I just got a new laptop (MBP 16"), replacing an older iMac (21").
In general, I really like it so far, but it's been quite a few years since I've worked on a laptop, especially for type design. So I'm curious...
What's your workstation setup like? Right now, I've just got the laptop sitting on my desk (don't even have a mouse synced up yet). No external monitor and no stand. It honestly doesn't feel the most ergonomic or comfortable as the view is lower and I'm looking down on it (not to mention going from a non-retina to retina screen sharpness seems to be a bit of a strain for my eyes to adjust).
Do you use an external monitor if your main computer is a laptop? Perhaps a laptop stand and synced keyboard/mouse? I'm sure I'll be hooking up a mouse soon as that was my tool of choice for type design before.
I know there have been threads talking about fragments of this before. Any recommendations on other tools/accessories to help?
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For small changes of historic fonts working with mouse, FontForge or BirdFont is good enough, but for more work on fonts I would use the tablet and sooner or later purchase FontLab or Glyphs.app.
I have a 15" MBP now 2 (or 3?) years old and use a 24" external screen. Because the lid of the MBP is always open ~120 degrees it's deformed, i. e. doesn't close any more completely, leaving a small gap of a few millimeters. Thus I would suggest to use a notebook stand from the early beginning. For me mostly typing it would be better to use an external keyboard with big keys (not the flat ones from Apple), and with a standard layout. The Apple layout is completely idiotic and inconvenient for programmers.
- three 4K monitors, two 24" and one central 28"
- external keyboard (Unicomp! Basically a tank in keyboard form. I should decide who to leave it to in my will.)
- old Microsoft wheel mouse, worn smooth from years of use.
The laptop is a Macbook, but none of the other pieces are Apple-made.
I have a standard-height desk with an Aeron chair. My watch reminds me to get up at least once an hour, which probably helps. Proper height relationship of the chair and desk can address some kinds of stress issues. At one time, years ago, I was getting some kind of RSI because my chair was either too low or too high (I don't remember which now).
I find that a high-res (Retina) screen is fantastic for type design. I don't need to make nearly as many printouts as I used to to check things like kerning and spacing. A large high-res display is even better.
I used to use multiple displays when I was working mainly in FontLab 5.x since it had a lot of windows to manage. I typically put one or more preview windows on a second display. A single display is all I seem to need for Glyphs because of its single-window UI.
I also have a 13" MacBook Pro that I mostly use on-the-go and as a backup. I used to routinely get 15" models, but at some point I realized that portability was the main reason for having it, so I got the smaller one and am very happy with that decision. If it was my only machine, I might go with the larger model. I have a 4k display that I use with it at home, but for things other than type design. I could probably get by without it, but I'm glad I have it since, at the moment, my iMac Pro is in the shop.
If I do any type design on the 13", I usually use a mouse rather than the trackpad. I like the trackpad for most other things, but it's not ideal for fiddling with Béziers.
- Thinkpad T480
I link both of them using Synergy. This gives me access to Win, Linux and Mac without the need to boot up virtual machines. They all share the same hard disk.
I spend most of my days in the terminal so my setup is very simple. I used to use external monitors but I realised I hate multitasking so I just use a laptop screen.
I've gone back and forth between one and two monitors since the '80s, but eventually decided that one large (~29"), high-res monitor is my favorite setup. It's simpler to manage and takes up less space on my desk. I can only look at one monitor at a time anyway. Even when I connect my laptop to a display, I close the lid so I just have one screen.
I'm sure it depends a lot on what software you use and what you use the second monitor for. I used to use it for things like my email or chat apps, to do lists, things like that. I ultimately found this to be distracting and unnecessary. My current practice is to hide anything I'm not actively using to stay focussed. A single monitor works well for that.
I sit about 4-6" further away than you (10-15 cm), just that much beyond arm’s length. But then again, my central monitor is a 30.5" 4K screen, so it is effectively about the same, I think.
I agree wholeheartedly about the monitor configuration. I suspect that the benefits of multiple monitors and a second (or even a third) depend a bit on:
- what your primary tool(s) are. FontLab 7 has a lot of panels, so at least a second monitor is Very Nice.
- how frequently and how thoroughly you task-switch. Having more screens helps me do somewhat more frequent, but briefer, interruptions. I don’t do so many 2-to-4-hour-straight stretches. I keep the other stuff on another screen.
- how well you use your OS’s tools for virtualizing different workspaces
I have never gotten into the virtual workspaces stuff very well. I prefer to use actual screens. I am sure that is part of the reason I have gone to three physical monitors. My brain seems to like this. (Yet, yes I am also perfectly comfortable with 4 or more dimensions of variable font design space. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ )
Of course, since type, text and vectors are the core of my work, I don’t need most of my screens to be terribly GOOD monitors, other than bright and crisp. Color management is rarely important for my work—only one of them is seriously color-managed, etc.
- 3 × Dell’s U2718Q. Typical configuration is left: docs & notes, center: editor, right: terminal and validation programs (OTM, etc.).
- PC with AMD’s 3950X and 64GB of memory.
I know a SWE uses 8 monitors in his office, but they are all 1080p, so I have more pixels than him .For me, it was often useful to have reference information on one monitor while I worked on another. So, I sometimes treat it as the paper reference next to me or for output testing, now. Or, as at CRL, to have some information that I might want to be able to glance at without changing things around. For a while, at Tellme, I had one display in landscape and one in portrait mode. Looking at documents and code were nice on the portrait side.
Higher resolution displays help make it easier to use a single display, since providing more screen real estate is often the purpose of multiple displays. Using virtual displays/spaces, one can work around using a small space yet still having the equivalent of that space. We did have some of that—virtual spaces—with some window managers on the X Window System in the early 1990s.
When I started working without an office, often sitting at a café, I switched to using a 13" MacBook Pro with Spaces for different projects sitting on top of a Rain Design mStand. At home, I'll still have a second lower resolution display. The 13" Retina display is still too small. Multiple displays (really, more screen real estate) is also useful for the music and recording side.
A brief search yields that there is a small segment experiencing negative effects. It almost feels like my eyes are very slightly crossed and seeing a reflection (which having a glossy screen is to be expected to some degree), making it hard to focus in.
I might feel differently if color management and accurate/bright color was a critical part of my work. But those things are not as important to me as optical comfort. Death to reflectivity! :P