Had an ultra wide for a while, went back to 2 27" monitors after 2 years. 2 monitors is more convenient imo. I can flip one vertical whenever. Less fiddly to have multiple things open at once. One is centered while the other is on the side and angled, much nicer way of separating what’s my focus. Easier to screen share. I always found the curve distracting for text.
I have a 49" ultrawide, running a tiling window manager under Linux.
I heavily utilize virtual desktops in my workflow. Always 10 on each monitor, accessed by Ctrl-{0…9}. Switching between monitors by AltGr+{1…n}. Programs always stay on the same virtual desktop no, so terminals on 2, browsers on 3 and so on. This enables me to access more or less any window in under a second, never having to look for it visually.
I usually work with 4 or 5 24" monitors, as a single program seldom needs more space for me. What he ultrawide brings to the table is the capability under Linux to create arbitrary virtual monitors.
I can for example have two evenly created monitors (two 27"). My usual for development is three, split as 2:3:2.
Another possibility is using a small script that analyses movie resolution and creates two monitors, one with the exact aspect ratio of the movie, eliminating black borders, and another for using while watching said movie :)
As Linux sees them as separate monitors, I can also have easily managed screen sharing.
Having the flexibility of software defining my monitors has been great as a developer; separation of many, screenwise often small, applications is highly useful to me. A couple of quick scripts to switch between different setups has integrated it nicely into the workflow, and I usually changes monitor config at least a couple of times per day.
Had an ultra wide for a while, went back to 2 27" monitors after 2 years. 2 monitors is more convenient imo. I can flip one vertical whenever. Less fiddly to have multiple things open at once. One is centered while the other is on the side and angled, much nicer way of separating what’s my focus. Easier to screen share. I always found the curve distracting for text.
The ultra-wide’s big appeal is definitely more for gaming than programming.
I have a 49" ultrawide, running a tiling window manager under Linux.
I heavily utilize virtual desktops in my workflow. Always 10 on each monitor, accessed by Ctrl-{0…9}. Switching between monitors by AltGr+{1…n}. Programs always stay on the same virtual desktop no, so terminals on 2, browsers on 3 and so on. This enables me to access more or less any window in under a second, never having to look for it visually.
I usually work with 4 or 5 24" monitors, as a single program seldom needs more space for me. What he ultrawide brings to the table is the capability under Linux to create arbitrary virtual monitors.
I can for example have two evenly created monitors (two 27"). My usual for development is three, split as 2:3:2.
Another possibility is using a small script that analyses movie resolution and creates two monitors, one with the exact aspect ratio of the movie, eliminating black borders, and another for using while watching said movie :)
As Linux sees them as separate monitors, I can also have easily managed screen sharing.
Having the flexibility of software defining my monitors has been great as a developer; separation of many, screenwise often small, applications is highly useful to me. A couple of quick scripts to switch between different setups has integrated it nicely into the workflow, and I usually changes monitor config at least a couple of times per day.