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dscoob

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 1, 2010
6
0
I am running Win7 using 3 monitors, with Ultramon to manage the monitors. I want to switch to a Mac but am worried about the lack of a menubar on each monitor.

On my Win7 PC, each monitor has it's own app running, maximized to the size of the monitor. So I'll have 3 instances of Firefox running, 1 on each monitor, or 2 Firefox and 1 Word, or Firefox, iTunes and Ableton Live each on it's own monitor. I want to do the same on the Mac and have the menubar for each program on each monitor.

This question has been asked in the past, but all the discussions are older. Just wondering if there have been any recent developments or if anyone thinks this will be addressed in the near future.

There's a program called Secondbar, but that only works on 2 monitors--it adds a second menubar. http://blog.boastr.net/?page_id=79

Here are some prior discussions:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/490198/
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/383465/
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/328174/

Not looking for debates between the merits of Windows vs Mac. I know I'm going to have to get used to the Mac when I switch, but I'm really dreading having to go back to the primary display every time I want to go to the menubar for an app on a secondary display.

Any suggestions? Or is the answer just that there's no way?
 

opeter

macrumors 68030
Aug 5, 2007
2,679
1,602
Slovenia
Sadly, MacOS X doesn't have many things, that Windows (with additional utilites) does.

One of these is the multimple Mac menubars on multiple monitors.
 

dscoob

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 1, 2010
6
0
If it's not possible to have a menubar on each monitor, I'm just wondering how Mac users with 3 or more monitors get along.

I can see that with using 2 monitors, it's not that big of a deal to go back to the primary monitor to use the menubar. And you could always use the Secondbar app.

But with 3 or more monitors, how do you guys handle it to minimize going back to the primary monitor every time you want to use the menubar? Do you think Apple will address this in the near future?:rolleyes:
 

iLog.Genius

macrumors 601
Feb 24, 2009
4,903
451
Toronto, Ontario
If it's not possible to have a menubar on each monitor, I'm just wondering how Mac users with 3 or more monitors get along.

I can see that with using 2 monitors, it's not that big of a deal to go back to the primary monitor to use the menubar. And you could always use the Secondbar app.

But with 3 or more monitors, how do you guys handle it to minimize going back to the primary monitor every time you want to use the menubar? Do you think Apple will address this in the near future?:rolleyes:

It really depends on your setup and what you want to do with multiple monitors. If your a Spaces person, I would see how multiple monitors with multiple menu bars can be very useful but I think for many others, using multiple monitors is just used for more screen real estate (extended desktop) to get more open at one time.
 

BertyBoy

macrumors 6502
Feb 1, 2009
326
0
Going back a few years, I used to work with 3 monitors, it would have been 4 if I had the desk space for them and the money for another 23in Cinema Display.

I had it easy though, I learned all the useful keyboard shortcuts for the apps without the menubar on their monitor. I may have had FileMaker Pro (v5.5 probably) that I did most of my menubar accesses in - so it got the menubar on one 17", Firefox and IE (v5.2.3 for Mac) on the 23", one or another programming environment on the other 17".

Firefox and IE never needed more than a Refresh or Back / Forward. The programming envirnment never needed more than a Save, sometimes even an Open.

It doesn't have to be a big issue if you get it arranged for the task at hand. But I do remember the feeling of "Doh!" every time I'd go to the top of the current monitor searching for the menubar when it wasn't there. Not often enough to stop me working like that though.

Just remembered, I did have a 4th screen - so to speak - an iMac G3 at my left elbow with which I did everything else, email, letters, Age of Empires, etc.
 

odinsride

macrumors 65816
Apr 11, 2007
1,149
3
Not sure if it'll work for you but I'm thinking of getting rid of my 2 monitors and just using Spaces when i get my Mac Pro. I can always have my MBP set up on the side of my MP display when I want to make use of an additional screen (with Synergy)
 
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