[nilkn]

I use two 27" monitors at work and would definitely feel a productivity hit if I were to go back to smaller or fewer monitors.

I dedicate one entire monitor just to a full-screen terminal with tmux running inside. It's trivial this way for me to edit and view and compare multiple files at once. I typically dedicate half of the second monitor to a browser, for testing, and the other half to administrative applications, like email, Jabber, and IRC.

The result is that the cost of context-switching is drastically reduced. I'm able to maintain focus for much longer stretches of time because I don't really have to ever completely switch contexts.

[Sir_Cmpwn]

A tiling window manager would blow your mind. Anyone whose productivity is improved by using tmux should really try out something like i3 or xmonad or awesomewm.

I use i3: http://i3wm.org/

My vim-like config: https://github.com/SirCmpwn/dotfiles/blob/master/i3/config

[BadassFractal]

I use xmonad on 2 screens, it's amazing how much better it feels than without a tiling manager.

[johndriscoll]

For me, just turning my attention (and my head) to a second monitor is too much. I greatly prefer multiple workspaces/virtual desktops to multiple screens. I'm fine with completely switching contexts when the cost of context switching is 0.

[nilkn]

I guess I can sort of understand this viewpoint, but I barely have to turn my head at all to go from looking at code to the browser. I can move my eyes between code and the browser (for instance) faster than I can switch between virtual desktops.