I use Mac, not Windows, so I'm sure I see them rendered quite differently than you, but I prefer Source Code Pro.[1][2] They are extremely similar and I agree nothing else comes very close.
It's the lower-case 'i' that does it for me.[3]
Fewer serifs in general allow me to read more quickly, I feel. 'i' has 1 to Consolas' 3, while lower case 'l' (L) has 2 to Consolas' 3.
One negative is that I much prefer Consolas' 0-with-slant to Source Code Pro's 0-with-dot.
By the way, the first link below is from a very cool resource I just found with votes and comparisons of many of the most popular choices: http://www.slant.co/topics/67/~what-are-the-best-programming... (It seems the web has become more informative on this topic than the last time I surveyed all the font options.)
Finally, this is what the designer of Source Code Pro, Paul D. Hunt, had to say about the two[2]:
> Consolas is narrower than most monospaced fonts at 55% of the Em square, where I stuck with 60% for Source Code. If the narrowness is a top selling point for you, then Consolas is definitely king.
Another vote for Source Code Pro (Semibold 12, white on black, full screen gnome-terminal, compiz 3d workspace box spinning model yumminess). I also like some console fonts and frequently use them for coding on my laptop (17" Macbook Pro + Gentoo + 2xSSDs + ZFS).
Me too, I use source-code-pro almost everwhere (I have problems making it stick with AppleScript because I use different editors I believe). I love it.
It's the lower-case 'i' that does it for me.[3]
Fewer serifs in general allow me to read more quickly, I feel. 'i' has 1 to Consolas' 3, while lower case 'l' (L) has 2 to Consolas' 3.
One negative is that I much prefer Consolas' 0-with-slant to Source Code Pro's 0-with-dot.
By the way, the first link below is from a very cool resource I just found with votes and comparisons of many of the most popular choices: http://www.slant.co/topics/67/~what-are-the-best-programming... (It seems the web has become more informative on this topic than the last time I surveyed all the font options.)
Finally, this is what the designer of Source Code Pro, Paul D. Hunt, had to say about the two[2]:
> Consolas is narrower than most monospaced fonts at 55% of the Em square, where I stuck with 60% for Source Code. If the narrowness is a top selling point for you, then Consolas is definitely king.
[1]: http://www.slant.co/topics/67/viewpoints/5/~what-are-the-bes...
[2]: http://blogs.adobe.com/typblography/2012/09/source-code-pro....
[3]: http://blogs.adobe.com/typblography/files/2012/09/Confusable...