Moving cursor across dual displays

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Level 3

696 points

Moving cursor across dual displays

On my left I have a new HP 2311 23" monitor (maximum dpi 1600x900). On my right I have an old 23" Apple HD Cinema Display (max resolution 1920x1200). Both have a 16:9 aspect ratio. I just added the HP about a month ago, and this is the first I've had dual displays....so I'm still learning.

I've noticed the following: If the cursor is on my Cinema Display and I move it left toward the HP, at about the top 1/4 of the screen the cursor won't cross over...it comes to the edge of the screen and stops. I have to move the cursor more toward the middle to cross over. When I move the cursor down toward the middle of the Cinema Display, it crosses over but appears a the top of the HP.

A similar thing happens moving from the HP to the Cinema Display, except at the bottom of the screen. The cursor won't cross for about the bottom 1/4 of the HP, and when I move the cursor up so it will cross, it appears at the bottom of the Cinema Display.

It's almost like these screens are out of alignment....the HP sitting a few inches higher than the Cinema Dislay. Any thoughts about what's going on here?

FOOTNOTE: My eyes aren't what they used to be, so the HP is set to 1344x756 and the Cinema Display is set to 1344x756 to make everything larger. However, I tried many variations of the resolution on both screens to see if that changed anything.....it didn't.

Thanks!

Bryce

2.66 Ghz Quad-Core, Mac OS X (10.6.2), 8 GB 1066 MHz DDR3, Apple Cinema Display

Posted on Jun 6, 2012 11:47 AM

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Answer 1

X423424X

Level 6

14,271 points

Jun 6, 2012 12:36 PM in response to Bryce Inman

Below is my "standard description" about multiple monitors. The part you are most interested in is about the Displays Arrangement tab. Basically you want to line up the monitor arrangment in Arrangement to the way you prefer it.

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Arrangements, Menu Bar, Extended Displays, and Mirrored Displays

When you have multiple monitors only one monitor is designated as the "main" monitor. That's the one with the menu bar.

If you look at the Arrangement tab in your Displays preferences you will see both monitors. One will have a little white "menu bar" on it. That's your main monitor. You can drag the little menu bar to the other monitor if you wish to make it the main monitor.

You cannot make both monitors main monitors. However there is a third party app called MenuEverywhere that allows you to do that (it has mixed reviews).

Your two monitors can be spatially arranged with the Arrangement in Displays as well. Drag the monitors around each other to define their relationship. Then you can drag the mouse or windows across with in that "space". This is extended desktop mode and I recommend that to be able to use all the available screen real estate. However there is a checkbox in the Arrangement to run in mirrored mode. Now the two images are identical on both screens albeit the max screen size is determined by the smallest screen in the mirrored set. You would of course have the menu bar on both screens since they are mirrors of each other. But I think it's a waste of good screen real estate.

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Answer 2

X423424X

Level 6

14,271 points

Jun 6, 2012 1:05 PM in response to Bryce Inman

You're welcome.

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Answer 3

Bryce Inman Author

Level 3

696 points

Jun 6, 2012 12:58 PM in response to X423424X

Well, THAT was easy. I knew just about everything you said here EXCEPT the spatial releationship in the Arrangement window. I had messed around with this a lot, trying to find the left/right configuration that worked best, and which one should be designated the main monitor. But I had not idea that the vertical position of the displays in that window affected their placement. They've been off-center all (or most) of the time I worked in the arrangement window. I thought that was normal: as long as I had them in the correct left/right position, all was well.

I also wasn't clear about the mirroring relationship. I found that I didn't really need that, but when I turned on the mirroring to test it, I found that I could get both monitors to display that way I'd like them to.

Now I know.

Thanks!

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