It seems to be generally easier for the human brain to look in another physical place for some information than to "overlay" them on top of each other (as happens when you alt-tab between two fullscreen windows).

This is both noticed anecdotally by a lot of people (the majority, if the prevalence of multi-monitor setups are anything to go by) and you can also derive this from the facts that people put more than one thing on their single monitor at a time, and prefer larger screens.

You've probably either gotten in the habit of using a single screen, or your brain hardware behaves in a way that most peoples' doesn't. I don't think that your preferences are actually reflective of an objective increase in efficiency, or comfort for the majority of computer users.

I do miss two screens from time to time, but single screen using i3 is a total productivity win for me because it helps me minimize context switches and focus better.

I actually find that because i3 is so fast to switch and makes the os so fast I can have hacker news up and distracting me before I even realize I'm bored. Like literally any time I have to think in work I can instantly be in a distraction.

Oh yeah that was true for me too, I block HN and friends on my laptop, which is where do all my focused work.

I had the same thought, most of the argument here seems to be about screen space. I think at some point we're all attracted to the idea of having a bunch of monitors so you can feel like some kind of multi-tasking movie hacker, but the reality is that if you learn to use your window manager efficiently, one monitor is almost always all you need.

I use i3 a lot, it's great. I still find my 5 monitor home pc setup WAY more effective for coding on my monster central monitor and side vertical documentation monitors than changing virtual desktops on a single monitor or a laptop. I feel as slow on a laptop as a vim user would if you removed their config.

About all I can really do on a laptop is code in the car or an airplane, or do documents, and event that I'm starting to run out of screen real-estate.

The single screen experience in Immersed is also fantastic. I do 90% of my work on a single 3840x2400 monitor. I also have a 1920X1080 "above" that and angled down. I put terminals up there that I don't need to check very often.

Nice to see another single screen maximalist. I was given two screens at work and always kept the second one clear. Alt-tab is my go-to second screen.