Mrs. Devil’s primary computer is a Macbook pro. When we’re in the office, it’s connected to an Apple Cinemadisplay. I’d like to add a second display for her with an extended desktop. When I spoke with Apple about it, they said that because she already has two displays (the built-in screen plus the Cinemadisplay), she can’t add a third. This may well be the case, but I haven’t found the so-called ‘geniuses’ any more competent or knowledgeable than those working at Geek Squad (no offence to the occasional hobbyist that gets a job there).
So before I forget about it, I figured I’d ask the TM if they had any suggestions or ideas. We have a spare screen, so investing in one or two hundred dollars of new equipment (but not a whole new Mac) would likely be worth it, if it did the trick.
Not being Apple-savvy, here’s what I can glean from Apple’s support page for our model:
[quote]
NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT graphics processor; and NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics processor with 256MB of DDR3 SDRAM shared with main memory
** Pure Digital Output**[ul][li]DVI output using Mini DisplayPort to DVI Adapter (optional) []VGA output using Mini DisplayPort to VGA Adapter (optional) []Dual-link DVI output using Mini DisplayPort to Dual-Link DVI Adapter supports 30-inch Apple Cinema HD Display (optional)[/ul][/li][/quote]
Unlikely.
Graphics cards are not typically made to support three screens. The number of people using such a feature would be quite small and the added cost would make the graphics cards too expensive.
There are some gadgets that act like a “double-wide” monitor from the point of view of your graphics card, and then split the image to two different monitors. I.e. if you have a pair of 1920x1080 monitors, your computer thinks it has a single 3840x1080 external monitor. But there’s an inherent limit in the number of pixels that can be pushed down a DVI cable – I don’t think you could use a pair of high-resolution Cinema Displays in this manner. And you’d need paired displays, so you can’t just add whatever cheap 19" spare monitor you have to the Wall Of Monitors.
If it makes a difference, I forgot to mention that when she’s working at home the laptop is closed–there is only one screen in use. When the laptop is open, the two-screen, extended desktop works fine. I’m hoping that she can close the laptop and somehow redirect the processing power to a second external display.
Alternatively, is there an external device, connected via USB, Firewire, or whatever, that can help achieve two active (one dormant) display?
That’s looking good. The second monitor is a similarly sized Dell Ultrasharp–not seeing it right away; I’m looking to see if the basic specs themselves need to be the same (e.g. native resolution, refresh rates) or something more involved.
I use a USB-to-VGA adapter on my PC laptop to get a third monitor connected.
The problem with these adapters is a slight lag. While the lag is very small in fractions of seconds, it’s quite annoying if I’m actually working on that monitor. Fortunately, I’m mostly using the third monitor to display reference information or play NetFlix.
Wow, putting “usb dvi adapter” into Newegg yields some unexpectedly inexpensive items–even with a restocking fee well worth the experiment. She’s a graphic designer, so most of what she does is static images. Easily copying pictures and text between applications (e.g. from Word/Photoshop into InDesign) may well be worth the slight delay.
Looks like I’m late to the party, but another MBP user here with three displays – the Mac itself, one on the dispay port, and one that uses a USB-DVI or USB-VGA adapter (I’ve had both.)
The adapter I have now is by Kensington, and I recommend it. I’ve also had an adapter by Tritton, and I do not recommend that one.
I’m running three screens on my 2011-vintage MacBook Pro. One is attached via a USB device, VillageTronic’s ViBook; one via Thunderbolt/MiniDisplay port; and of course the native build-in TFT screen.
The USB-based display is slower but useful for most business-application windows.
You could daisy-chain a second thunderbolt display, too. Depending on your exact model, many of the MacBooks can daisy chain TB displays. You can see the grid here on Apple’s support site for Thunderbolt.
What is meant by ‘slower’? Slower as in there is a lag between mouse/keyboard input and what shows up on the screen, or slower as in ghosted images when video or movement happens? The only video I can see her having is Hulu/Netflix when she’s doing something monotonous on her main screen–problematic or easily gotten used to?
a) I have ScreenSaver/Desktop preferences set up to upload a different Desktop Picture every hour or so. The other two pop right up, the USB-powered screen is slower and you can actually see the image loading top to bottom in a fast wipe.
b) dragging a window of text in little loops on either of the other two monitors is like moving a physical printout in similar motions in front of my face: each letter remains onscreen in real-time tracing little ovals and circles. On the USB-powered screen there’s a little bit of stuttering, with letters disappearing and reappering a few pixels away as I move the window.
c) QuickTime movies or DVD movies opened in DVD Player and then positioned in either of the other two monitors play back fine. There is frame loss on the USB-powered monitor.
Is that what she wants it for? To have reference pages open in one place and her work in another without having to open and close windows and tabs all the time?
Consider using virtual desktops - I don’t know of any for Macs, but they are common in Linux/Unix and so must be out there. The Windows version that I use is VirtuaWin - at work I currently have 4 desktops (two real, two virtual) and use them all the time to sort my files on different projects or to have reference documents in one area and active work in another. It takes some getting used to, but is fantastic.
MacOS has virtual desktops built in. A virtual desktop switches out for the screen you’re looking at. Not useful if you want to see both at the same time.