I’m reworking my computer setup, and I’m currently debating with myself over whether I want to pick up a second monitor, or sell my current one and replace it with an ultrawide. I figured I’d seek out anecdotes to see which setup people tend to prefer.

Edit: Thanks y’all for the responses. I see a lot of people doing UWD+1, a few using dual, and very few using none at all. I’m at least going to roll with two monitors, but I’ll have to do some measuring to see if I can make an UWD+1 work for my desk.

  • Similar experience to @msprout here.

    I had a 49" ultrawide, which was great for one of my previous jobs, as I needed basically three screens visible all the time, and I was able to fit all my content side by side on one screem. However, I didn’t find my monitor as useful in my current job, where I didn’t need a triple-screen space (and I preferred more of a vertical setup for coding and spreadsheets). I also bought my UWD originally for playing racing/flight sim games as it was a dream for kid me - turns out, I’m actually not really into them as I used be as a kid, and these days I prefer playing mostly A/RPGs, RTSes, and some old school games - all of which looked better more on a squarish aspect ratio. So I sold off my UWD as it was just wasting space, and got a 16:10 QHD monitor instead - it’s big and high-res enough for me to fit 4 windows on one screen, plus, for the games I played, I found it looked better with this aspect ratio.

    For work, in addition to my main monitor, I use a second smaller screen, usually a laptop that’s propped up near my keyboard, which I use for minor things that I don’t need or focus on (like chat, or monitoring stuff).

    So overall, I’m much more happier with this setup compared to my UWD, and my neck and wrists are thankful for it as well.