i do -all- my programming on a laptop with the standard 14 inch display, which is completely adequate. the reason larger laptop displays are gaining in popularity is that people are buying them for desktop replacements, or for luggable computers, not for actual use as a laptop.
i fail to see why you’d really want to see more than one window at a time, especially since your eyes can only look in one place, and then you have ambiguity for which window has focus. i run with 20 virtual desktops (kde’s limit. gnome only gives you 12 though), and switch between them with alt-Fx and mswin-Fx. generally one application runs per desktop. i get to any application i want in one keystroke, and it has focus as well. muscle memory makes switching to certain tasks almost automatic.