... its really nice to be able to have VS open in the main monitor, a bunch of chrome tabs in the screen to the left (research)

Of course, research.

As long as you are satisfied with your PC's hardware capablities (try Tom's Hardware), a field in which I am no expert, your PC is fine.

But for me, the most important piece of any modern conventional computer with good hardware is the software. I would use OpenBSD or Arch Linux, but no one uses BSD for gaming, and I am selling games, so I just use Linux Mint (I will never use Ubuntu) for development. If you really want "baptism by fire" and want to learn how a good system works from the ground up (and have an environment that will ultimately make you a better programmer), choose Gentoo. It is good for learning, but no one games on Gentoo. Choose Windows if you are a square conformist. Choose Mac if you want to go against every single logical choice ever.

so I just use Linux Mint (I will never use Ubuntu)

You do realise that Linux Mint is just Ubuntu with minor modifications to the graphical shell, right?

You do realise that Linux Mint is just Ubuntu with minor modifications to the graphical shell, right?

Yes. I won't use Ubuntu because of the Unity shell. It is shit.

Yes. I won't use Ubuntu because of the Unity shell. It is shit.

Meh. It's a graphical shell. No more, no less.

Never quite got the obsession with particular desktop environments. As long as there is a file browser and a way to launch apps, what else matters?

Yes. I won't use Ubuntu because of the Unity shell. It is shit.

Meh. It's a graphical shell. No more, no less.

Never quite got the obsession with particular desktop environments. As long as there is a file browser and a way to launch apps, what else matters?

though not all that fussy, I personally prefer things using the traditional desktop UI design.

well, and the window-manager not stealing various keyboard keys for itself (the application may need them for things like shortcuts, and it isn't good if the window-manager renders an application mostly unusable, say, by having lots of random stuff pop up when trying to use an app...).

like, informally, the Windows keys belong to the OS/WM, as do CTRL+ALT+whatever and a few other special shortcuts.

most other keys, and most combinations of CTRL+whatever and ALT+whatever presumably belong to the app (well excepting the F-keys and similar).

Yes. I won't use Ubuntu because of the Unity shell. It is shit.

Meh. It's a graphical shell. No more, no less.

Never quite got the obsession with particular desktop environments. As long as there is a file browser and a way to launch apps, what else matters?

a good desktop enviroment enhances productivity, things like virtual desktops, window grouping, etc are all nice to have, the HUD in Unity is pretty darn useful when your applications support it. (last time i tried Ubuntu the application support for the HUD was kinda crappy out of the box though so it definitely needs more work before i'd consider switching).

My main problem with Unity is that its a pain in the ass to get window groups to work in a flexible way. (it groups windows by the owning application(like MS Windows does)), with Mint&compiz i can easily group my windows manually and for example have a group per project (Which is far more productive when you're working on multiple projects and need several different applications for a single project)

things like virtual desktops, window grouping, etc are all nice to have

Hah. I knew there was a reason other people spent less on monitors than I do

things like virtual desktops, window grouping, etc are all nice to have

Hah. I knew there was a reason other people spent less on monitors than I do

I use multiple monitors at work anyway, the DE helps me jump between projects. (My boss would never agree to give me 3 monitors per project and an office large enough to hold them all, i got far too many projects on my hands for that)

As long as there is a file browser and a way to launch apps, what else matters?

What else matters is that Unity uses typically 3x more resources than XFCE and 4x - 5x more resources than OpenBox