Split-Screen multitasking productivity on 13"?

[cyberm0925]

Hello. I am starting college this fall and am finalizing my computer choice. I am trying to decide between the 13" and 15" MBA. In my dorm room, I plan/hope to have a dual monitor windows setup for gaming/assignments. Though, I am not planning to do all of my assignments in my dorm, so:
For the 13", I am really liking the size of the machine and its portability.
For the 15", I am liking the extra screen realestate, but am unsure about carrying it around to all my classes, especially classes with smaller desks.
With that all being said, I am wondering how hindered I would be by screen size if I went with the 13"? I am studying computer science, so, for example, would there be enough room to split the screen and have an IDE on one half and Google on another? What about for writing papers, will there be enough room to fit a word document on one screen and some sort of textbook on the other? Considering I already will have 2 displays if I need them in my dorm for some assignments, I am just worried that the 15" will be a bit to large (correct me if I am overreacting, I did go look at the 15", and thought it seemed pretty big, but I am not be used to large displays).

The one thing that's holding me back from the 13" completely is its ability (or possibly lack thereof) to split the screen and work with 2 windows at once. I cannot seem to find any actual images/screenshots of what this splitscreen would look like on the 13" either.
Thanks!

 

[Toutou]

That's the IDE that I use (RubyMine) and Safari with a search engine open, on my 13" M1 Air with the default scaling. Not very useable if you ask me, I don't think I've ever done this. The IDE is kinda small even on its own if you use the various toolbars and panels (files, DB schema, git, logs).

On the other hand, I don't think I've ever seen anyone with an IDE and Google in split-screen, everyone I know (other devs who use Macs) just has both on the same screen, overlapping, or has them in separate fullscreen spaces and switches between them with trackpad gestures (that's what I do).

 

[Algus]

I find multitasking annoying enough on my 13'' that I was a day one preorder on the 15''. After using the 15'' over the course of the last day, I'll definitely say the extra screen real estate is much welcome and addressed my one major complaint with my 13'' MacBook.

Now that being said, of course you can arrange workspaces on your smaller computer, scale the resolution, or tile windows so that jumping back and forth is not that inconvenient. This is a cost of trading size for portability and it may make sense to you. The 15'' Air has a much wider footprint as you might imagine and were I to find myself needing to go into cramped quarters (e.g. an airplane flight) I would be sorely tempted to switch over to my 13'' for that particular trip.

One of the web apps I use is a schedule editor for a workforce of several hundred. This editor lays out each employee by name, displays the amount of hours they work, and shows whether they are scheduled own to for each day in a given week. In order to display this tool accurately on my 13'' Air, I had to increase the scaling and shrink everything down. With my 15'' Air, I am able to comfortably display this entire app and still have space for a note app on the side to make quick notes while I am working with my editor.

I can't say what the right decision for you is but I know for me - more screen real estate means less fiddling with my UI and more time working so I am happy to have the larger computer.

 

[cyberm0925]

View attachment 2217943

That's the IDE that I use (RubyMine) and Safari with a search engine open, on my 13" M1 Air with the default scaling. Not very useable if you ask me, I don't think I've ever done this. The IDE is kinda small even on its own if you use the various toolbars and panels (files, DB schema, git, logs).

On the other hand, I don't think I've ever seen anyone with an IDE and Google in split-screen, everyone I know (other devs who use Macs) just has both on the same screen, overlapping, or has them in separate fullscreen spaces and switches between them with trackpad gestures (that's what I do).

Thanks for this image. I agree, I think if I end up going with the 13" I will be utilizing swiping to the other desktop rather than side-by-side.

 

[Abazigal]

I rarely use split-screen on my M1 MBA, even with the scaling option on for max screen space. It's usually one app maximised. 15" might let you do this more comfortable. I really don't know.

 

[BootLoxes]

View attachment 2217943

That's the IDE that I use (RubyMine) and Safari with a search engine open, on my 13" M1 Air with the default scaling. Not very useable if you ask me, I don't think I've ever done this. The IDE is kinda small even on its own if you use the various toolbars and panels (files, DB schema, git, logs).

On the other hand, I don't think I've ever seen anyone with an IDE and Google in split-screen, everyone I know (other devs who use Macs) just has both on the same screen, overlapping, or has them in separate fullscreen spaces and switches between them with trackpad gestures (that's what I do).

Thats how I do it daily. Its rough but doable. Once the 15" m3 air releases I will move to that

 

[The Cockney Rebel]

Use Mission Control to switch between apps.

That should make things easier for you.