

theSeb · May 14, 2015

I would immediately discount 1 and 2.

1. only has a resolution of 2560 x 1080 on a 34 inch screen. This is not suitable for coding

2. is a TN panel. You don't want to spend any time looking at text / code on a TN panel.

3. is not a bad choice. It's an IPS panel with a 2560x1440 resolution, which works well on a 27" screen.

For your uses you want an IPS panel with a high resolution. Frankly I would recommend dual screens. This increases my productivity more than anything else, whether I am coding, or day trading. What is your budget?

mobi-logic · May 14, 2015

theSeb said:
I would immediately discount 1 and 2.

1. only has a resolution of 2560 x 1080 on a 34 inch screen. This is not suitable for coding

2. is a TN panel. You don't want to spend any time looking at text / code on a TN panel.

3. is not a bad choice. It's an IPS panel with a 2560x1440 resolution, which works well on a 27" screen.

For your uses you want an IPS panel with a high resolution. Frankly I would recommend dual screens. This increases my productivity more than anything else, whether I am coding, or day trading. What is your budget?

I am looking for a monitor with a budget around $500.

And thanks for informing me that for my kind of work I should be going for a IPS panel type.

theSeb · May 14, 2015

mobi-logic said:
I am looking for a monitor with a budget around $500.

And thanks for informing me that for my kind of work I should be going for a IPS panel type.

In that case I would actually recommend getting something like two x Dell U2412M monitors. This monitor has a 1920x1200 monitor, which is much better than 1920x1080 when working with code and long text documents. This is much better than a single 2560x1440 monitor when it comes to productivity, in my opinion. I am actually going for a 3 monitor set up now. I am just trying to figure out which monitor stand will suit my needs.

carylee2002 · May 16, 2015

I would look into HP dream color series. I just picked up two used dream color lp2480zx really cheap from a local guy in LA. They have low hours and are 1920x1200 IPS. Needless to say they are excellent to use as a CRT replacement and for Photography/Video Editing. Lookup into youtube for more info for the monitors. They also came out with z24x and z27x but I was low on funds so I went the used route and got 2 monitors for the price of one new z24x.

theluggage · May 17, 2015

Mainly to re-iterate other suggestions:

- Don't get a 1080p monitor (AKA a television!) unless you like visible pixels. 2560x1440 is the sweet spot for 27" (I'm assuming we're not opening the can of worms that is 4k here, on account of cost and marginal support on your MacBook).

- Also consider the option already suggested of dual 24" 1920x1200 screens rather than one big one. Dell U2412M is an oldie but goodie - only caveat is that it doesn't have HDMI although a HDMI-to-DVI cable should work fine. I agree with theSeb that it is easier to manage two screens than one large one - especially in OS X 10.9 and on where they can be independently full-screened.

Also:

1. Invest a couple of dollars in BetterSnapTool (in the App Store) - that lets you instantly re-size windows to half- or quarter- screen by dragging them to the corner/edge of the display (one Windows feature that Apple should have copied long ago).

2. Consider my favorite set-up: put the MacBook on a Griffin Elevator Stand (or similar), hook up an Apple Wired Keyboard and mouse or magic trackpad and have the MacBook display level & next to the large display. Set the 'arrangement' in the displays preferences to match.

mobi-logic · May 18, 2015

theluggage said:
Mainly to re-iterate other suggestions:

- Don't get a 1080p monitor (AKA a television!) unless you like visible pixels. 2560x1440 is the sweet spot for 27" (I'm assuming we're not opening the can of worms that is 4k here, on account of cost and marginal support on your MacBook).

- Also consider the option already suggested of dual 24" 1920x1200 screens rather than one big one. Dell U2412M is an oldie but goodie - only caveat is that it doesn't have HDMI although a HDMI-to-DVI cable should work fine. I agree with theSeb that it is easier to manage two screens than one large one - especially in OS X 10.9 and on where they can be independently full-screened.

Also:

1. Invest a couple of dollars in BetterSnapTool (in the App Store) - that lets you instantly re-size windows to half- or quarter- screen by dragging them to the corner/edge of the display (one Windows feature that Apple should have copied long ago).

2. Consider my favorite set-up: put the MacBook on a Griffin Elevator Stand (or similar), hook up an Apple Wired Keyboard and mouse or magic trackpad and have the MacBook display level & next to the large display. Set the 'arrangement' in the displays preferences to match.

Thanks for suggestions.

As a common suggestion provided here to use double screen setup, I will be able to buy and use only one single screen, may be due to budget or call it lack of space to accommodate 2 monitors in my den.

Will buying a single 1920 X 1200 monitor will be a bad idea for a 27 inch screen size and should I really consider going as high as 2560x1440 monitor.

At my place I will not get an option to buy and try or go to a store to check for monitors with different resolutions, so this is the only place and you are the only people I am going to listen to and buy a monitor.

"BetterSnapTool" seems to be a good option to try it out.

theluggage · May 18, 2015

mobi-logic said:
Will buying a single 1920 X 1200 monitor will be a bad idea for a 27 inch screen size and should I really consider going as high as 2560x1440 monitor.

For a single desktop monitor, I'd recommend 27" @ 2560x1440 if you can afford it and have the space, or 24" @ 1920x1200 otherwise.

Those are sensible resolutions for the size (ruling out 4k displays for the moment).

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