My iMac display is an insane 2560x1440 (or something close to it) and I still am badly in need of a second monitor. But I feel that with that many pixels, just one additional monitor would be optimal. Particularly if it were that same size (not that I'm going to shell out the $1000 for that any time soon when the 1920x1080 monitors are so cheap now).

The main time I find two monitors productive is if I'm doing a lot of iterations on something where I need to keep looking at the output, like webdev stuff. Then it's nice to have the webpage on one monitor, and the code on the other, instead of arranging two half-screens or alt+tabbing a lot.

A single laptop screen (or single medium-sized desktop monitor) means you only have one place to focus. With two monitors, I always ended up having "distractions" like twitter, email, RSS, etc. there to pull me away.

I love my current 15" macbook pro but I also loved my 13" macbook pro when travelling. Depending on how much you travel, I'd go with either of those and no monitor and get into immersive environments instead of nailing yourself to a desk.

Consider a real keyboard and mouse. Consider synergy: http://synergy2.sourceforge.net/

If you are looking at a macbook/macbook pro - also consider glossy vs. matte screen (glare can be an issue).

Finally, if you're really trying to be productive, consider other visual and audible distractions, flow interruptions, taking breaks during work to increase mental stamina, length of time spent at work.

The thing I like most about the 30" monitor is the HEIGHT -- I can see more lines of code. The width doesn't usually get used until I do side-by-side diffs.

The thing about one monitor is that I focus on one thing, and other things don't usually distract me from the sides. The notable exception is the red apple mail badge (small red numbers counting new mail). I sometimes have to turn down/off the mail check frequency.

I organize things with Spaces: 1) mail+organizer+chat 2) calendar 3) browser 4-7) main dev windows (terminal/xemacs) 8) itunes

I generally recommend to people to get smaller sized laptops because the lower bulk will help to absorb bumps and drops.

impulse = F * dT F = m * a

I feel I am more productive, because it's all about viewing space. If I have to alt-tab, or exposé between windows back and forth, that's a time waste.

If you're going for maximum productivity, I don't think you can really achieve it on a laptop, unless you're in and out of the office on a daily basis. I'd say if you're looking to get the most work done, use multiple monitors.

Only if your hands aren't already on the keyboard.

I also have a 30" Cinema Display that I use, but more often than not the portability of the laptop and the fact that I need to rearrange my windows when connecting the 30" display often prevents me from switching over to it.

I have found though that the 30" display works well for pair programming if you enlarge the text in Terminal and TextMate or if you lower the screen resolution to 1920x1200.

EDIT: Here was the article I was referring to: http://lifehacker.com/367391/do-larger-monitors-make-you-mor...

It's also good for coding, gives me plenty of space in PyDev, Immunity Debugger, plenty of terminals and everything else I need on the one screen and it's still portable too!

On Windows I have 3 monitors (of varying sizes unfortunately) and think I couldn't have enough of them (one for a full-screened version of each app I use). On a Mac I seem more comfortable with just 1.

But I am coding .Net apps on the Win box (with a seperate VS solution for server & client), whereas the Mac is more web development. Maybe that makes a difference too.

This setup is great. I have background tasks on the laptop screen (email, system monitoring, directories) with my main dev work and auxiliaries on the big screen.