I hate small monitors

Every morning, I start my box and boot up the standard fare (Mail program, Developer Studio, Word, text editor, file manager, Visual Studio, Yahoo Messenger), if they're not already booted and ready to go.

Every morning, I curse about how constraining this 17" monitor is. I mean, for the love, I can't even fit my mail program and Yahoo Messenger on the screen at the same time without one eclipsing the other.

What gets me going is how many people are perfectly comfortable with working on a small monitor. I always try to dismiss their complacency by telling them they just don't know how much better it can be. A friend recently stepped up to a 21" at home. Now he joins me in daily small monitor grievances.

It's a good exercise for unbelievers to view screenshots of peoples' desktops at 1600x1200 or higher resolutions. You may begin to appreciate the sort of efficiency-improving measures you can take with additional screen real estate. Picture these scenarios:

  • Your web browser on the right side, editor on the left. You see the code and the result in one screen.
  • Two source files open simultaneously (with 80 characters of width and over 70 lines each). Yes, and the complete class browser.
  • It's not necessary to maximize every friggin' program you use. On a 21", you'll probably only maximize a select few apps, such as your IDE.
  • Two Word documents open side-by-side, both completely visible.
  • Word open on the left; diagramming tool on the right.
  • Four remote access sessions open to 800x600 desktops.
  • Yahoo Messenger being just a little floating window off in the corner.
  • The ability to have 20 apps in your task bar without losing every trace of their titles.
  • If you're an File Explorer kinda person (pity), you can actually have two or more File Explorers open simultaneously without concerning yourself about eclipsing.
  • Piles and piles of web browsers open without getting any lost.
  • Similar: piles of command prompts or terminals? No problem.
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