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MacBook Pro with dual monitor display?

O

oconchus

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 18, 2012
2
0
Hi,

A colleague of mine has a MacBook Pro and is trying to connect it to two monitors. Both monitors have VGA and DVI outputs and one has a HDMI port. His MacBook was bought a few months ago and has a Mini-DVI and a Thunderbolt port.

Is this possible without using a Matrox box or another expensive video splitter? I'm used to PCs where you just jimmy some cheap cables together and everything works fine but from what I've read, I am unsure whether that solution works with MacBooks.

Thanks
 
Which model Macbook Pro specifically?

From my understanding, only the Retina MBP can do dual monitors =\

EDIT - I'm assuming dual monitors implies different usage on each, or are you simply just looking for both monitors to show the same thing?
 
oconchus said:
Hi,

A colleague of mine has a MacBook Pro and is trying to connect it to two monitors. Both monitors have VGA and DVI outputs and one has a HDMI port. His MacBook was bought a few months ago and has a Mini-DVI and a Thunderbolt port.

Is this possible without using a Matrox box or another expensive video splitter? I'm used to PCs where you just jimmy some cheap cables together and everything works fine but from what I've read, I am unsure whether that solution works with MacBooks.

Thanks
Click to expand...

The only other option is to daisy chain two Thunderbolt Displays - which is probably more expensive unless you already have the displays.
 
oconchus said:
Hi,

A colleague of mine has a MacBook Pro and is trying to connect it to two monitors. Both monitors have VGA and DVI outputs and one has a HDMI port. His MacBook was bought a few months ago and has a Mini-DVI and a Thunderbolt port.

Is this possible without using a Matrox box or another expensive video splitter? I'm used to PCs where you just jimmy some cheap cables together and everything works fine but from what I've read, I am unsure whether that solution works with MacBooks.

Thanks
Click to expand...

I'd suggest you used some sort of thunderbolt hub, I don't have any links to any though, sorry.
 
you didnt say the resolution of the monitors but if they are normal resolutions you can use the thunderbolt port on one display as the primary and use a cheap usb to dvi adapter. you can get a pretty good one for 60 bucks. the second monitor on the usb isnt good for gaming or anything like that.
 
Thanks for the replies.

KylePowers said:
Which model Macbook Pro specifically? I'm assuming dual monitors implies different usage on each, or are you simply just looking for both monitors to show the same thing?
Click to expand...
He did not specify and has been out of the office so I cannot check. We are trying to configure an extended display i.e. not have each screen just mirror the other.

Acorn said:
you didnt say the resolution of the monitors but if they are normal resolutions you can use the thunderbolt port on one display as the primary and use a cheap usb to dvi adapter. you can get a pretty good one for 60 bucks. the second monitor on the usb isnt good for gaming or anything like that.
Click to expand...

They are Dell and ASUS monitors, 1920x1080 and 1920x1200 respectively, with DVI outputs (and HDMI for the ASUS) so I think we will need to buy DVI/Thunderbolt adapters which also look expensive. Over a hundred bucks to connect monitors to a laptop? My mind boggles at the Apple hive. Thanks for the advice on the USB/DVI adapter - he can probably do with one high latency output so long as the Thunderbolt-connected monitor is responsive.
 
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