Two monitors with Macbook Pro

Hey folks,

I use this port replicator every day at work to give me a third monitor on my Windows 8 workstation but I brought it home and tested it on my mac for a week because because I want to run multiple monitors at home as well.

Targus USB 2.0 Docking station with video ACP51USZ

A port replicator might be overkill, but I tested this on my Macbook pro running Mountain Lion and it worked great for everything except video, which was just a little too choppy for my liking. It supports a 1080p monitor so you could have one connected to thunderbolt and another connected with this and get a true dual-monitor setup on your Mac. I run my Macbook Pro in lid closed operation mode by the way. It stands vertically in a 12south bookarc pro.

Drivers for Mountain Lion are available on the website.

Try the App BetterSnapTool in the app store to control where your windows go. Its fantastic, you have common half or quadrants, however you can set custom screen position that it will automatically snap your windows to. I don't know how it will work with Adobe products with the multipul windows, but its worth the few buck for it, especially with multimonitors. I use it all the time with my three screen set up and a Triple Head ToGo.

FWIW, I recently committed completely (from a PC/Mac duo) to a new Macbook Pro (not retina), needing it to drive two non-Apple external monitors. I did a fair amount of research to decide how to do this (if possible). I first tried the bought a DualHead2Go. Result was a single screen spread over two monitors (including the application bar). A nifty piece of software let me direct some windows to either screen, but videos and Mac full-screen modes I used (e.g., Keynote) displayed wrong (for me) spread over both monitors. I later found specifics via the Internet that indicated that behavior was to be expected.

SO, I researched a little more and bought a (less expensive) Diamond BVU165 USB 2.0 Display Adapter. I struggled to get it set up. The included dvd was useless. I eventually downloaded the correct display-link software from the vendor site. Much better, ...and it works (so far) as hoped. The only thing I notice is what others have observed, that the USB monitor might be a bit slower than the DisplayPort monitor. But I am not a gamer, so that doesn't matter to me. This post is just to let folks know that this combination worked with (eventually) with the lower-cost Diamond device, supporting two external Samsung Syncmaster 2494hm monitors. The two monitors act as individual monitors when I need them to!

BTW, the availability of two inputs on each monitor also allows me to also access the PC using the same monitors. A touch-entry option on the monitor bezel allows me to switch between computers without messing with cables.

The biggest limitation for the usb display adapter is that it does not support features that require openGL hardware acceleration. As a result, you won't be able to play slideshow in iPhoto, use keynote, or even play flash smoothly in Safari. Almost all known usb display adapters have the same issue. Here is a list of issues that could occur. Review it before you opt for the usb display adapter approach.

http://www.displaylink.com/support/ticket.php?id=199

I did not find this to be the case. It was precisely my use of Keynote in Play mode that I was needing to display in this way. The solution I describe resulted in normal two-monitor behavior, including the slideshow use of Keynote, with the full-screen slide-show image on one monitor, and the Presenter display on the other.

I too thought this was a failed proposition until I downloaded the proper displaylink driver for the Diamond hardware.

I don't know if my success was out of ignorance, or what. But it is certainly working for me now, and has for a couple of months with Keynote and all the rest of the Apple (and Windows via Parallels) software I have used so far.

Do you mind sharing which OS version you're running? I am running 10.8.4 mountain lion on the latest MBP. The driver on the Diamond website matches the one on DisplayLink site, which both lists Keynote being an issue in the release note... I was looking for a way to mitigate this for weeks and could not find a real solution other than waiting for the next driver...

10.8.4 I wish I could tell you exactly how and what I accessed to download the driver I'm using. But I think it was via the Diamond site, which (surprisingly to me) referred me to a display-link download. I looked among my Downloads and see there only DisplayLink_MacOSX_V.0.dmg downloaded Aug 6

Unfortunately, I do not know if this was the one that held the magic or not. I am at the fringes of my knowhow here. It seems to me that I was wrestling with this problem earlier than this date, but I'm not sure.

Thanks for all the useful info! (Though, I have to admit, only some makes sense to me since I'm not the most tech savvy.)

I just got my MacbookPro with Retina Display. (15" if that matters.)

So, I'm looking to hook this puppy up with dual Dell monitors (don't judge, I just left the company! 🙂).

I'm planning on getting a "docking station" from either HengeDocks or BookEndz, but still need to decide WHICH cable to use. Which one ended up being the best for you guys?

I've noticed all the issues with not being able to do anything but mirroring, which renders the whole thing pointless. I'm curious, have any of you used the software UltraMon? It worked great on with my PC and the dual monitors. Just wondering if this would solve the problem.

Thank you!!!

With the Retina display MacBook Pro, you don't need any special software. The only thing you need to get is two DisplayPort adapters to convert to the type of connection your Dell monitors have (VGA, DVI, HDMI, etc.). Once you have those, just plug them in, and OSx will ask you if you want to mirror for a presentation. Say 'No' and you will be set to go.

are you saying the Retina display MacBook Pro has multiple mini DisplayPort?

Yup. I run two external monitors and the display on my Retina MBPro at work.

After reading this thread and thoroughly researching the subject, I decided to get a higher resolution monitor instead of dual monitors.

The one I went with fully supports my 15 inch mid 2012 macbook's maximum resolution at 2560 x 1440. I ultimately chose this because the higher resolution seems to help with eye strain at long periods of use.

The monitor I went with was the ASUS PB278Q and I also got a couple VESA certified cables.

My plans in the future will be to probably get the new apple displays once they update.

Thanks for all the research and suggestions!

Hi,

Has anybody tried a dual monitor setup using one Apple monitor and one third-party monitor?

I thought that the Apple Thunderbolt monitors had a miniDisplayPort/Thunderbolt port on the side for any Thunderbolt device could plug into. I'm just not sure if you can plug a miniDisplayPort->DVI adapter there. But if you could it might be a decent solution: a daisy chain from the Macbook to the Apple monitor to the third-party monitor. Cheaper than two Apple monitors, but maybe better supported than a third-party USB->DVI adapter.

I'm researching getting my boss to buy me a second monitor. Wish me luck. =)

I decided not to get the one monitor and instead got two ASUS VS239H-P monitors along with a Matrox Dualhead2Go DP Edition.

So far everything works perfectly except for the fact that the desktop is stretched across the two monitors. I'd prefer to have the desktop cloned but Matrox states that their product does not have the option at this time.

Personally if someone wanted to spend the money, I'd much rather go with the apple displays. They are fully compatible and calibration is mostly right on.

Having one apple display and another generic monitor doesn't really sound appealing to me. Although I'm sure many have done it with success. Apple has done a great job making sure that you use their products for full features.

You can, but you will also need a thunderbolt device daisy chained between your two monitors. So (Macbook - Thunderbolt Apple Display - A thunderbolt hub that does nothing - DVI monitor)