Make Spyder Matplotlib plots appear in own window

Related: Upgrade Spyder, including beta versions

When using the IPython console in Spyder IDE, Matplotlib plots open in same “notebook” inline by default. To make separate Matplotlib figure windows pop up instead, do:

Tools > Preferences > Ipython Console > Graphics > Graphics Backend > Backend: “automatic”

These popout figures are much more useful in general since you can probe the data and zoom, unlike the static PNGs in the inline notebook.