4K Is For Programmers 520
An anonymous reader writes "The 4K television revolution is upon us, and nobody is impressed. Most users seem content to wait until there's actually something to watch on these ultra-high-res displays, and also for the price to come down. However, Brian Hauer has written an article promoting a non-standard use for these displays. His office just got a 39", 3840x2160 display for each of their programmers' workstations. He now confidently declares, 'For the time being, there is no single higher-productivity display for a programmer.' Hauer explains: 'Four editors side-by-side each with over a hundred lines of code, and enough room to spare for a project navigator, console, and debugger. Enough room to visualize the back-end service code, the HTML template, the style-sheet, the client-side script, and the finished result in a web browser — all at once without one press of Alt-tab.'"
Re:39" display for workstations? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Character size? (Score:3, Informative)
Pretty much the same as on 19" fullHD display.
It's the same PPI, you insensible clod!
Re:39" display for workstations? (Score:4, Informative)
I once saw an entire team of 10 decent programmers turned into door stops because spending 10 dollars more for each one was 'too much for the budget'. Yeah so is losing 3 weeks of work out of them while we RMA monitors and buy the right ones ANYWAY. Out of the computers that were bought 5 for DOA. One actually had screws loose in the case. I picked it up and heard ratle ratle ratle. "let me get you a different one you do not want this one". I was able to build 1 working out of those 5. Instead of doing my real job of writing code.
You dont have to buy people 10k rigs. But dont buy the 200 dollar special at sears and hope it works.
Re:39" display for workstations? (Score:5, Informative)
No. They are $500. It's right in the article.
Here. Buy one.
http://www.amazon.com/Seiki-Digital-SE39UY04-39-Inch-Ultra/dp/B00DOPGO2G
Re:39" display for workstations? (Score:5, Informative)
At $500 a piece
we had been using antiquated pairs of 19-inch monitors. An upgrade was needed
It's amazing how irrelevant many comments become after you RTFA.
Obligatory XKCD (Score:4, Informative)
Almost any non-negligible productivity improvement is going to recoup $500 over the lifespan of an LED monitor.
Agreed. Obligatory XKCD [xkcd.com].
For a programmer earning $80,000/year if you can shave off 1.5 seconds 50 times per day you'll recoup the investment in 5 years. Shave off 6 seconds 50 times per day and you recoup the investment in 1.25 years. I use a multi-monitor setup and have recouped the cost many times over and I'm not even a programmer.
Re:Why not just multiple monitors. (Score:5, Informative)
There's a third way. Try a tiling window manager.
Re:Too big (Score:4, Informative)
We used to say the same about 24-27" monitors.
I have (4) 22-27" displays on my desk arranged in a 2x2 array, which measures almost 45-48" diagonally. Being able to replace that with a single 40" display would be rather nice. Granted, they might need to curve it a bit for it to be properly ergonomic for desktop use. (Hidden advantage of the 2x2 array of monitors is that I can turn each one inward a bit to be properly aligned for my field of vision).
A 32" 4K display would be just about perfect for replacing the right-half of my monitor array.
The other trick you learn with multiple displays arranged in a 2x2 array is that you put less important information in the upper screens.
Re:39" display for workstations? (Score:2, Informative)
Re:39" display for workstations? (Score:4, Informative)
you don't need a beefy PSU just because you are doing 2d, modern graphic cards are very energy efficient and if you are not playing games they are not going to suck 300W. You also don't need a top of the line graphics card if you're not playing games, as far as I know you can drive 4k off a GT 640 which is only $100.
The article is about text editing / web development it seems, if it was about 3d or video then I would agree.
Re:where do I sign? (Score:4, Informative)
Don't forget the new video card and/or laptop and/or desktop that is capable of driving the full 4K resolution...