I worked for a few months using only a Toshiba Portege 3440 (or something).  12" screen with 1920x1200 rez.  Had the trackpoint. Sweet machine, great for travel.<p>Now I still use a laptop as my main machine (Dell D830), but I've got some extra monitors (and other hardware as well).  They're handy for  glance-over peripheral stuff, but I work best with things right in front of me (mostly vim, bash, and a Web browser).<p>This topic got me wondering if alt-tabbing for window-switching,  or ctrl-Fn'ing to a different desktop, was all that much of a distraction, or a worse interrupting, than moving my head and adjusting my focus.  I just don't see it. Switching apps or desktops via the keyboard is no more of a "context switch" than moving my head and attention to a different device.  Maybe even less so.  Finger memory FTW.<p>Mostly I think I just adapt to what I have when I have it. Additional screen space, while nice, doesn't mean <i>that</i> much of a productivity gain.<p>What makes the biggest difference to productivity is how distracted/distractable I am.  With no room for IM or IRC and such, they simply get turned off or moved to a desktop out of view.  With the extra screen, I'm tempted to keep them running off to the side.<p>It seems a lot like closet space.  They more you have, the more stuff you find to put in it.  You acclimate.