Q: Anyone grasped dual monitors with Lion yet?

Sean Grazette wrote:

 

...I wonder how many people will shell out $999 a pop for a second Thunderbolt Cinema display when they realize the OS renders it practically useless.

Good point.  I haven't upgraded because I need my two screens.  Lion will be a retrograde step for me in this respect.

Over 250 new features!  The media didn't tells us that we lose some stuff too did they?

I'm all for Autosaving and versioning and all that. They  at least make Lion tempting to me.  But, to be perfectly frank, Apple should have added those functions way back in the OS 9 days.   I have had the use of such features  since at least the late 1990s on the PC at work.

El Deanio, I agree the fullscreen support is lacking, but you're not losing anything by upgrading to Lion. You can work exactly the way you do on snow leopard, you just won't get to enjoy the added feature of full-screen apps without rendering your secondary display useless. So you're not losing any feature, you're simply *not gaining* a new one.

I mean do u really think people are on here just whining for no reason man? I work on vmware about 8 hours a day. I used to be able to have it on full screen and use my other screen for Mac OSx, I can't anymore and there are other apps that can't do this as well.

It's not just 'full-screen apps', for example in Lion launch iPhoto, run a slideshow. On previous versions of OS X the iPhoto slideshow recognized you had multiple displays an ran on all screens, now in Lion, it defaults to one screen and the other monitors remain black.

I'm only referring to apps that utilize the built in fullscreen functionality provided in Lion, apps that previously had no fullscreen mode whatsoever. It's a new feature and the solution is for the time being, don't use it until it works better.

The built in Lion fullscreen creates a new space and brings the app into full screen. The old solution I assume VMWare used was to simply blow the window up to full screen, covering anything that might have been behind it. It's curious that that wouldn't work anymore. Did VMWare update to use the native fullscreen functionality over their own that they had previously or something?

When I run vmware in full screen, my other display caannot be used. Hence, waste of real estate. I am actually surprised vmware has not come up with a fix for this. For instance, with it being set up the way it is and me using it the way I prefer, I might as well just run bootcamp. Vmware full screen works, but that is all that works when in fs mode. It has been doing it ever since I put lion on my comp so, vmware did not update anything. It is a conflict.

DeaPeaJay wrote:

 

El Deanio, I agree the fullscreen support is lacking, but you're not losing anything by upgrading to Lion. You can work exactly the way you do on snow leopard, you just won't get to enjoy the added feature of full-screen apps without rendering your secondary display useless. So you're not losing any feature, you're simply *not gaining* a new one.

That's simply not true.  We used to be able to run quicktime full screen on any display we wanted to whilst working on another monitor. Now that's not possible as quicktime will immediately take over only the primary display whilst blanking the other screens - two in my case.

How about the case where the secondary display of the family computer was connected to a television for watching films on whilst someone else was using the computer for other things. Now that's not possible as the full screen implementation kills it.

ok, yeah you have a point. Well I hope Apple fixes it soon for all cases.

This whole thing would be solved if multiple monitors were able to run full screen apps independently of each other, with independent swipe gestures. I already filed a report to Apple asking for this.

DeaPeaJay wrote:

 

ok, yeah you have a point. Well I hope Apple fixes it soon for all cases.

 

This whole thing would be solved if multiple monitors were able to run full screen apps independently of each other, with independent swipe gestures. I already filed a report to Apple asking for this.

That's appreciated. Thanks.

I'm one of those guys that has the memory capacity of a goldfish.  So I like to have an app, say Photoshop, on my main screen with Photoshop's Help open for easy reference on screen number 2.

By the way - iMovie (you are no doubt aware) used to use my second screen for playback and freed up my main monitor for more editing space - if you get my gist.  This was excellent.  iMovie worked out for itself that I had the second screen. 

Does this still happen with Lion?

Just for the record, this very afternoon I took delivery of a brand new 15" MacBook Pro with, of course, Lion installed. Updated it to 10.7.1 immediately naturally. 

I quite like it.  The reversed scrolling didn't phaze me at all.  Maybe that's because I have an iPod Touch, I don't know.  I've only had it for a few hours so I haven't tried hooking up my second monitor yet.  My hunch is that I will probably need a different adaptor anyway.

DeaPeaJay wrote:

 

El Deanio, I agree the fullscreen support is lacking, but you're not losing anything by upgrading to Lion. You can work exactly the way you do on snow leopard, you just won't get to enjoy the added feature of full-screen apps without rendering your secondary display useless. So you're not losing any feature, you're simply *not gaining* a new one.

1. Under Snow Leopard, I can run Aperture 3 in full screen mode on my main screen and have whatever I want on both of my external monitors.
2. Under Lion, I can run Aperture 3 in full screen mode on my main screen and have whatever I want on the other two monitors so long as it's a useless grey pattern. 

So for people who buy external monitors simply to display grey patterns, I guess they're "not losing anything", but I think that might be a small minority.

For example, I like to be able to view the Apple APTS training and the Aperture User Manual when I'm using Aperture, but, under Lion, when the training says "press F to enter fullscreen mode", that's the end of training, and my User Manual has disappeared, so I can't even find out what the heck is going on.

The cynics may say that Apple wants us users of multiple monitors to buy extra Macs (one for each monitor we own), but I think this was just a dumb design decision provoked by iPad enthusiasm.  If iPad 3 or 4 supports multiple monitors, I'm sure the issue will be fixed in Mac OS X.

I'm also otherwise happy with Lion, but I would absolutely need to use a big external monitor as the primary monitor as I used to, simply because I cannot see well enough what is printed on the tiny 15" monitor of the MacBook Pro! In fact, I don't need the integrated monitor at all!

My big external monitor is located behind the MacBook and, currently with Lion, I have to lift the MacBook's own monitor every time, when I need to use the menubar. And, then the lower part of the exteral monitor cannot be seen behind the MacBooks's monitor. This is not practical at all.

Hopefully Apple will fix this problem in Lion soon so that either monitor can be used as the primary monitor.

I think there are many other people, who need a big external monitor even more than I do. Clearly this has been accidentally forgotten in Lion.

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Hey, an idea: Why don't Apple start to sell a Laptop also without its monitor?! It would be much cheaper and people could select the monitor they need. Only the keyboard is needed and actually for many people the current display on MacBook is just a nuisansanse.

In Lion, Plug and Play with an external monitor, currently work like this:

1. With the laptop lid closed and the computer asleep: Plug an external display in, wake the computer, and the external display will be the only working display. If you were to then open your laptop lid, the laptop’s screen would turn on and you have two working monitors.

2. With the laptop lid open and the computer awake: Plug an external display in and you have two working screens. If you were to then close your laptop lid, the laptop’s screen turns off and the external monitor becomes the only working monitor.

Item #1 does not quite work this way in my MacBook Pro, because as soon as open the laptop lid, not only the laptop's screen turns on, but both the menu bar and dock are removed from the external screen to the laptop's screen.

I need to have the laptop lid open simply because otherwise I cannot use the keyboard! I don't need the laptop's screen at all, because I'm using the bigger monitor!

Do you also experience the same problem in case of item #1?

Here is a solution, which can be used until Apple gets the required update for Lion ready:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5nTGlyWpTM

Warning! Be sure to use the weakest magnet possible in the correct place only, in order not to destroy the data on your hard disk!!!

Cheers,

Tiitu.

Tiituli wrote:

 

Here is a solution, which can be used until Apple gets the required update for Lion ready:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5nTGlyWpTM

 

Warning! Be sure to use the weakest magnet possible in the correct place only, in order not to destroy the data on your hard disk!!!

 

Cheers,

Tiitu.

Super video.  It seems then that I can use my iMac with a second monitor to extend the desktop after all. I saw him do it with his MacBook Air with Lion pre-installed.

Thanks Tiitu, I think you have just removed one barrier to getting Lion for me

Yes, it works fine. I found a tiny magnetic sticker made of smooth plastic attached on the door of our fridge.