Zac Ioannidis
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New Setup

February 2, 2013

I recently decided I’d had enough of squinting at my 15-inch Macbook’s screen. While I always tried to make the most out of my current screen estate, constantly having a .pdf or Chrome tab on one side for reference while also enabling the dual column layout on Sublime Text had a great impact on my productivity. Therefore, after weighing the pros and cons of buying a new monitor, I decided it would be a worthwhile investment.

Choosing a monitor

Three factors came into play when chossing a suitable monitor. Size, design and price. I decided anything bigger than 24 inches would be overkill given my current desk size and budget. I also didn’t want to strain my eyes by being so close to such a large screen.

The Dell UltraSharp U2412M was one of few monitors I saw matching these prerequisites. Additionally, the IPS panel, rotate ability, energy management and anti-glare coating were features I was eagerly looking forward to.

During the initial setup, I noticed that the color temperature was a bit cold compared to the MacBook’s so a bit of calibration was in order. Otherwise, setting it up as my primary display was quite easy.

dual monitors lolhai brushed aluminum

Magic Mouse or Trackpad?

In terms of peripherals, I was set from the start on buying a wireless Apple keyboard. However choosing a mouse was not as simple. After much deliberation over whether I should buy the Trackpad or the Magic Mouse, I decided on the former. The main reasons for this were:

  1. My desk was quite small, and therefore not accommodating for large movements.
  2. I didn’t want to miss out on all the 3 and 4-finger gestures I’d gotten used to on the MacBook’s trackpad.
  3. By having the Trackpad right next to the keyboard I would minimize the amount of hand movement when switching between that and the keyboard.

(After 3 weeks of usage, I’m quite certain that I made the right decision)

Keyboard Layouts

So I went and bought the keyboard and Trackpad from the Apple Store here in Bristol. However one thing I wasn’t aware of were the (subtle) differences between keyboard layouts - namely US and UK ones. Due to my MacBook being purchased from the States, I had grown used to that layout and kept hitting the wrong keys while coding with the new, UK, keyboard. Having the enter key, one of the most commonly used ones be so small struck me as incredibly stupid. But I digress.

Thankfully returning the keyboard to the Apple Store was a piece of cake. One caveat was that they didn’t have the one I wanted in stock, which forced me to order one online from the central store in London (which arrived promptly the next day).

Conclusion

I believe that buying an external monitor was definitely a quality investment. My productivity has greatly increased, and the amount of distractions are kept to a minimum. Programmer or not, if you spend an above-average amount of time in front of a computer screen, having two of them will work wonders.

About Me

I'm a Computer Science student at the University of Bristol. Can't think of something smart and witty about me to write right now so I'll just leave this as is for the time being. Twitter || Github.