Multiple Monitors - Computer Setup

That desk looks HUGE when it's so empty

Yeah, it's a gigantic desk. When I had 2 computers and 3 monitors on it the size was just right, but I can definitely downsize now that I've consolidated.

There's so much room for activities!

Yeah... no part of the setup is really cheap, but it's all technically a business expense. I end up spending lots of hours here working, so I may as well customize it to be comfortable.

Ergonomics are important. Very jealous though, great setup.

Yeah well, this dude also has an $800 desk and a $500 monitor.

What's your point? It's the dudes job to spend time in this position for pretty long periods so why not make it as comfy and healthy as possible.

And then he goes and buy a tenkeyless keyboard for coding.

What footrest do you have?

It's a kensington solemate with memory foam. Pretty adjustable. I really appreciate having it when I've spent a few hours typing away.

Does it help the back/posture?

Yeah, it definitely helps keep my legs at a better angle while working. If nothing else, it's a reminder to keep my feet down and back straight, instead of curling into a ball in my chair and ruining my posture. :)

Rather than the Kensington, get a HAG Quickstep the curved surface means you can rock your feet back and forth, helping you with blood circulation, as well as posture

Very nice, and clean. Love the Poker. I'm on the Pure atm, but thinking about making the switch to the Race(HHKB for work).

Just ordered my HHKB last week, can't wait.

Thanks. I like the race too. I use a realforce 87u at work and really like it.

What language do you write?

I'm a general webdev. I write PHP, Java, Ruby, Python, Javascript, SQL, Go, etc. You?

ASP.NET C#. Im just learning Javascript, JQuery. I dont think I could develop nearly as efficiently with just one monitor. I frequently have the need for at least 1 more.

I'm actually really used to it. All of my workflows center around having one monitor and tabbing between applications. That said, if you have something like visual studio open its probably easier to have a monitor devoted to it. I use sublime text 2 on the mac, which has a pretty spartan layout.

It has been a bumpy road but luckily the stuff I have needed to do with it has been fairly basic.

Tabbing? With an ultrawide can't you tile your code editing windows and browser (side-by-side)? Also, I haven't done dev on a Mac in forever, but they have Workspaces right? Isn't that more efficient, as you can swap the entire screen layout for another entire screen layout?

Yeah, I tile windows side by side and tab between applications. If a window is open in another workspace, tabbing to it automatically slides to that workspace. Also, browsers, code editors, and terminal have tabs in their windows that you can jump to with keyboard shortcuts. The result is the ability to jump to any window in any application pretty instantly through the keyboard. That's why I don't really care about keeping everything visible across multiple monitors at one time.

Dude teach me C#!! I just failed (by 2 marks!) my C# class. Have to do it again, I am trying to now teach myself of YouTube videos but geez its hard. I really do struggle with programming, it is not at all what I want to do, but it's a core subject in Bachelor of IT so I have to :(

Watching YouTube videos to learn programming never works well, in my experience. You have to read the documentation and most importantly, try stuff for yourself by programming as much as possible You'll get there, don't worry ;)

My fellow Lord is right. Learning to program involves programming. Set yourself an attainable goal and write it.

Lies, where did you hide the coffee mugs?

He has a $200 hide-away cup holder wedged in there somewhere I'm sure. :)

I was entertaining the idea of buying an extra wide monitor like that, how does it work out for everyday use? How do games work on it, do shapes get distorted?

So far I'm loving it. I don't game on this computer (it's a mac from work) but I've seen reviews that it works really well for most types of games. I really use it to lay out multiple code editors and command prompts on one screen. One word of warning, to hook up this monitor to a mac you NEED a minidisplayport to displayport cable, every other type of connection will just stretch the standard screen ration to fit the monitor.

What monitor arm is that?

I got it off of amazon here http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00B21TLQU/

Single LCD Monitor Desk Mount Stand Fully Adjustable_Tilt_Articulating for 1 Screen up to 27" _ (by VIVO)

I have the same exact monitor arm. The arm is made out of steel and all the joints are steel as well, so this can probably hold a 32" if you really wanted to.

I have the double version holding two 24" panels, solid as a rock. Best monitor mount I've ever owned, and the cheapest as well.

How much room does the clamp provide for you to clamp the mount to the desk? I have a large desk and my previous mount wasn't big enough.

How is the build quality? Any wobbling or sagging, I have a pretty heavy Asus 27" which I really want to get off my desk

I like it so far. I've had it for about a month. I put my fullsize 27" monitor on it at first and never noticed any issues.

I'll once again plug my favorite monitor arm. It is expensive but I am not sure anything on the market matches it for the range of motion etc.

That is a nice looking arm, but dat price tho...

Aye. I don't blame you. They aren't cheap.

Damn straight we have these at work and they work fantastic

I've had mine (the double version though) for about a year and it's still perfect. They are really heavy-duty, I don't see myself ever needing to replace it. A couple of my co-workers also use them, none have mentioned a single problem.

Where did you purchase the desk from?

Thanks, was wondering this myself.

I'm not OP but it looks some sort of Ikea desk

There is one that look very similiar

I envy your eyesight

Right now I use a portable bose ipod dock as a speaker (not pitured), but I'm looking to get a new sound system.

I love my Naos 8200, especially since I have giant hands. How are you liking yours?

I had the same issue, no mouse was ever a good fit. The NAOS is probably my favorite mouse I've ever owned. I used to prefer microsoft and razer because they offered decent sized mice, but the NAOS 8200 is the first mouse that perfectly fits my hand.

Exactly, I went through a RAT, a Corsair M60, and finally settled on a Naos. Best decision ever. If only it had buttons on the left side, then it would be perfect, but it is still the best mouse I've come across.

That is one heck of a gorgeous keyboard, I know what I want next

The monitor looks too far away. I can imagine you hunch, a lot..

My thoughts too. I guess my eyesight must be bad.

Really nice. I see so many gaming setups with terrible ergonomics but yours is spot on! Do you have a purchase link for the keyboard/mouse tray? Why are they always so over priced?!

$300 just to keep your keyboard away from your giant, empty desk

I keep trying to simplify my station but I keep buying more monitors.

Ha, I'm the same way with keyboards. I keep buying more and more.

I'll second the "don't get an Aeron" statement. I thought I was the only one who didn't like them! I had one about 6 months and could never get comfortable. My complaint was the hard plastic frame digging in to the bottom of my legs.

Great desk, could you tell me the dimensions?

Thanks! It's one of the first geekdesk large tops, about 6.5ft wide and 2.5ft deep. The height is adjustable from sitting to standing height.

What color switches did you get for that Poker?

They're red switches with O-ring dampeners. It has great action, but I'm considering grabbing a TKL Ducky Shine 3 with black switches.

Not a fan of the click eh? If I were you I'd go with Cherry MX Blues!

Lol. I'm ashamed to admit how many keyboards I have, but I definitely have a couple blues sitting around. I like clicky boards alot, but lately I've preferred more of a tactile approach.

You can never have too many mechs, man!

Awesome mouse! I have had the 3200 version for three years now and I've never looked back once!

What do you normal work on? (Web, languages, etc)

Copying and pasting from another reply:

Very cool. I do mostly JS but anything I do is pretty much related to web tech.

Ha, its a tradeoff. In my current role I'm basically architect, project manager, and coder. Lots of fun but I'm working my ass off. But I get the day to day sense of accomplishment when my code works and the big sense of accomplishment when whole systems I've designed get deployed. I see it as the best of both worlds right now.

How's coding with that keyboard? Don't you need thinks like 'end' or 'home'? or the delete button sometimes?

It's a mixed bag. I love the keyboard, but you're right, having to hit a modifier key to access special buttons or directional arrows isn't as good as just having them on the board. I'm looking to get a new board eventually, probably a tenkeyless

Speaking of home and end, are you on mavericks? I've had a nasty time since I upgraded, it's basically broken DoubleCommand for PC style home/end keys... anytime the computer goes to sleep it disables that setting. I'm back to using Command Right/Left, may as well get that Pure Pro that I've been looking at.

I'm on mountain lion. I don't have a day to devote to fixing my dev environments in case upgrading breaks them, so I haven't gone to mavericks. I've also heard alot of horror stories from people who did upgrade.

Ya, fair enough... doublecommand is the only issue I've found so far.

Dat desk real-estate! What's that wallpaper?

How do you code without delete, home and end keys? That would drive me bonkers

The Poker II still has them, they're in the function layer though. It's nice if you can get used to it (you don't have to reach for them), definitely not for everybody though. I like it personally.

I answered this somewhere else, but it takes getting used to. My next keyboard will definitely be a tenkeyless board, probably a ducky shine 3

Lack of numpad/arrow-keys ==> your editor is vim?

Vim and sublime text 2. arrow keys are accessible via a meta key, but I'm looking to go for a tenkeyless next.

What are you using with that Naos 8200? Usb overdrive? I bought one since it was on sale one day, hoping that it would at least map the buttons in a default or logical way but it didnt. So its been sitting in a box for weeks. I love it for the ergonomics but didnt go far with it since no drivers. Was going to give it away and just get a razer...but... i love its size. Love to hear what you are doing for the buttons/layout on it

I'm just using the default setup (on 10.8.5). The scroll, mouse buttons and sensitivity buttons all work, its just the two thumb buttons I can't configure. Since I'm not gaming on this setup it's not an issue for me.

Hola, It's a great board! What kind of switches did you get?

Mine are MX blues with PBT keys. Though, I also like reds with o-rings. You?

I got reds with the O-rings and custom ABS caps from WASDkeyboards. I'm trying to find a PBT set that I really like, but it's more difficult than I thought it would be.

Oh godddd, I really want to buy a full mx-red board for my desktop. ABS vs. PBT is so conflicting because the ABS market seems to have so much more variety, but PBT feels like heaven.

Yeah, definitely. Lately I've been toying with the idea of designing my ideal layout and trying to organize a groupbuy for PBT caps with the design. Don't know if I'll ever do it though...

Ever since I got my ducky dk9008g2 pro, I decided that I could never go back to pad printed abs.

I am not gonna lie. That is a weird station. Upvote for something new!

Wait, so the MBP is the actual computer? How did you make it work while closed? That's an awesome idea.

Yeah, the macbooks work while closed with an external monitor connected, so just boot up and close the lid.

How do you like the Steelcase Amia? Worth the price?

I really like it. My last chair was a herman miller aeron, which I found to be very uncomfortable. The amia, in contrast, is extremely comfortable while still helping me maintain my posture.

To me it looks like you dumped all your stuff on the bed to take that photo.

Interesting keyboard. How do you like it?

Now I want a foot rest. D:

What's the mac used for? doesnt seem like you can easily turn it from the position of the cables

What kind of keyboard is that?

Link to the keycaps? I fucking LOVE the font on them.

What font do you have on it?

I chose the centered layout for this set. Not sure of the actual font they use though.

Ever consider using your 27" monitor for daily use and rotating your 29" and placing it to the side for coding? Seems like that orientation would give you much more efficient use of screen space. Also, I'm a HUGE fan of my Poker II, what switches do you have?

I've thought about it, but I'm pretty happy with the current layout. My general workflows kind of revolve around having 1 monitor, I just prefer higher resolution to fit more windows on one screen.

My Poker II has brown switches, but I also have a CM QuickFire Rapid with blue switches. I mainly use the blue for typing, and brown for late night gaming

Do you ever use the monitor in portrait mode?

I haven't. I normally work on multiple files that I tile horizontally across the screen, that's really the strength of the ultrawide for me.

I see. I feel like an ultrawide monitor would be awful for coding in landscape mode but I'm glad you found a good workflow :).

The trick is to get a big enough monitor that you can have two windows side-by-side as if they're portrait. I've got a 27" 2560 x 1440 and I'll often have IntelliJ divided up into at 2 views, sometimes 3 or 4.

My next monitor purchase is going to be one of those 4K monitors, possibly the Lenovo one as that one seems pretty great. Only issue is that I have to upgrade everything else to support it first.

All that desk space and you don't even use it. Sort of pointless.

It's funny how everyone who posts here is a "coder."

This is where I masturbate and code :)

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