People who use only their laptop screens for work – How do you do it?
3 pointsby nonukez3 days ago3 comments
  • DamonHD3 days ago
    I do (1) and have for many many years (laptops w/ ~13" screen), and the mobility it allows is huge, though I have a 2nd-hand portrait monitor on my desk at home for reading portrait documents (eg formal papers) occasionally.

    I have had the benefit of multiple/external monitors at (eg banking) client sites in the past, but I don't really miss them, and often forget to use them even when available to me regularly.

    Laptop ergonomics are indeed far from ideal. Possibly the biggest help for me was to get my varifocals set up to be mostly central area optimised for my typical laptop screen working distance, with eg much less 'far' vision at the top.

    • nonukez3 days ago
      Even with the varifocals, do you not find that you look down at your laptop screen? Do you have any pain in your neck or back?
      • DamonHD2 days ago
        Yes, the ergonomics are less good than a conventional monitor.

        I arrange my workspace to minimise the bad aspects, eg having the laptop at the back of the desk to minimise the angle down to the screen.

  • apothegm2 days ago
    When you grew up with 640x480 monitors, a modern 13” laptop has pretty decent space. I pin one app per virtual desktop, and use cmd-tab and cmd-~ heavily. I also don’t make heavy use of IDE panels. I’m accustomed to having a separate editor and terminal apps. I do wish that app UI would use more of the horizontal and less of the vertical real estate.

    A 4K monitor is certainly an improvement, tbf. But I can be productive without one.

  • christophilus3 days ago
    Niri.