For laptops I think 15 is the sweet spot. My wife has a 13’’ macbook pro and whenever I use that it just feels a little too small to see everything…previews, dev tools, terminal…blah blah. My 15 is a lot easier to work on.
That being said, I don’t have any dual monitof set up, but I have a late 2012 27’’ iMac that’s still blazing and I think that’s the best. I’ve used 2 screens before but it’s just too much going back and fourth. I can easily split screen (both split being larger than laptop). It’s awesome.
Yeah, it is a bit of a pain - although lately I’ve just been skipping the desktop and working off the laptop so it just have to unplug that and leave the wires loose when I leave. Still, I ordered a KVM that should be here in a few days so that should help with that.
I see I want to learn React Native and use it in the future, so that is glad to learn. 17 inches is too big for me, so I probably get 15 inches one. Thank you for the information.
I have a 15" macbook. Main reason I have that is twofold really–
I’m low vision so the bigger the better lol. I use ALL of the screen real estate for my coding editor then CMD+TAB to flip through my windows.
I attended a program out of state so needed a laptop.
15" is plenty big… and a tad heavy (4lbs) so that was fun lugging it around to and from class lol.
Would love to set up a 2 monitor set up (I have a 24" Dell monitor) but not a lot of room at my current domicile… . So am using the macbook right now primarily for coding and my PC desktop for everything else.
You could probably use the monitor as a single screen on your laptop. Set the laptop to mirror screen mode and set it to not turn off or lock when you close the lid. Then you plug in the monitor and close it up and put it aside and you have the big screen.
Yeah I may try that soon. I did that once before loooong ago (some 15 years ago?) That was an interesting experience. Right now my set up is a bit of a mess (Including a KVM switch attached to both of my PC towers sharing the same monitor/keyboard/mouse…).
I have too many computers - but 3 laptops are either dead or very very old.
as mentioned above by multiple people, you really need a large enough monitor (or preferably 2) so that you can see the work you are doing at the same time as the code. If you have to switch between an editor and a browser so you can test you will begin to hate your job…
Well, I’m trying to look at this from a “mobile workstation” perspective, or even a digital nomad perspective. When you are travelling, a second monitor might be difficult.
Some people obviously seem to be fine with 13". So even for coding on the go? And also for working 100% on the go?
Wondering then where the border is. 13" still ok, but 11" already too small?
Or maybe it’s possible to have a second, light-weight mobile monitor, like a USB one. But those seem to be difficult to find sometimes, there’s not enough demand on the market.
And maybe there are some alt-tab switching lovers here?
I haven’t coded any projects yet, so have no experience with this. But wanna use the opportunity to get some opinions.
If you can do it on an 11", then go for it. We’re just saying that most people find that too small. You often have to have a couple files open, a terminal window or two, a browser window, and sometimes an emulator. That’s a lot to fit in 11". But a lot of people seem to get by with 13", so go for it if you really want to.
Wondering then where the border is. 13" still OK, but 11" already too small?
There is no “border”. It’s more of a bell curve, probably centered around 14-15". It’s about personal preference. It’s ultimately up to you.
I’ve mixed it up btw., current MacBooks have 12", not 11". So if I squeeze a bit, there’s maybe some hope
Also checked, there are some pretty light weight 13" or 15" USB monitors on the market. But the question is how’s their picture quality. But I could do the coding on the USB monitor then, and the graphics on the MacBook screen. Could be an advantage over a 15" or 17" laptop?
Not sure anyhow if there are current MacBook Pro models for 17". Although you could use an older one of course.
Well, simple math will tell you that a 12" laptop with a 13" USB screen will give you 40% more real estate than a 15" laptop. But it the point is to be light and agile, does carrying around a second monitor make sense?
For me the point was to get a laptop that I can work on. Period. I don’t want to carry an extra screen with me to the cafe. For me, that meant 17". For many that means 15". For some, 13" is enough. Can you do 12? That is a 15% drop in area over the 13.
I guess at this point I should ask if you’ve done a lot of coding. If not, I suspect that you are underestimating your screen size needs. I was working on a React Native project today and had my editor open, split on two files, a terminal window, an emulator running, and a browser for console messages. Sometimes I also have a browser open to look up the docs. I can’t image doing that on a 12". I was struggling to do that on a 15".
What are you coding on now? Get some masking tape and mark off a 12" diagonal and code for a few days. Don’t put anything outside that box. If you can do it and it doesn’t drive you crazy, then great.
It’s all about tradeoffs. Which is more important? Portability? Ease of use? Cost? For me the ease of use of a 17" screen was worth the tradeoff in portability and cost. I don’t find that too heavy, but then I’m a big guy. I also have big hands so a fullsize keyboard is awesome. Yeah, it’s a little inconvenient sometimes, but that’s life.
But you have to decide these things for yourself. We can’t decide for you. It doesn’t matter how many different ways you ask, we can’t tell you the perfect laptop size to fit your needs and coding personality. We don’t know (and can’t know) enough about you to make that decision.
It’s all about tradeoffs. Which is more important? Portability? Ease of use? Cost? For me the ease of use of a 17" screen was worth the tradeoff in portability and cost. I don’t find that too heavy, but then I’m a big guy. I also have big hands so a fullsize keyboard is awesome. Yeah, it’s a little inconvenient sometimes, but that’s life.
Yes.
There are different use cases and you have to find your own best setup.
When I code some JavaScript in VSC, I can see my output in VSC, so there is no need for a big screen, window-switching etc. that uses time and clicks.
When I code some Web Projects, I need three open tabs in VSC (next steps, html file, css file) and the rendered Web Project in Chrome, therefore I have VSC on a 32" monitor and the Web Project on my 17" notebook, so I do not have to switch the windows/tiles, only turning my head.
Also remember that screen size in itself doesn’t tell you how much screen “real estate” you have, but rather it’s the combo of the screen size and the display resolution, because some 13" laptops have full HD displays—which is realistically probably the minimum resolution you want, and you can definitely get away with that for use with web development. However, 1080p on a 13" screen is going to make everything look extra small compared to say, 1080p on a 14" or 15.6" screen.
Some 14" laptops will sometimes have a 1366x768 resolution, which will be less squinty, but that’s never an ideal resolution for web development because it doesn’t give you enough screen real estate. So you should aim for at least a 1080p resolution, which really only makes practical sense on at least a 15.6" screen if you don’t want to be squinting at your screen.
Basically, barring screen size the higher the display resolution, the more simultaneously-visible windows you can cram onto the screen, but on smaller screens, higher resolutions don’t make for great UX. Your eyes (and body posture) will thank you if you use high resolutions on larger screens (15", 17", or external monitor)—less squinting and less hunching-over of your body posture.
Love my 13in-ish laptop. Wouldn’t go back to something bigger unless you paid me. I connect to whatever size monitor(s) I want at my desk and still have something light enough to practically disappear in my bag when I’m on the go.
Just bought a Dell Inspiron 14 7000 series, (so actually a 14in screen) but the body is nearly the same size as my last 13 in MacBook Pro, with the Dell actually being a bit thinner. I looked at the XPS, but the premium wasn’t worth it to me.
Hello… You have more confusion for sizes of laptops, I recommend that you self think about how to use a laptop. If you want to buy a small laptop then easy to carry anywhere and you do the work freely, but you buy 15 inches then not easy to carry everywhere. So you decide which one needs for you. For more discussion about just find at Arabella Mudon.
. So am using the macbook right now primarily for coding and my PC desktop for everything else. 
