Why I bought this UltraWide Monitor
Yes. Yes you should.
So I just bought the LG UltraWide 34WN80C-B 34 Inch Curved Monitor. Wow, even written down that's a mouthful, but I am so happy I bought this. Let me tell you why.
Screen Real Estate & Memory
Firstly, an ultra-wide monitor increases your screen real estate. It gives you more digital space in which to learn, work and play. But why is more space so important?
David Allen, author of Getting Things Done, answers this with one of my favourite productivity quotes of all time:
Your mind is for having ideas, not holding them
David Allen, Getting Things Done
In the context of the book, he is specifically talking about the idea of getting all the tasks and projects that are held in your mind down onto paper (or whatever information capture system you use).
The reason behind this is that our brains are not effective at holding multiple bits of information in our short term memory. (If you don't believe me just try playing the classic childhood memory game, and unless you're a wizard or have mastered the art of memory palaces then you will forget many things!)
Extending this principle to our day jobs, if you find yourself having to switch between windows frequently when trying to do something mentally challenging, that is going to significantly hamper your ability to think, because you're having to repeatedly hold a bit of information in your memory, switch a window, pick up the new piece of information, and then return to your original state having remembered both bits of information.
More digital space can thus reduce the frequency with which you have to hold bits of information in your head while switching between windows, because hopefully the new space allows all useful information to be displayed at once on screen.
An example Python Data Science setup on my 34 inch ultrawide monitor
As you can see in the example above, if I’m learning Data Science (which I am!), I can the following setup:
PyCharm (Python IDE) with 2 code windows side-by-side, along with a terminal and git at the bottom
Roam Research for taking and referencing my personal notes
Safari browser for learning from online content
This is just one example of how you can have so much stuff open, and save your headspace for what matters!
USB-C equals Minimalism
The second reason for buying this particular monitor, is that is has USB-C.
Crucially, this enables you to charge your macbook (or other USB-C enabled laptops) at the same time as extending its display to the ultrawide monitor, with just 1 cable.
One cable does it all. You don't have to be Marie Kondo or Matt D'Avella to appreciate the elegance of fewer wires in your desk setup.
Before I had this this monitor, I needed the following cables:
A surface laptop charger cable (work laptop)
A macbook pro charger cable (personal laptop)
A USB-C -> HDMI cable to connect both my work and personal laptop to the monitor
In fact I was fortunate that both my work laptop and personal laptop have USB-C ports, if they didn’t I would have needed yet another cable, perhaps something like HDMI -> HDMI!
The Adjustable Stand
Perhaps an underrated part of this monitor is the adjustable stand.
I'm not a very 'ergonomic' sitter at my desk. I regularly mix it up between: sitting up straight, slouching right to the bottom of my chair, and everything in between. As a result, I often need to raise or lower my monitor to actually see the screen.
In my previous experience of monitor stands, this was either impossible (I'm looking at you AOC I2269V) where the stand was a fixed rigid base, or very difficult with VESA mounts where I'd have to whack out an alum key, loosen the VESA mount, slide it up or down, then re-tighten.
With this stand, it is literally a slide up, slide down, no tools required. Super simple. Plus, you can rotate your screen in all directions (up/down tilt, left/right, rotate) easily, with no fuss.