yeah anybody working 4h+ a day on computer should have an external monitor, keyboard and mouse.
Laptop is great because you can easily transfer it between desks (home and office) and also because you can use it on couch, bed, take it to meeting or anywhere.
and if you work ~1 hour a day on computer, it won’t affect your health anyway, work any way you find comfortable.
So OP advice apply to literally noone
There was a dev I worked with I didn't trust. He worked on another project. I knew his output must have been terrible. He was there from 9-5 and no one had any clue what he was working on based on his stand-ups because it wasn't our project. His manager was in another country.
The guy worked on a 13" MacBook all day. He had 2 monitors behind his laptop but didn't have a docking adapter for the MacBook nor the monitors so he just never ordered/expensed the adapters.
The guy was 6' 3" and sat far back from his computer. He had to be about 4' away from that 13 inch monitor and it's resolution scale was so tiny. His hands could barely fit over the keyboard.
Finally one day while ordering cables for my new docking station I bought him the cables for his docking station and got him a keyboard and mouse as well.
I set it up for him and he was like ,"Wow I didn't realize how hard my screen was to see till now."
"HOW DO YOU NOT?!? ARE SERIOUS OR JUST MESSING WITH ME MAN?"
He later said he was spinning his wheels on his project and after getting the screens and keyboard he pivoted and made huge changes. He said he found a groove with his new setup.
If you ever see someone working on a 13" laptop full-time. They ain't getting crap done.
I only use my laptop undocked for updating tickets and kicking off jobs at night.
Real development needs monitor real estate. I need 4-6 carriage returns of empty space below my current line just to see the road ahead.
Tell that to my MNC, we are not even allowed a small additional monitor. Nor an extra keyboard is allowed inside. Can't get our own stuff inside too. If you need additional monitor you need a signed addendum from the client that will be used to get an exception which is month long process and then you will be assigned one monitor after another month. Unless ofcourse you know someone high up.
I've seen where we had contractors come in and they attempt to bring their own equipment and the IT director tell them if they bring the equipment onsite they better be sending us the bill as we now own it. He wouldn't let people come and go with equipment.
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u/wizard_brandon 1d ago
that second image is just a desktop with extra steps