Asklemmy

• Left (vertical) - Notesnook (or whichever knowledge management system I'm on at that particular moment), Signal, and Slack all tiled so I can see them all together.
• Middle (horizontal) - IDE.
• Right (vertical) - Browser.

This works well, but I'd enjoy another monitor for Spotify or, more likely, so I could make all the terminal, debugger, run, database, etc from my IDE full-blown windows on the fourth monitor.

I have three. Left for email, right for Teams, middle for whatever I'm working on. Then I cover up Teams and Email (in that order) when I need to see multiple things at once (e.g., a second instance of VS or SSMS or a browser).

Not a computer person; just a worker with an office. I keep my laptop vertical to the right with my email/calendar usually open. I use a monitor left of this - it's big enough that I can comfortably have 2-3 windows on it - so i can have 4 things open at a time. When i have a zoom, meet, or WebEx, that takes one; second is whatever I'm supposed to report in that meeting; third and fourth are what I'm actually working on. My biggest problem is that the vertical laptop has the camera and in some video meeting apps I'm in portrait while everyone else is landscape.

Three monitors here. I'm an engineer so left monitor is usually reference material (drawings, spec sheets, formulae, etc), center is usually my primary workspace (email, python, CAD, etc) and right is music, communications, and calendar for the next goddamned meeting.

Left and center are 24" 1080p, right is 15" laptop. I'm thinking of upgrading the next time the office gets tech money.

Music production. Left: tracking and editing window. Right: mixer and plug-ins

The thing I've always noticed about getting more monitors is that you never really think you need one more monitor until you end up getting one somehow. After that you start getting used to the extra space and it feels wrong to go back to having less. When I originally had one monitor I was just used to that and didn't see anything wrong with it. Once I got two monitors I again felt good and got used to it. It was really nice to be able to watch stuff while playing games or have Unity and Visual Studio on separate screens at the same time. Eventually I got a nicer monitor and decided to go up to 3 monitors which again felt really nice and I found uses for all 3. That's where I'm at now and I don't have plans to get anymore but if I ever got a newer monitor there's a good chance I would end up giving 4 a try cause why let one of my older but still good monitors go to waste. And I imagine I would still be able to find uses for the extra space. I feel like at some point there is a limit but at least so far every time I've gained more monitor space even when I'm not sure what I would use it for I always end up using that extra space for something.

Left reference, middle work, right email/IM

I have three. The third doesn't really boost my productivity much, I have it vertical just to show my file browser because I open and switch through different files quite a lot. The other two are to show the actual files I'm working in or comparing.

Primary "workspace", comms, docs/reading/reference data.

Scientist here, a lot of my job is writing texts with references to other literature of the field, or reviewing such texts (or PowerPoints). Main screen has the document open, the other is actually in portrait format and has gazillions of open pdfs on it that are relevant to whatever I'm working on. I had to get this setup for working from home because productivity dropped immensely with only one screen.

not a software dev, but a linux user and a stout technology enthusiast.

I have 3 monitors setup on my primary workstation. Two landscape in a stacked arrangement, it's just tidy and works well enough for a secondary media display, organizational monitor. And then my third is portrait for anything i keep long term tabs on, chat programs, music player, system resources, etc...

I recently switched from KDE to i3wm, and i find i need inherently less monitor. i3wm does all the sorting organization and bullshit i hate for me automagically, it's perfect for opening a terminal to check something, or work on something real quick, and being able to have one static window, and two tabbed/stacked windows on one monitor is HUGE. Super nice for terminal breakouts with a browser for documentation. If you're ever balls deep in a config and testing shit actively, you'll immediately understand how much of a godsend it is.

Anyway, floating window managers are dead and anything shipping a floating window manager is a dead product on arrival.

I have an 34inch ultrawide as my main, and two 27inch screens, one above and one to the side. It's pretty awesome, play a game or do some work on the main monitor, videos, web pages, instructions in the right, and discord or other pages on the top.

Author (not very successful, but still).

Main screen is for writing and editing. Second screen holds notes, maps, etc for reference as I write. If I'm editing, second screen usually has a music player going, along with notes about changes needed.

I can't say it's necessary, but the second screen really does help keep me focused better. Instead of having to switch windows and then come back, or have windows stacked up and have to move things, being able to just glance at the secondary screen is awesome.

Like, I'll have my name list up, a map of the area, and the notes for the chapter up on the secondary screen, with a fourth window tiled with any extras needed (like quick sketches for things). It's a mid sized monitor (27 inch iirc), so everything is readable with my reading glasses but it doesn't hog desk space. The main monitor is a 31 inch where I can have librewriter up and sized to where I need it, with a notepad window to the side for copy/paste usage or quick sections that inspiration hits but it isn't the right section to just enter it into the working file.

Compared to the single monitor set up I used to have, it saves me time, and *more important) allows me to stay in flow state better, which means better writing, with less editing needed later. I can, when I'm actually writing rather than trying to write, double or triple my output compared to before.

Less necessary now that I'm using a tiling wm, but previously it allows me to have IDE, program I'm working on, and a browser for googling without having to switch context to go between them

Plus if more is needed for whatever use case (terminal window for running application, teams, etc) I can split screen too

With a tiling wm at work I have teams/outlook on right, primary application (terminal/tmux, IDE, browser etc) center and googling browser on the left, and then a virtual desktop for each project I'm working on at the home if I need to switch for whatever reason

2 27” 4k monitors. I do 98% of everything on the main monitor. The screen to the right contains a few sticky notes (I use Zhorn Stickies) and a Ticktick widget with all my tasks for the day. When I start up Obsidian, I have a saved Ivy Lee list that appears in a spot on the right side monitor as well. It’s just basically quick-glance scrap space.

Gaming: I have a game that has tons of third party software that tracks game elements real-time that are far easier to read, contain more information, and more readily understandable than any in-game menu. So play the game on one monitor, have the apps running in windows on the second one.

3D design. Have the work window open for maximum real estate on one monitor, have pop-out menus and tools on the other for things that maybe don’t have hot keys or shortcuts assigned. Also, a small browser window for “how do I” question when I hit a roadblock.

2 is the bare minimum for work as a sysadmin.
3 is better, then I can dedicate one to communication (email, Teams, softphone), one for documentation and one to actually work on. I could see 4 being useful if you work both locally and on terminal servers but I've never tried it.

Virtual desktops, multi monitor and tmux allow me to go full ADHD, everything open at once, multiple projects on different desktops with like 5 windows open

Bonus points when I've got multiple terminals connected to the same tmux session because I forgot I already had it on another desktop or wanted it split with something else

My home setup is an ultrawide and a 1080p monitor. I find with tiling and virtual desktops more than that is surplus to requirement (even the 1080p monitor usually just has a browser open)

Big center monitor: ide, terminal

Big left monitor: browser. Jira ticket, documentation, email, etc. sometimes also notes. Http client (trying Bruno now).

Small laptop monitor: slack, sticky notes

Video games. On one screen is the game, on the other screen is a web browser with the wiki opened. Also have YouTube for the tough puzzles. Helps a ton.

I use three at the office, and two at home.

In both setups the laptop is my keyboard and small screen, above it is a 34 inch 21/9 aspect ratio curved display. At the office I also have a standard monitor off to the side.

The large screen is my primary work space, with various code editors, UI dev tools, web browser, reference docs, and terminal windows.

The laptop screen has email, all my short cuts, and a virtual version of the UI I'm working on because it is also a touch screen.

When I have the third screen I use it for teams, a few system monitoring tools, and youtube for music.

I used dual side by side monitors for years, but found that having the split in the center meant I was always sitting with my neck turned, and this lead to a lot of pain and headaches. Having them top / bottom is a lot more comfortable and my large screen is high enough I now sit up straight.

A curved screen at the right distance also means a lot less eye strain.

i work in video. i have one monitor as my primary "work" space. that's where i put my timeline, or whatever I'm working on the most in that moment. sometimes it's color controls, sometimes it's keyframes and effects controls.

monitor 2 is actually my best monitor. that's the video clean feed. that's my big color accurate monitor.

monitor 3 is bins and scopes and effects and whatever other control surfaces and monitors i might need.

I use 3 monitors. One is for the task I'm doing, one is for reference material for the task, and the third is for my sanity. That last one is where youtube/memes/whatever are. I can focus extra hard if I need to, but I prefer not to. When I started out, I used to get home completely burned out, and incapable of doing anything but eating, showering, and vegging out in front of the TV or PC.

Data on one side, assessment write up on the other. Extremely convenient. Not sure if I’m more productive or if I’m just happier.

I operate a ZLD plant processing blowdown for a combined cycle power plant. I have two computers at my desk. The left computer is for email, data entry, training, and monitoring a few power block and BOP things via PI; this is with two monitors, one above the other. The right computer is for operating the plant directly and monitoring native trends; this is with four monitors, 2x2.

I'd say I don't need more than this, but I would feel some pain if I had fewer. I would love to have another monitor or two to display camera feeds, but my plant never figured out how to get the cameras set up so we just climb ladders to look into sight glass windows once in a while. Or I might be the only one who actually bothers with that lol. Really the 4 monitor rig could and probably should be replaced by a big 4k screen if the software supports windowed instances instead of full screen like we have been running. It wouldn't surprise me if this POS program can't do that though.

I have 2 at work. Sometimes I just have our ticket software on one and Firefox on another both full screen. When works crunching I might have multiple PDF manuals open on one and PDF schematics on another and could use a 3rd for a browser window to search for old similar problems in our daily reports. I'm able to work best when I can keep 1 screen dedicated to what I'm working on and the others for information gathering.

At home I typically just have 1 screen for gaming. I might set my laptop up on the desk if I want to browse the web or chat while playing.

I only have 1 ultra wide monitor. It's slightly less screen space than 2 monitors, but it's enough, and I like the simplicity of it.

I have four monitors. Two slightly angled directly in front of me, one angled on the left and a small 10 inch directly below my two main monitors that I use specifically for discord and my friend's chat app he's working on.

Why two directly in front of me with the split in the middle? I only have to shift my head slightly to move between the game I'm playing and whatever I'm watching.

But it's more useful when I'm working on pixel art because I can have my drawing on one main monitor and my reference in the other while having a show or stream on the secondary angled on my left and chat stays on the small monitor.

As for if that helps productivity, I have no idea.

But I sure like my setup now.

Media editing and production. Otherwise it's dope to have my email, texts, torrents, Explorer/Finder, and music occupy one screen, and my web browser in the other.

I bought a second display for my last job because the pan got us wfh. I’m on a Mac and ran my Windows VM o the second display. My current job doesn’t allow me to connect to VPN from a personal device, so the second display is dormant. I throw web browser windows for things I want to look at later over there so I don’t forget to come back to them (I have a billion open web windows / tabs on the main display).

Independent IT Contractor: I have a 4-wide 1080p screen setup. I keep Slack/Teams on one screen, the semicircle setup means I can only really look at 3 at the same time. I upgraded from 3 screens because I kept having to juggle windows around while troubleshooting someone's webserver.

Also used this setup when I was really heavy into FFXIV- I like having wikis/alerts open and visible, so one screen for that, the game, discord, and then the last one was just for youtube/netflix.

Software engineer. Work from home and I use the same monitors for work and personal.

Usually for work, I have code in the middle, specs on the left and the app on the right. When I’m not using specs, I have Spotify or video related things on one monitor.

For personal use, gaming is done on the middle monitor. Sometimes I have Spotify on the left, video on the right. Sometimes it’s a mix of discord/video/spotify on the left and right monitors. Sometimes I have a hockey game on one monitor and YouTube on the other.

Middle is my main.

It’s not often I don’t have something on all monitors.

At home I have the game I'm playing on one screen and Discord and a web browser on the other so I can communicate and look things up without needing to alt tab.

For work I generally have references, teams, email, and other stuff on other screens and a main one that I'm working on. Like querying a database while testing, editing screenshots for docs and issues, having reference docs open, etc. I don't do development itself, but do a lot of requirements documentation, testing, and project management stuff on web apps. Sometimes it is just two screens, but sometimes I have the laptop open too and put teams and email on it so I don't have to bring it forward if something comes up.

Two monitors one computer? Bah! Why not two monitors two computers!

One main monitor connected to my Windows machine, and a second monitor next to it connected to my work Mac. Using Synergy, one mouse and keyboard plugged into Windows controls both machines.

Then, add a Framework laptop propped up on the left running Linux, also controlled with Synergy. Three monitors, three computers! Now when people ask what OS I run it's an easy answer: all of them at the same time lol

work and play at the same time. discord, weather map, cameras, password manager, firefox, chrome, citrix etc. also use a tiling manager so much easier