Nowadays, 14" inches screens are pretty common in the ultrabook category. They offer more space than their 13" - 13.4" siblings while keeping the overall size within reasonable limits. And for some of us, the size still matters and 15.6"+ laptops are just too big and heavier to move around.
Most of the 14"s are light to move around for a whole day and offer enough power for most of the coding tasks and to run IDEs more or less smoothly.
In the end, it is up to everyone's preferences - would you like a more portable or more powerful device?
Choosing hardware
A keyboard and screen are important for a work comfort so when choosing a new piece of hardware, pay enough attention to them.
Laptop's screen
Resolution
Without a doubt, 4K offers a crispier image, even when running at a 200% scale. Usually, these panels offer high brightness and good coverage of the sRGB color space.
All of these pros are paid for by a shorter battery lifetime. Rule of thumb is that the time on battery is reduced by 30 to 50% when compared to the same laptop model using an FHD screen.
Brightness
Choose good brightness - never settle for anything under 300 nits. Today, it is not rare to find panels with 400-500 nits. And if you don't follow the foregoing advice on the matte display, the brightness should be as high as possible - like 500 nits or more.
The worst combination is a dim display with a low sRGB color gamut coverage - for example, Lenovo T480 model offers an FHD display with 250 nits and 65% coverage of the sRGB space. That's inconvenient - the brightness of the display is low and colors are not as vivid as I would like to have them.
Color space coverage
Make sure the color coverage of the selected model is "good enough". Like 90%+ of the sRGB color space.Display finish
Most consumer-oriented laptops have a glossy screen. For work purposes, look for the matte surface. The glossy one reflects light so it is more like a mirror and not suitable to be used for an extended period of time. It is true that glossy displays seem to provide vivid colors so it is important to pay attention to good color space coverage.Where to find the tech spec
Read the laptop's review - especially those on https://www.notebookcheck.net/ site. As a part of each review, they measure the display so it is easy to find out the concrete tech spec of the chosen model or compare a few of them. Be aware that some vendors, like Lenovo, are using different suppliers and therefore, the display specs can vary even for the same model.Setting Up Windows 10
Scaling settings
Even for an FHD resolution, the text in the native resolution is too small, at least for some people, including myself. Microsoft recommends setting scaling to either 125% or 150% for an FHD resolution. That could be too much, I prefer something between 5 to 15% - it really depends on the overall quality of the hardware, better panels allow for a lower values (like 5%)
Go to Settings -> System -> Display -> Advanced scaling settings. Set up the custom scaling to 112-115. In my opinion, this is the best settings as it provides, at least for me. I am over 40 so my eyes are far from what they once were 20 years ago :-) .
Go to Settings -> System -> Display -> Advanced scaling settings. Set up the custom scaling to 112-115. In my opinion, this is the best settings as it provides, at least for me. I am over 40 so my eyes are far from what they once were 20 years ago :-) .
Task bar
As the FHD is wider than higher (1920 to 1080), the vertical space is limited and precious, and as such should be handled with care. It makes no sense to waste it for the taskbar. I always move the Window's taskbar to the right side - even on 25" WQHD monitors. I prefer an always visible taskbar over the hiding it.
Setting up Visual Studio
Code style
I am keeping my code width within 120 char limit- meaning no line of code can exceed 120 chars. After all, it results in a cleaner and more readable code.
There is a great extension helping with this from on Visual Studio's Marketplace: https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=PaulHarrington.EditorGuidelines.
Install it, open the editor, go to 120 char, right-click and from the context menu choose Guidelines -> Add Guidelines
Install it, open the editor, go to 120 char, right-click and from the context menu choose Guidelines -> Add Guidelines
Remove navigation
Open Options (Tool-> Options - or Alt + T +O), go to Text Editor -> All Languages, C#, uncheck the Navigation Bar.
Hide the menu bar
Again, there is a helpful and gorgeous extension available from the Marketplace: https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=Poma.MinimalisticView
Become a friend with shortcuts like:
Become a friend with shortcuts like:
- Alt - get the menu bar
- Ctrl + W + E - error window
- Ctrl + W + S - solution window (which can supply the Navigation bar functionality)
- Alt + T + O - options dialog
Toolbars
Change the location of the used toolbars from Top (default) to Left. As already written, there is enough space horizontally on the screen. Go to Tools - Customize and set up the location:
Learn
Learn shortcuts
For speedy work, all the interruptions must be limited. For example, it is better to keep your fingers on the keyboard and avoid to use an external mouse, a touchpad or even the TrackPoint.Conclusion
Just by following this simple advice, it is possible to get 51 lines visible in the editor window. Which is pretty close to what I am used to from bigger (and heavier) laptops. For them, it is possible to have between 52 to 63 line, depening on your preferences.
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