Dual screen question

nantucket66

nantucket66

nantucket66

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I've got a 15 inch MBP (mid 2013 retina display) - been reallly happy with it.

But I'm getting to a point with my business where it isn't enough, I'm constantly going between apps and I'm all the place and it's doing my head in.

I really could do with 2 larger screens side x side with each screen doing something different.
Nothing intensive - large spreadsheet and emails on one screen and web dev on the other for example.

What is the easiest (or best) way to do this? I realise that they may be 2 completely different things!!!

Here are a few options - I've no idea how feasible any of these are!

1 x iMac and my MBP sharing screens?
2 x iMacs sharing screens
1 x iMac and a good monitor sharing screens
1 x Mac Pro and 2 matching screens?

My current MBP has 2 x Thunderbolt and 1 x HDMI, no idea if using this is viable? I think I'd prefer 2 screens of equal size .

2 x iMacs would look great, but surely the second iMac is overkill if it is only being used a monitor?

1 x iMac and a good monitor makes sense, but would there be an issue with different resolutions?

The Mac Pro option is probably overkill to be fair.

I'm fairly well up on OSX, but have never used 2 screens at once.

Cheers
 
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If your current MBP is powerful enough for you, you could drive two external screens.
Or if you want more juice and fancy an iMac then you can buy a second screen for the iMac. That's what I do, I have a 2017 iMac with a second monitor.

Using two screens on a Mac is very straightforward, you plug them in and they work!
 
Feek said:
Using two screens on a Mac is very straightforward, you plug them in and they work!
Click to expand...

I will probably go for either a 21.5 (4k) or 27 (5k) iMac and a second conventional monitor (probably 22 or 24).
Is there any issue with resolutions of the 2 displays not matching?

As much as 2 retina displays would be great it's completely overkill for what I need, the second monitor in reality will only ever use excel, accountancy software, email, nothing exciting. I'm losing the will to live switching between programs, going back and forth, inadvertantly closing the wrong program etc.
 
Feek said:
No, no problems at all. My second monitor is a Dell 24" non retina display with a resolution of 1920x1080
Click to expand...
Perfect, thanks very much - just need to decide on screen size! Will pop to Apple store to have a proper look over the next few days. I think a 27 and a 24 may be too big! A 21.5 and a 22 may be more sensible!
 
I'm leaning more toward a 27 inch iMac - I was thinking this coupled with my 15" 2013 Macbook Pro Retina could potentially work well as the second screen - the chap in the Apple store today said that wouldn't work via OSX but a third party program would do it? I can't remember what the name of the program was.

Is that right? A second screen isn't an issue, but if I can make it work with what I already have....

The iMac comes with 8GB of RAM as standard, if I spec'd 16GB from Apple at the point of purchase it would cost £180.00 - I know you can do it yourself for a lot less. Could I simply add another single 8GB stick to make 16GB? Or do I need to remove the included 8GB and buy a matched 2 x 8 GB pair?
 
Perhaps I am missing the point here, but why would you purchase an iMac to use it as a second monitor? Or are you replacing the Macbook with an iMac and then adding a second screen to the iMac?
If not, why not just purchase a screen and plug it in to the macbook?
 
This is what I was thinking of doing.......

L33 said:
are you replacing the Macbook with an iMac and then adding a second screen to the iMac?
Click to expand...

I'd keep the Macbook as I need a laptop for out and about. I was wondering if the Macbook could be used as the second screen, not permanently, just when required.

However, the thought of just buying a monitor and connecting to the Macbook is a great idea - I just tried it in the bedroom and it worked like a charm.

The only downside to this would be my Macbook display (which I would naturally look at first at it is directly in front of me when typing) is still too small.
I'd much prefer the bigger display to be the main one.

Being sensible it would make sense to start with the second monitor as it is a lot cheaper and if I get used to it great, if not I can always buy the iMac down the line.

Thanks for the pointer! I owe you a beer!
 
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Didn’t I already suggest that if your laptop is powerful enough that you could plug two external screens into it, back up in the second post? That would do exactly what you want.
 
Feek said:
Didn’t I already suggest that if your laptop is powerful enough that you could plug two external screens into it, back up in the second post? That would do exactly what you want.
Click to expand...

It would appear so......I missed that bit somehow! Sorry!

Been having a fettle and I could put the Macbook to one side and connect a keyboard and mouse to it, happy days.
Would an Apple wireless keyboard and Magic Trackpad 2 connect to the Macbook Pro? It's a 15 inch early 2013 retina.
 
nantucket66 said:
However, the thought of just buying a monitor and connecting to the Macbook is a great idea - I just tried it in the bedroom and it worked like a charm.

The only downside to this would be my Macbook display (which I would naturally look at first at it is directly in front of me when typing) is still too small.
I'd much prefer the bigger display to be the main one.

Being sensible it would make sense to start with the second monitor as it is a lot cheaper and if I get used to it great, if not I can always buy the iMac down the line.
Click to expand...
:)
For what its worth you can make an external monitor the primary display by dragging the menu bar in display settings. If you wish, you could connect more than one monitor as per Feek's suggestion along with an external keyboard and mouse and close the macbook or move it to one side if it is distracting having it in front of you. The MBPr 2013 will drive 3x external monitors along with the inbuilt panel simultaneously.
 
Feels like it's coming together and for a fraction of the cost of what I was looking at.

Wireless keyboard and trackpad in front of a second monitor set as primary display, with the MBPr off to one side used as the second screen.

Next question is which monitor - 24 or 27 inch - what is the max resolution the MBPr can send to another screen?
 
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