Not an IC anymore but my workhorses for the better part of 13 years were 13” laptops. Nice and simple. I don’t get the multiple monitor thing honestly.

I do a lot of video editing. 3 monitors all the same size. Right is main edited output. Center is all my editing tools. Left is file management, chat, stock footage, etc.

I use multiple monitors for audio production. My use case is a bit weird since I code Csound and use a DAW, which is unconventional. It's great for having the DAW up on the 4k, and some code or docs or both on the 1080p, 144Hz. If you didn't guess from the mixture of resolutions and frame rates, I've got gaming covered as well.

Truthfully, the 4k probably has the real estate to do all that on its own, but it was the last monitor I bought and why not use the other? I'm too lazy to figure out a setup to hook up the other 1080s I have lying around. (And don't need the space in any case)

spaces > monitors

portability > exactly what I want

I use two monitors: one in landscape orientation and the other vertical. I usually keep console windows in the vertical one and that's where I write code. Typically its code editing on the left side and a few console windows with compiler/server output on the right. Landscape gets firefox web UI: current app, time clock or notes window.

So that's two workspaces. I have additional monitor-level workspaces I can flip to: #3 for chrome (google products), #4 for signal/thunderbird, #5 for keepassxc, #6 for an additional set of console windows for a second project, or for other things like system upgrades and etc.

I run pretty much the same workspaces on my laptop with only one monitor, the main difference is having to flip back and forth more. Its a little more mental overhead. On the dual monitor rig I like the vertical orientation for my code window, I can see 2x the amount of code at once.

Overall I'd say the productivity boost from multiple monitors is low to mid. Its nice to have but I can still get work done on a laptop screen. That said I do most of my work on the dual setup.

I'm a 3 monitor person as well. 34" ultrawide as my main with two 24" widescreens side-to-side immediately above it. I use it for work and personal use.
Ultrawide has my main programs for work: internet browsers and job specific programs get about 60% of the real estate on the left, while pdf's, and other less essential programs go to the right 40% of the screen.
The top left monitor gets Teams, Excel docs, or auxiliary browsers.
Top right gets email and media (YouTube, Spotify, etc) or any overfill if I'm dealing with a particularly cluttered job.

For personal, ultrawide is obviously used for games, movies, etc, while top left has task manager, MSI Afterburner, and Throttlestop (I run a laptop). And the top right has Discord.

I have three monitors. Middle is an ultra wide with the tests and another window of stuff (the app, data, etc). Right is a 1080 with docs. Left is a 1080 with the code in question.

Been doing it for years as a sysadmin. Great for documentation and multiple terminal windows. Interrupting programs (email, messengers) on the small screen so they are easy to review but out of direct line of sight.

Small screen makes it easy to screen share with others. They can seen the whole thing at a reasonable size.

Loads of data sciency stuff - one monitor for normal text editing/terminal work, another for accessing remote environments, and a third for a combo of work comms and music.

When not sciencing, I won't lie, there's a lot of Path of Exile with PoB on one screen and a podcast on the third.

Single large 48” 4K gang here. It’s like 4x 24”+ 1080p monitors in a square with no bezels.

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.

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

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.

I have two monitors: a 27 inch 1440p and a 17 inch CRT for retro gaming. No productivity.

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.

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.

One additional vertical monitor for e-mail, papers or documentation is great.

I have 3 monitors. One I use for email/slack. The others I use for database and backend coding and VMs. I honestly the 3rd monitor is great. Aside from email and slack. I can use it for any additional documentation, requirements, or JIRA. Honestly, 3 monitors is the way to go in my opinion.

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.

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.

• Monitor 1: Outlook
• Monitor 2: Browser and various messaging apps
• Monitor 3 (the big screen): IDE

I always have used 2. I use multiple desktops really hard (for a long time in Linux and MacOS, and with third party Windows stuff till they finally caught up) and find it more convenient for compartmentalizing than multiple monitors.

The only times I want to (and occasionally do) go more than 2 is watching F1 with data viewing and so many camera angles up

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.

Chat/docs/IDE across three monitors. Throw in a terminal and music player too tiled on the two vertical monitors.

I used to use my 3rd monitor for company email and chat programs so they would stay out of the way of my actual work.

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

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.

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 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 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.

I'm a dev. Right monitor has my browser, center monitor has my editor, left monitor for everything else (terminal, dev tools, file manager, http client etc)

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.

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.

Designer/animator, Mac, either two-screen app setup/workflow (ie editing, 3D, etc) or an easy way to have 2 related things going (ie, brief + job, reference + project, etc).

Two screens and a laptop screen, could find use for more. I find myself shuffling things around depending on what I need, but most commonly I have the left screen split between notepad++ on one side for any notes keeping, and either documentation I'm reading, documentation I'm writing, a browser I'm using, or something such. Whenever I need to compare text files, notepad++ gets to take the whole screen.

On the middle screen I usually have the remote desktop or VM I'm working on at the time.

Right (laptop screen) is usually reserved for Outlook and Teams.

• Left (wide screen): Teams and Jira
• Center (Ultra wide screen): IDE, file browser and other main stuff
• Right (portrait): Terminal and ocational documents

• Left (horizontal) - communicators, btop, Spotify.
• Middle (horizontal) - browser with GitLab, terminals and editors, main development in general.
• Right (vertical) - browser for googling and docs, terminals for tests / logs / whatever I want to see at the same time as the editor, Obsidian for notes.

Anything less than that will completely ruin my workflow. I'm even trying to come up with a feasible way to fit a fourth one.

I'm more productive than anyone else on my team, and would argue more productive than the majority of people in my whole department. I use a single 28" monitor.

• 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.

Left reference, middle work, right email/IM