Dual Monitors at Different Resolutions

InFus1on · 22 Jan 2013 at 10:31

Hi guys,

I'm sure this is a problem a few have run into recently.

I just bought a 2560x1440 monitor as my new primary monitor. This is paired with a standard 1920x1080 monitor as an extension.

When moving the mouse from one to the other, at the top and bottom of the 1440p monitor, the mouse stays on the primary screen until it gets to the bottom of the 1080p monitor. I understand why this happens, and I understand how I could fix it by lowering the 1440p monitor to 1080p. My question is, is there a fix when I could maybe scale the 1080p monitor up to 1440p or similar so this problem doesn't exist? Or anything similar?

Help appreciated,
Ross

Sin_Chase · 22 Jan 2013 at 16:55

You have just arranged it incorrectly in Display Properties.

Drag the monitor positions into their correct locations as they are laid out physically.

InFus1on · 22 Jan 2013 at 18:55

They are laid out correctly. I can move the mouse between monitors.

The problem is, because the 1440p monitor has a few hundred pixels of height more than the 1080p monitor. When I reach the top of the 1440p monitor, I can't move to the other screen. I have to move my mouse down the screen until I get to the 1080th pixel, then I can move to the other screen.

I wanted a way I could get around this.

Gammawolf · 22 Jan 2013 at 21:07

Then drag the screens so the tops align in display settings?

InFus1on · 22 Jan 2013 at 23:26

You guys make out like I'm really stupid lol. If I align the tops of the screen, I just have the same problem at the bottom. I need a way to almost 'scale' my 1080p monitor up to the 1440p one, so that the PC is fooled into thinking that I have 2 monitors of the same resolution.

Just think about the problem logically and you guys will see what the problem is.

Say for example you have 2 boxes, box one is 1m tall, box two is 1.5m tall. If you run your hand across the top of the 1m box towards the 1.5m one, eventually you will hit a wall 50cm tall. If you then imagine you are inside the box, going along the top of the 1.5m box, eventually you hit that same wall. You then have to move 50cm down to reach the top of the 1m box before you can enter it. It's the same problem. No matter where the boxes are placed, there is always a 50cm difference. No matter how I set up the screens, there is always a 360 pixel height difference.

If there was a way to fool the 1080p monitor to display 1440p, or something similar, it would solve the problem.

Sorry if I sound condescending, but I understand unless you have the same problem you may not understand exactly what the problem is.

Regards.

PhillyDee · 22 Jan 2013 at 23:29

You cannot get a 1080p to display 1440p, there just are not enough pixels. There might be a progtram such as ultramon that can do what you want it to (all I can think of from the top of my head).

macca672 · 23 Jan 2013 at 00:58

I think this is what he means

moving the smaller screen up to align the tops wont work as then he will have the same issue at the bottom of the screens

Diagro · 23 Jan 2013 at 01:17

Its an issue you are stuck with sorry

Sin_Chase · 23 Jan 2013 at 01:59

Yes yes the problem is stupidly apparent.

Just do not see why it is an issue. Move the cursor across where able to, why is it a problem?

blackoctagon · 23 Jan 2013 at 09:25

macca672 said:
I think this is what he means

moving the smaller screen up to align the tops wont work as then he will have the same issue at the bottom of the screens

OP can you please confirm that this is the situation you're talking about? It's a little hard to visualise based on your OP. Depending on the monitor orientation, and what position each monitor is in, the source of your problem could vary

PhillyDee · 23 Jan 2013 at 11:12

macca672 said:
I think this is what he means

moving the smaller screen up to align the tops wont work as then he will have the same issue at the bottom of the screens

Thats exactly how I understood the OP when I first read it. He wants to be able to move the mouse at the very top and the very bottom of a much larger vertical pixel space and arrive at the top and the bottom of the smaller one.

Why is it hard for some people to understand that?

Windows will NOT do this any other way. You will have to look at 3rd party apps to solve this issue. Thats assuming they even do. If they do, then post back.

blackoctagon · 23 Jan 2013 at 13:18

PhillyDee said:
Thats exactly how I understood the OP when I first read it. He wants to be able to move the mouse at the very top and the very bottom of a much larger vertical pixel space and arrive at the top and the bottom of the smaller one.

Why is it hard for some people to understand that?

I just find the OP's choice of words a bit vague.

Assuming that graphic is correct, I would have said something like this:

"The new 1440p monitor is on the left and set up as the primary display. The old 1080p monitor is on the right and is set up as the secondary display. When I move my mouse cursor from left to right, it only jumps across to the desktop secondary display if a certain point down the right-hand side. If it's too high up it won't move across"

InFus1on · 23 Jan 2013 at 13:23

What Macca posted is EXACTLY what I mean. Thanks for your efforts making it visual.

Like PhillyDee said, there will likely be the need for a 3rd party piece of software, that was kinda what I was looking for from the start which is why I asked about "scaling or something similar". That's why I asked here as I assumed someone here would know of such software.

@sin - It's not so much a massive issue, and I never made it out to be. It's just a niggly thing that can be quite annoying. I certainly didn't see the harm in asking for help with such a problem, however small you think it is, on a computer based forum. I thought that was the point of a forum?

CaNsA · 23 Jan 2013 at 13:27

Which GFX Card do you have?
NVidia?
You can set a diff res for each monitor.

I dont know if ATI has a similar feature.

InFus1on · 23 Jan 2013 at 13:28

blackoctagon said:
I just find the OP's choice of words a bit vague.

Assuming that graphic is correct, I would have said something like this:

"The new 1440p monitor is on the left and set up as the primary display. The old 1080p monitor is on the right and is set up as the secondary display. When I move my mouse cursor from left to right, it only jumps across to the desktop secondary display if a certain point down the right-hand side. If it's too high up it won't move across"

In my second post I wrote

When I reach the top of the 1440p monitor, I can't move to the other screen. I have to move my mouse down the screen until I get to the 1080th pixel, then I can move to the other screen.

I thought this summed it up pretty well. Admittedly the OP could have been better worded, but I didn't really know how to explain it at the time.

InFus1on · 23 Jan 2013 at 13:32

CaNsA said:
Which GFX Card do you have?
NVidia?
You can set a diff res for each monitor.

I dont know if ATI has a similar feature.

I have a 660 Ti, so I have those features. However, I know a way to solve the issue is to lower the 1440p monitor to 1080p, but that renders it a bit of a waste of the extra £200.

I didn't see anything to do with Scaling on mine though, as in your image, maybe that could provide some insight.

blackoctagon · 23 Jan 2013 at 13:41

Before scaling the image, maybe try the free trial version of Ultramon. I used to use it and remember it having all sorts of very intuitive features that really should be a standard part of Windows. Ideally you want to be able to run your monitors as normal without scaling

InFus1on · 23 Jan 2013 at 13:43

blackoctagon said:
Before scaling the image, maybe try the free trial version of Ultramon. I used to use it and remember it having all sorts of very intuitive features that really should be a standard part of Windows. Ideally you want to be able to run your monitors as normal without scaling

Yeah I tried Ultramon last night. Unless I'm just a bit of a doughnut, I couldn't find anything.

I tried something which I was sure wouldn't work, which was trying a custom res @ 1440p on the 1080p monitor, it worked, but it looked silly, obviously due to the lack of pixels.

blackoctagon · 23 Jan 2013 at 13:47

Sorry, one more question (which has already been asked but I feel the need to repeat it): WHY is this such a big deal? So you just have to position your mouse cursor in a certain part of the primary screen in order to move across to the secondary screen. So what? I understand it's (very) slightly annoying but in no way justifies actually running one of your screens in non-native resolution

InFus1on · 23 Jan 2013 at 13:53

blackoctagon said:
Sorry, one more question (which has already been asked but I feel the need to repeat it): WHY is this such a big deal? So you just have to position your mouse cursor in a certain part of the primary screen in order to move across to the secondary screen. So what? I understand it's (very) slightly annoying but in no way justifies actually running one of your screens in non-native resolution

Read through the topic :confused:

I said already it's not a big issue. It seems like a big issue because a lot of people have offered solutions, and none have worked.

I simply thought it was annoying, and thought I would see if anyone else had a similar problem and a solution, so I asked. I can understand your query if I was screaming and shouting about it like the end of the world, but I'm not.

Again, I simply came on to a computer forum, seeking an answer to a computer question, I don't see the problem. If there was a niggly problem with your computer, I'm sure you would look for a solution to it too.