PC/Laptop suggestions?

[Rafe]

I use a fair bit of screen real estate, so I bumped up my monitor size a few years back. That's a 27 inch monitor, on the left.

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^^^ This. I can't function without dual displays. Took a look at the newer mongo curved monitors from Samsung (they make 'em up to 57" now), but opted not to go that route. I'm sure I could make one of them work fine, but I'm not a gamer and I don't stream movies on the workstation. What I do, however, is edit audio and video in addition to more conventional office stuff. For me, two flat displays works better and, like @Brains, one of them can be rotated to be in either landscape or portrait mode.

And I'm not the fastest typist around, but another consideration for me is a high-quality mechanical keyboard. Just can't stand the typical membrane keyboards. If your hours are spent doing a lot of typing, I'd suggest budgeting up to about $200 for the keyboard. Kinda like folks saying not to scrimp on getting a quality mattress. If you're going to spend hours a day on it, don't get a low-end model.

 

[sucker76]

HA! I took a Fortran class in college. Used punch cards. Those were LOADS of fun.

College huh? I was actively programing in a form of Fortran until 2023.
It is old but is a very easy language to learn and does a job well. Not to say something something like C# or even VBA can't do it better.

 

[Brains]

I like a good keyboard, and I've so far settled on the Keychron K10 Pro. I've been testing a handful of keyswitches to see what I like, which the K10 Pro makes easy (hot swappable). I'm liking the Baby Kangaroo the best so far (heavy springs, tactile, but quiet).

I run basically identical workstation configurations at the office and home. A 4k 27 inch on the left with a 43 inch 4k TV as the main monitor. I carry a laptop (high spec Macbook Pro), docked if I'm at a desk.

Fortran was half of a one semester programming class in high school, my only exposure to it. The second half we moved to Pascal, which I also never touched again. Never did anything beyond gaining a functional understanding of the basic structures and doing stuff like simple math problems.

 

[sucker76]

Wow, a 43" main monitor. That's nice. I only have 3 27" on my desk. We have upgraded programing in fortran to programing in ABB with structured text at work.