Developing with a Curved Display

When I searched for a new display with more space I wanted to know if using a curved for programming tasks could work. Turns out it is great!

TL;DR

As you might have guessed, this is my opinion and others might have different experiences.

That being said, I really enjoy working with a Curved 34" Monitor. For once, it's a lot of space and you can have your IDE and Browser side-by-side. Also, the curvature makes the large screen quite ergonomic. As in you can catch all the important details with having only one look at it.

Why a Curved Display

First of all, I kept searching for about a year or so for a new monitor. At first, I wanted either one or two 27" displays. Later on, the 34" display size seemed to be a good match for having less clutter on the desk (as in just only one monitor). So I concentrated on 34-inch screens. Many of them are curved, nowadays. I googled a bit to find out how other software developers experienced the curvature. Turns out, the feelings were kind of mixed. Then I found the Philips 346B1C for quite a low price at that time. Since the screen got a few extras like an integrated KVM and 90W USB-C charging it immediately caught my eye.

Curvature

The curvature of the 346B1C is decent, but you'll still notice. At first, it felt a bit weird. But I got used to it quite fast. Nowadays, it feels weird working with non-curved Monitors... The combination of having a lot of space on the screen and the curvature makes it perfect to work with. I can have two windows side-by-side and still don't have to move my head too much. That being said, maybe, less screen size won't profit from the curvature that much but at 34" it certainly does.

Web Software Development

The worst thing about buying this monitor was realizing that I should have done it even earlier. I really got more productive with that display and besides, it just looks nice as well.

Having this screen size as well as the curvature enabled me either reading docs and try it without changing windows as well as immediately being able to see the result when developing software.

The integrated KVM also enabled me to switch between two computers (one for work, the other for the other work 😀) quite fast.

So if you're a developer and undecided about a larger screen with or without curvature: just give it a try!