Monitor specifically for coding. 4k?

Soldato
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As we are all no doubt doing more working from home I am thinking of upgrading my work monitor I use from a 24" 1200p to a 4k screen. Probably 27" as I have seen a cheap one.

I am a DevOps and mostly working in a terminal all day long etc...

Any reason why a 4k screen isn't a good idea and I should go 1440p instead?
 
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I have 4k on my personal desktop its very nice. If the software cant zoom you can always scale it up a bit, you will get more screen space so split screen is useful i.e. ms word on one half and drawing diagrams next to it on the other.

My work setup I currently have a 38" telly wall mounted above my laptop, with my old 28" 1080p monitor. I find its handier to move the work onto certain displays although the laptop screen is horrible for my eyes to work on. I tend to code on the 1080p screen.
 
Soldato
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I have 4k on my personal desktop its very nice. If the software cant zoom you can always scale it up a bit, you will get more screen space so split screen is useful i.e. ms word on one half and drawing diagrams next to it on the other.

My work setup I currently have a 38" telly wall mounted above my laptop, with my old 28" 1080p monitor. I find its handier to move the work onto certain displays although the laptop screen is horrible for my eyes to work on. I tend to code on the 1080p screen.

So there's no issue with my buying a 4k panel to write code on? I was worried about small text size etc... but I guess you can scale the text in the applications.
 
Soldato
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If all you're ever doing is terminal sessions pretty much anything will do the job. Higher resolution = more windows open, assuming your eyesight is up to it (putty and its ilk let you easily fiddle with the font size anyway).

I'm a java developer, so a mix of coding in an IDE, terminal sessions and web browser. I've used VA panels for years as I always found IPS was too bright for spending very long periods of time in front of a screen. 27" is a good form factor for the typical desk - I now use 32" which took a while to get used to after the 27 I upgraded from - but don't regret the move as it was a very good offer at the time.
 
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I tried 4k before but I went back to triple 1440p 27". The font size becomes the limiting factor at higher resolutions, so I found that 1440p was the sweet spot with multiple monitors giving the extra space for running simultaneous programs - assuming you've got the space for them.
 
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Associate
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Personally, I would go wider rather than higher res.
If you get a higher res, you just end up making the font size bigger so you can read the text on screen so your screen real estate is just the same size as a lower resolution monitor!

I have a DELL superwide (U3417W - 3440 x 1440) as my main monitor and two ASUS "normal" monitors (VN247 - 1920 x 1080).

Normal "dev" mode is to have Web open on a reference/tutorial site on my right-hand ASUS.
Visual Studio Code on the right hand side of my DELL and whatever I am working on (website for example) on the left of the DELL.
The left-hand ASUS is just a spare monitor I use if I really need any more room.

DELL works fine for gaming too - it hasn't got all the flashy Freesync etc but I'm not really bothered about that anyway!
 
Soldato
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Personally, I would go wider rather than higher res.
If you get a higher res, you just end up making the font size bigger so you can read the text on screen so your screen real estate is just the same size as a lower resolution monitor!

I have a DELL superwide (U3417W - 3440 x 1440) as my main monitor and two ASUS "normal" monitors (VN247 - 1920 x 1080).

Normal "dev" mode is to have Web open on a reference/tutorial site on my right-hand ASUS.
Visual Studio Code on the right hand side of my DELL and whatever I am working on (website for example) on the left of the DELL.
The left-hand ASUS is just a spare monitor I use if I really need any more room.

DELL works fine for gaming too - it hasn't got all the flashy Freesync etc but I'm not really bothered about that anyway!

I don't have that much space on my desk. I know what you mean about screen resolution and text size. But that's why I started the thread.

The other thing to mention is I use Ubuntu mostly. I take it that works perfectly fine with a 4k display?

I will have to buy a new GPU tho as my current Radeon 6450 is probably not up to the job.
 
Soldato
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Personally, I would go wider rather than higher res.
If you get a higher res, you just end up making the font size bigger so you can read the text on screen so your screen real estate is just the same size as a lower resolution monitor!

I have a DELL superwide (U3417W - 3440 x 1440) as my main monitor and two ASUS "normal" monitors (VN247 - 1920 x 1080).

Normal "dev" mode is to have Web open on a reference/tutorial site on my right-hand ASUS.
Visual Studio Code on the right hand side of my DELL and whatever I am working on (website for example) on the left of the DELL.
The left-hand ASUS is just a spare monitor I use if I really need any more room.

DELL works fine for gaming too - it hasn't got all the flashy Freesync etc but I'm not really bothered about that anyway!

What this says.

I had a 24" and 28" and there was too much on my desk. The 28" was a nice 4k Samsung QLED panel and the pixel density really makes a difference everything was super smooth. However I've gone super wide 1440p and the pixel density is noticeable but I'd rather have more width on a single monitor for doing dev work. VS code and Chrome on the same screen side-by-side without anything shrunk down is a god send. I'm even thinking about getting a 38" next year now.
 
Soldato
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The PPI is nice at 4k. I have two 32" 4k monitors running at 125% scaling and it's perfect....although I'd like to add a third so I can play surround without a bezel in the middle :p
 
Soldato
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I love my 4k monitor when it comes to programming as I can have two source code files open at the same time side by side. Or one source code file and a website with documentation. If I get a bigger desk in the future, I'm definitely upgrading to three 4k monitors. I think that'll make a huge difference to my productivity.
 
Associate
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I love my 4k monitor when it comes to programming as I can have two source code files open at the same time side by side. Or one source code file and a website with documentation. If I get a bigger desk in the future, I'm definitely upgrading to three 4k monitors. I think that'll make a huge difference to my productivity.

I second this, I moved to 3x 4k 27" a while ago, left is portrait, then 2 in landscape with the middle a predator gsync for gaming;)

I couldn't get used to 1440 so went 4k, although will be moving the main screen to 32" 4k 144hz when they become available
 
Soldato
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Personally, I would go wider rather than higher res.
If you get a higher res, you just end up making the font size bigger so you can read the text on screen so your screen real estate is just the same size as a lower resolution monitor!

I have a DELL superwide (U3417W - 3440 x 1440) as my main monitor and two ASUS "normal" monitors (VN247 - 1920 x 1080).

Normal "dev" mode is to have Web open on a reference/tutorial site on my right-hand ASUS.
Visual Studio Code on the right hand side of my DELL and whatever I am working on (website for example) on the left of the DELL.
The left-hand ASUS is just a spare monitor I use if I really need any more room.

DELL works fine for gaming too - it hasn't got all the flashy Freesync etc but I'm not really bothered about that anyway!
to be fair with 4K you can run two side by side anyway.

plus following proper standards you should only reach 80/100 characters before you create new line



you could always stack monitors if in a tight space 2x 24-27" in top of each other :)
 
Soldato
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With other tool like windows magnifier the 4k monitor is fine and you will appreciate it when watching video content or chilling out on flix/prime.

Another productivity bonus is having a lesser spec on in portrait to the side so you can view web pages or edit documents so it takes up less of your normal dev space.
 
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